If you're having problems locating the registration of someone's birth, there are a few factors that might be the cause:
The person might have changed their name (by deed poll, for instance) later in life. It's not common, but it does happen.
There could be more than one person with the same name born within days of each other in the same district. The more information you can supply, such as exact date of birth or parents' names, the greater your chances of success.
The entry might be in a different district. Just because you were told (or believe) a person was born in a certain place, that's not necessarily true. Be willing to check the information for surrounding districts, too.
The birth might not have been registered. This is possible between 1837 and 1875, when, in some parts of the country, up to 15% of births went unregistered.
The birth might have been incorrectly indexed. Since clerks only wrote what they heard, a name could have been misspelt or a date of birth record incorrectly.
Tags: locating common names registered indexed
© Copyright 2012, Inc. All rights reserved.