Make and explore Freedom of Information requests
Offensive? Unsuitable?
Requests for personal information and vexatious requests are not considered valid for FOI purposes (read more).
If you believe this request is not suitable, you can report it for attention by the site administrators
Report this requestAct on what you've learnt
Similar requests
Marriage Act 1949
To General Register Office by Steve Elibank 28 October 2010
Written certificates
To General Register Office by Steve Elibank 16 September 2010
Restrictions on Surnames
To General Register Office by A Devlet 24 March 2010
Legal title
To General Register Office by n.r.b. 16 May 2010
Validation
To General Register Office by n.r.b. 28 April 2010
Relevance of Name
To Home Office by R Austin 6 June 2011
Questions with regard to the Copy of the UK Birth Certificate
To General Register Office by Master Wild Hunt 31 December 2010
What is "Evidence of Identity"?
To General Register Office by Steve Kirby 6 July 2010
Birth Certificate Registration/Application number
To General Register Office by Ian Rossiter 4 March 2011
Where are birth certificates held?
To General Register Office by Matthew Cooper 28 August 2010
All caps surname
n.r.b. made this Freedom of Information request to General Register Office
The request was successful.
From: n.r.b.
5 February 2010
Dear General Register Office, Looking through the birth
certificates of my family, I noticed that the surname is allays
written in all capital letters, What is the explanation for this.
Yours faithfully,
n.r.b.
please reply to this address
[email address]
From: n.r.b.
6 March 2010
Dear General Register Office,
Please be advised that I have not received a response, to 'All caps
surname', I would appreciate a reason for the delay.
Yours faithfully,
n.r.b.
From: Hughes Selwyn
General Register Office
29 March 2010
Thank you for your enquiry concerning surnames as recorded in birth
registers.
When a birth is registered the surname is always recorded in capital
letters to make sure that this is clearly distinguishable from the
forename(s). It is important that the details in the entry are as clear as
possible and allow for no misunderstanding, and one of the ways we can
achieve this is to show the surname in this way.
I hope this answers your query.
Selwyn Hughes
Communications Manager
Identity and Passport Service | General Register Office | Communications
and Business Support | Room 109 Smedley Hydro | Trafalgar Road | Southport
| PR8 2HH
T: 0151 471 4242 | M: 07724 108 566 | E: [email address]
To find out more about the General Register Office, visit
[1]www.direct.gov.uk/gro
show quoted sections
Communications via the GSi may be automatically logged, monitored and/or
recorded for legal purposes.
References
Visible links
1. file://www.direct.gov.uk/gro
From: n.r.b.
29 March 2010
Dear Hughes Selwyn,
Thank you for your response of my e-mail "all caps surname" I would
be able to see the logic in your explanation if the all caps
reasoning where to apply to the full name, in other words all
capitalisation, however this is only applicable to the surname
which tends to render your logic inconsistent, some might say
invalid, is this your opinion or is this a factual official view
Are there any other reasons for the explanation "all caps surname",
please let me know.
Yours sincerely,
n.r.b.
15 April 2010
Sent a follow up to General Register Office again.
From: Hughes Selwyn
General Register Office
28 April 2010
Dear nrb,
Thank you for your email of 29 March, following my reply to your query on
capital letters used in surnames in register entries.
The distinction we are trying to achieve is to make it clear which of the
names recorded is the surname. That is why the surname only is in capital
letters. I hope this clarifies the postion.
Yours sincerely
Selwyn Hughes
Communications Manager
Identity and Passport Service | General Register Office | Communications
and Business Support | Room 109 Smedley Hydro | Trafalgar Road | Southport
| PR8 2HH
[email address]
To find out more about the General Register Office, visit
[1]www.direct.gov.uk/gro
show quoted sections
Communications via the GSi may be automatically logged, monitored and/or
recorded for legal purposes.
References
Visible links
1. file://www.direct.gov.uk/gro
From: n.r.b.
28 April 2010
Dear Hughes Selwyn.
Thank you very much your response, I am pleased that you clarified
your answer to my question, I take it from your response, you seem
to be indicating that is the only reason for "all caps surname",
just to make it absolutely clear, can you confirm that there are no
other reasons.
Yours sincerely,
n.r.b.
From: Hughes Selwyn
General Register Office
28 April 2010
Dear n.r.b.
No, that's the only reason we ask registrars to record the information
in that way.
Selwyn Hughes
Communications Manager
Identity and Passport Service | General Register Office | Communications
and Business Support | Room 109 Smedley Hydro | Trafalgar Road |
Southport | PR8 2HH
[email address]
To find out more about the General Register Office, visit
www.direct.gov.uk/gro
show quoted sections
Things to do with this request
- Add an annotation (to help the requester or others)
- Download a zip file of all correspondence
brian ovens left an annotation (23 December 2010)
Link to this