Could a first name in a certificate be wrong?

[Lesley Robertson]

Was the father long dead? I think that some people didn't like to admit that they didn't know the forename of a parent who died during their childhood (when they were presumably called some variation on Mum and Dad) and made something up. My Great Uncle did with his mother's name when registering his father's death..

[Sumi]

You say " what could the reason be for that, apart from illiteracy? (Although the registrar wasn’t illiterate?!)" Well this 1890 registrar wasn't illiterate and he entered my grandmother Elizabeth's name bottom left of the marriage certificate for her "X" mark, but when he completed the certificate, he entered her name as Catherine as name of the bride! He confusted her name with the female witness was Catherine. The GRO cannot remove the original but incorrect detail from the index but they have since added my grandmother's correct Christian name. I'm pretty sure the CofE parish register has no correction.

Sue

[Jessie 888]

Was the father long dead? I think that some people didn't like to admit that they didn't know the forename of a parent who died during their childhood (when they were presumably called some variation on Mum and Dad) and made something up. My Great Uncle did with his mother's name when registering his father's death..

You're absolutely spot on with that guess, Lesley. Good point!