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How did you change a surname years ago?
Profile | Posted by | Options | Post Date |
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Heather | Report | 30 Apr 2009 19:25 |
I wonder if anyone can help me? I have been searching for my Great Grandfather William Palmer born in 1856 in Compton Valance, Dorchester. I can find no records of him but I can for a William Samways. It seems that Williams father was Henry Palmer alias Samways. Later on I pick up William Palmer on the census, which is definitely him but he is using the name of Palmer and his marrage certificates are in the name of Palmer. If Henry was born out of wedlock and therefore was registered in his mothers name & when he married and had children they would also be registered as Samways, how can William decided to drop Samways and take on the name of Palmer? |
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Alan | Report | 30 Apr 2009 19:41 |
My understanding is that it's not against the law to change your name provided it is not intended to deceive. |
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Penny | Report | 30 Apr 2009 19:41 |
You can wake up tommorow & decide to call yourself whatever you like! |
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Heather | Report | 30 Apr 2009 21:12 |
Thanks for this, I thought you had to do something legal. |
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SylviaInCanada | Report | 1 May 2009 00:57 |
You can do it legally ..... or by deed poll |
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Researching: |
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Madmeg | Report | 1 May 2009 03:19 |
Hi Heather |
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Battenburg | Report | 1 May 2009 06:18 |
My gt grandfather started using his grandfathers surname after he married. |
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Marion | Report | 1 May 2009 08:09 |
I spent years looking for my grandmother's birth and eventually discovered she had been born about 6 months before her mother married and had been registered in her mother's name. Four years on, however, on the 1881 census she was shown under her mother's husband's name and this was the name she used up to and including her marriage. This begs the question, was her mother's husband actually her father? I shall never know. |
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Heather | Report | 1 May 2009 09:59 |
I'm glad I not the only one who has found this problem, but sorry for you who have suffered like me trying to untangle the web. What about when people got married did they not have to show their birth cert? Because mine would have one in the name of Samways but married under the name of Palmer? |
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KathleenBell | Report | 1 May 2009 10:23 |
I got married in 1969 and you didn't have to show your birth certificate then. |
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Chris in Sussex | Report | 1 May 2009 18:14 |
Apparently it was quite common to use an alias where you were brought up by a stepfather even if you were not illegitimate. |
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Researching: |
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Heather | Report | 2 May 2009 10:15 |
Thanks for your tips and information on this. I got married in 2007 and had to provide birth cert and or passport etc, so I thought it was the same years ago. |