Re-registering a birth

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Re-registering a child's first name

See Directgov for details and application forms, or call our helpline on 0845 129 5900 to request a form.

Send the relevant form to the register office for the district where the child was born. If your child was born in Oxfordshire please return the form to The Duty Registrar at The Register Office, 1 Tidmarsh Lane, Oxford.

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Re-registering a child's surname

Your child’s birth needs to be re-registered if you wish to add the natural father’s details or if the parents have married each other since the birth.

See Directgov for advice and application forms for the following:

• Adding the natural father's details (where the parents are not married)
• If the parents have married since registering the birth

The easiest way for the birth to be re-registered is for both parents to attend their nearest registration office together, once the relevant form has been completed and returned.

It is also possible for either parent to make a statutory declaration before a solicitor or other person able legally to witness an oath, acknowledging parentage of the child. It is also possible for either parent to seek a court order naming the father.

In any of these cases the birth will be registered again and certified copies of the re-registered birth can be purchased from the registrar.

Changing to the mother's surname

If the parents were not married to each other at the time of the birth and it was decided to give the child the father's surname, whether or not he attended with the mother, it is not possible to change the surname in the registration back to that of the mother.

The only alternative will be to consult a solicitor and make a statutory declaration or deed poll changing the surname of the child.

This will not change the original birth registration. The statutory declaration or deed poll document should be attached to the birth certificate and this will provide evidence that the child is being brought up in a surname different to that recorded in the birth registration.

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Correcting an error in a birth registration

Every birth registration is an historic record of the event. However, if a mistake was made on the original record, it may be possible to get it changed.

See Directgov for detailed advice and application forms.