Hypothetical question . . . name change

[Jean McGurn]

If the person has died you may be able to find the death certificate in both names. I discovered that when I sent off for one.

I grew up thinking a relative went under one name but when a few years ago I sent of for the death certificate it had her original names and surname with a.k.a and the names she had been known under for quite a long time (from the phone books at least before 1938).

Checking the GRO entries afterwards I found she was listed under both names.

I should say she never married and had added the letter E to her surname and also had an unknown surname in place of her second name. This I have taken to be a possible man who may have died during WWI so aunty never married but kept her man's memory alive by using his name

Jean

[Greensleeves]

In years gone by they weren't so preoccupied with proving facts about someone, particularly those who wanted to enlist - which is why so many under-age lads were able to get themselves across to France to die in the trenches during WW1.

[stanmapstone]

For joining the Army, I don't think any proof of birth/name/age was required?

Certainly for marriage, it is a relatively recent requirement to provide proof.
It was assumed that if asked, people told the truth!

I am sure Stan will correct me!

You did not have to produce any proof. The minister or Registrar accepted what they were told, but Banns and the marriage book in the register office were there to enable the public to raise any objections to the marriage
Today you have to provide proof of identity to get married in a Register Office, for acceptable documents see  http://www.rootschat.com/links/0sdv/
As far as I can see this does not apply to a church wedding, but to prevent bogus marriages I expect that some form of identification would be required

Stan

[stanmapstone]

A summary of the law relating to the preliminaries to Anglican Marriage in England and Wales is given at http://www.facultyoffice.org.uk/Marriage.html

San

[groom]

Might be worth trying The London Gazette, Wiggy. I found one of mine with a name change in 1958. http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/search

[hjstort]

The London Gazette of  22 March 1927 revealed the name change of one of my father's cousins.

[Wiggy]

Thank you all very much folks - some leads to work on there!

Wiggy   

[Meezer]

I found the marriage of a great aunt where she'd falsified her age and married out of town (she'd have needed her parent's permission at the time as she was under 21) The man she married gave a false name - I reckon her parents knew he was a wrong 'un and were against him! The marriage didn't last long and he's been fun to trace through the various census returns with his changes of name!

Would the marriage have been invalid? She set up home and had a family with another chap calling herself by his name. They eventually married when they were both in their 50's presumably thinking hubby number one had died by then. He hadn't! 

[Maria Goretti]

One person in my family tree changes his name and surname between birth 1899 and 1911 census, it appears the parent separated so perhaps the mother changed the son's name to her surname but also changed the first name. When this boy married his marriage was registered under both names, thats how we could find him, I couldn't find him registered under his new name.

In another case  a man adopted a double barrel surname when he married, his mothers' surname first followed by his father's. The man's father died soon after his birth which was perhaps the reason for doing this.

In yet another case,  a man who married a widow with children had her children reregistered under his Surname and this change was added on to the birth register.

I hope this is of some help, Maria