[Merry]

A while ago I was helping someone with their research. In a five year stretch there were just two men registered with their ancestor's name, both in the same year, but different quarters in the same county. I got the birth date for one from their baptism entry and both were with their respective parents in 1911. By 1939 both men were using the same dob! The one I didn't have a date for was registered before the other one, so couldn't have been born the same day. The two fathers had different names. Might have been interesting to see their marriage certificates!

OH has Irish cousins. Two first cousin girls were born, one in 1898 and the other in 1900 and were given the same name (their father's were brothers). Only one of then seems to have been registered. They both appear on the 1901 census in Cork with their respective families. By 1911 one girl had died and the other was still with her parents. The dead child's death certificate has all the correct details. The surviving child came to England where she married. The marriage certificate has the correct father's name. A few years later came the 1939 Register. Low and behold, she was using her dead cousin's date of birth. The same was recorded when she passed away. I can only imaging she needed a birth cert for something and the only one that could be provided was her cousin's, so she just went with that!