Birth registration - surname

zepman

Hi,

My wife and I are expecting a baby soon so I have been reading up on the rules of birth registration (https://www.hse.ie/eng/services/list/1/bdm/registerabirth/).

Now, both my wife and I have a two-word surname but we'd like the baby's surname to be just the first word.

As per the rules webpage, "If you want your child to have a surname other than the surname of the father or mother or both, then an application must be made to the Registrar General or a Superintendent Registrar in writing.".

1) Anyone know if this applies in our case? That is, if our surname is "abc xyz" and we want the baby's surname to be "abc", do we have to make an application to the Registrar General?

2) In case it's a yes to the above, where and when should the application be made? Is this at the same time that we attend for the registration at the Office of the Registrar?

Orion

I don't think you need to apply to anyone as you're not planning on a completely random surname - it's one of yours. But just ask the registrar in the hospital when they come around to you. When we had our children (not married) we went double-barrelled (hers mine) and it was not an issue.

lazygal

Names are based on common usage in Ireland. Your child can have any first or surname you wish.

Happydippy

I have both my mother and father's surnames on my birth cert but only use mothers name day to day. I didn't even know I had double barrel name til I was teenager.
On passport, revenue, banking etc I just use my mothers surname as well.
It's never caused any problems as far as I know.

zepman

Thanks all! Just for the benefit of anyone who might be in a similar position - I got the baby's birth registered today and simply specified the first word in my surname as the baby's surname, without any specific application required. So, like Orion said, it looks like as long as the surname is not a completely different one, there won't be an issue.