The following was received from Debra Chatfield of findmypast.co.uk:
Findmypast.co.uk, leading UK family history website, has launched an easier way to find the births of English and Welsh
ancestors online. The company has re-indexed over 100 million birth records dating from 1837 to 2006.
Findmypast.co.uk’s fully re-indexed birth records make finding ancestors much simpler and includes: search results in the form of a list of individual names; the ability to search the complete 1837-2006 set of birth records in one go or by one or more counties at a time; new high quality images; smart search features including variations of a name records of children unnamed at registration; and searching by mother’s maiden name at the same time to help find the most elusive births.
With this new resource now available, findmypast.co.uk has uncovered some interesting facts about the births that were registered between 1837 and 2006: 10 babies named Fish Fish born between 1840 and 1883, bizarrely, all in Lancashire. The list includes one Fish Fish Fish born in Blackburn in 1864; Just five Ringos were registered in 1964 and 1965, compared with 2,414 Georges, 36,877 Johns and 56,170 Pauls; six Dick Turpins were registered between 1854 and 1916; four Maradonas were registered in 1986, the year of the infamous ‘Hand of God’ goal; eight Peles were registered between 1970 and 1972, following the footballer’s 1000th goal in 1969.
Findmypast.co.uk has also looked into the birth patterns over the past century and found that the trend for births at certain times of the year has changed. In 1907 and 1908, the peak time of year for births was during April, May and June, compared with 2007 and 2008 when July, August and September saw the most births.
Debra Chatfield, marketing manager at findmypast.co.uk, said, “As the first company to publish birth, marriage and death records online, findmypast.co.uk is committed to making family history research more accessible. Findmypast’s brand new birth indexes now provide an easier route into our families’ pasts than ever before.
“Findmypast.co.uk is currently working on re-indexing the marriage and death records and once complete, findmypast.co.uk will have digitised over a quarter of a billion records. Thanks to initiatives like this, family history is more popular than ever and the amount of historical records that are now available to search and view online will help even more people to start to uncover their own family tree.”
