Missing surname on Birth Certificate?

Question

Asking for my mother who was born in Jackson, Oklahoma 1949.

Her name appears on the certificate as..

Susan Kay

Her father's last name (On the certificate) is Maxwell

Her mother's last name is Langford

Throughout her life she's assumed that she took her Father's last name.

The question is, is it common for old certificates like this to omit a surname or is "Kay" her actual last name?

Answer 1

Probably the records are listed:

DATE  Child    Father      Mother  Other Data

and the certificate repeats:

DATE_Susan Kay F:_Maxwell M:_Langford Female, Wt.

Imagine a large ledger with rows and colums.

Answer 2

You might want to call the Jackson Oklahoma recorders office and ask them if it was common to not have a child's surname on the birth certificate. It is possible that it was a simple omission or a typo that was never caught. Kay certainly could be either a surname or a middle name. I have certainly heard of odder things happening with birth certificates.  In some states I know people who have had to file their own birth certificates when they became adults!  

Genzoli

founder California Genealogy Club

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/california...

Answer 3

It would be best if you were to call the Jackson County courthouse and ask them.

Phone: [phone] or (580) 482- 0881

Fax: [phone]

Answer 4

I've transcribed hundreds of birth certificates, and I've run across quite a few that omitted the child's surname.  If the parents were married, it was just considered obvious that the child's surname is the same as the father's.  Birth certificates are usually filed alphabetically, so you could write to the county courthouse and ask how her birth certificate was filed.  However... if your mother grew up being told that her name was Susan Kay Maxwell, then that's her name.  A mistake or omission on a birth certificate doesn't change that. It's just a piece of paper.  My husband's birth certificate lists his middle name as "C." -- but that doesn't mean his middle name is really just a letter.  Everyone knows his middle name is Charles.

Answer 5

It's probably just sloppy record-keeping. If the father is listed on the birth certificate, then he's the father by law and she would have his last name. When you research enough, especially in rural America, you'll find it was common to only list a child by first and middle name and index it only by what was filled in as the surname for dad. If she went her whole life believing her name was Maxwell and that's what she used on all of her records, then by all means that is considered her legal maiden name. Before the age of computers and identity theft, the oversights on the record-keeping were overlooked in favor of the "common usage" doctrine.