Births and Deaths Registration Act 1874

8 Registration of name of child or of alteration of name

When the birth of any child has been registered and the name, if any, by which it was registered is altered, or if it was registered without a name, when a name is given to it, the parent or guardian of such child, or other person procuring such name to be altered or given, may, within twelve months next after the registration of the birth, deliver to the registrar or superintendent registrar such certificate as herein-after mentioned, and the registrar or superintendent registrar, upon the receipt of that certificate, and on payment of the appointed fee, shall, without any erasure of the original entry, forthwith enter in the register book the name mentioned in the certificate as having been given to the child, and having stated upon the certificate the fact of such entry having been made, shall forthwith send the certificate to the Registrar General, together with a certified copy of the entry of the birth with the name so added.

The certificate shall be in the form given in the first schedule to this Act, or as near thereto -as circumstances admit, and shall be signed by the minister or person who performed the rite of baptism upon which the name was given or altered, or, if the child is not baptized, shall be signed by the father, mother, or guardian of the child, or other person procuring the name of the child to be given or

Every minister or person who performs the rite of baptism shall deliver the certificate required by this section on demand, on payment of a fee not exceeding one shilling.

The provisions of this section shall apply with the prescribed modifications in the case of births at sea, of which a return is sent to the Registrar General of Births and Deaths in England.