Misspelt name on birth certificate - does it matter?

[ShopTattsyrup]

Not sure if this is the right place to post but hey-ho! I only recently noticed that my name is spelt incorrectly on my birth certificate.

Not my real name - but the principle is: my name is spelt Elisabeth, on my birth certificate it is written as Elizabeth. My passport, driving licence and bank accounts are all in the correct spelling (which is why I've only just noticed after almost 30 years!) . So ... does it matter, if I get married down the line, get a mortgage etc. Will this pose any issues for me if the spellings don't match up? And if so, do I need to change my birth certificate? Can one change ones birth certificate? Or does this not matter at all since my photographic ID are spelt correctly?

Better to correct it that risk it causing an issue

www.gov.uk/correct-birth-registration/how-to-apply

Plenty have names that aren't on our birth certificates. If it's on your official paperwork, you'll be fine for anything else official though if asked for other names you've been known by, you may need to put your birth certificate name.

In fact, the name on my marriage certificate didn't even match my passport at the time or my birth certificate. All the documents have been looked over by banks and government agencies repeatedly and it's never been an issue. The pickiest ones I've met, the Home Office, only cares that all passports match.

With the strict anti-money laundering laws that are in force these days, you should correct the mistake, rather than risk it being an issue when you marry, move house etc and you need it to be sorted out quickly.

@Spickle

With the strict anti-money laundering laws that are in force these days, you should correct the mistake, rather than risk it being an issue when you marry, move house etc and you need it to be sorted out quickly.

@Spickle On the above link that a PP linked, it sounds like the only way you can change a birth certificate is if you have correctly spelt documentation issued at the same time as the birth certificate. I have none, only documentation issued 10-20 years after I was born.

It seems to presume that people are more observant than I am!

An alternative way might be to have a solicitor draw up a Statutory Declaration which you have to swear (sign) in the presence of a solicitor. As your name is different to your birth certificate, I believe you need to demonstrate that you are "known as" the name you have on your passport, driving licence, your bank accounts, HMRC, (or any governmental body needs to recognise you as your "known as name").

You've been known as the intended name your entire life, nobody has ever known you by the other name, every piece of documentation is in the name you are known as... that is your name.

Are you in England/Wales? Because if so there is no such thing as a "legal name" and your name is what you are known as - evidenced by the fact it's the name on your passport, driving licence, banks etc. I don't see how that would be an AML issue - loads of people have a different name to what is on their birth certificate!

"You do not have to follow a legal process to start using a new name."

www.gov.uk/change-name-deed-poll

It really does not matter.

(You don't need a deed poll because you've already evidenced your name, it was just the easiest link.)

I had a job start held up for 18 months because my drivers license briefly had a misspelling, one that I did not introduce. It can definitely matter.

My dads name is spelt wrong on his birth certificate. Everything else is correct. There's a letter missing from his name, which was the same as his father's. Goodness knows who he managed to register it wrong!
Some things say Wiliam Aka William for example.

I didn't notice until I was getting married that my birth certificate has my second name as Maria, when it should have been Marie.
I prefer Maria so I've just left it and put Maria on any future documentation.
Touch wood I've never had any problems.

I changed one of the letters in my name as people continually mispronounced it. When I got married the registrar made entries in both names. Never been an issue for passports or anything else.

Oooh interesting. I have lived my entire life with an incorrectly spelled name, although I have always gone with the spelling on my BC. S

ince the rest of the world couldn't spell it until recently (thanks to more niche names being fashionable and internet resources) it has not been a problem. However, I now meet many people who think they know how it should be written .

Many options.

You'll be fine if you want to stay in the UK, but if you need to get visas to live and work overseas, it could be more of a challenge - I've got a German friend called Björn who lived in Canada for a bit. His passport said Björn, but his Canadian documentation had Bjoern, which is the usual transcription if your keyboard can't produce umlauts. It caused no end of difficulties with officialdom, so if you want to live overseas, you may want to get it sorted out.

Just on the thread my UK birth certificate name never matched the name on my passport or my first passport ever issued . So I changed it via deed poll . But now my old birth certificate, old passport & new passport all have different names . There similar names but they don’t match . I now have an employer asking for GCSE certificates however these don’t match my current name or the name transferred on the deed poll as that was my passport name to new passport name . The gcse certificates do match my birth certificates but not my old passport or new name passport . Does any one have any advice ?

Evidence chain.
I was worried when I needed a DBS for my work because I'd changed from firstname middlename surname to being known as middlename surname and then via deed poll to middle (now technically firstname) dh-surname-mysurname.

I just needed to show evidence of each incremental change. All my certificates are my original name bar one, which is the middle version. Luckily I have old passports (via statutory declaration) in that name so I have the link. Sounds more complicated than it was! Just don't lose any documents...

Change your name to ‘Elisabeth’ by deed poll?