ManxBMD

Civil Registration Indexes for the Isle of Man

Frequently Asked Questions

Please check the list below, you may find your answer.

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No. This is just an index to the registers. It contains the year, name, and entry number to the actual record.

Sorry but no. You’ll need to contact the Civil Registry to order any certificates that you want. Their address is The Douglas Civil Registry Office, Deemsters Walk, Douglas, Isle of Man, IM1 3AR Telephone: 01624 687039..

If the month of the event is in November or December, try having a look at the following year. Births and deaths need to be registered within six weeks now, but in the early days of civil registration it could be quite a few weeks, or even months before the event is registered.

Manx National Heritage’s iMuseum provides an index to baptisms, marriages and burials from the Parish Registers. The Isle of Man Family History Society also has some transcribed indexes.

“AKA” means “also known as”. Some people may have had another first name or surname that they were commonly known by. The index will say, for example, John Smith aka Brown, so John Smith was also known as John Brown. There will also be an entry for John Brown aka Smith.  Alias is also used commonly.

For a significant number of marriages only the grooms name was indexed.  Where possible, the brides have been found and matched.  This is an ongoing process.

Those who were married in a Registry Office, Catholic church, or other place of worship are known as dissenters. This will be every marriage that doesn’t take place in the established church (Church of England).

The index doesn’t include this information.  Although a mother’s name might be included on later birth entries, this has been omitted to comply with GDPR regulations.

Try adjusting your search parameters. For example, Corlett is one of the most popular surnames on the Island. If you’re looking for John Corlett, there will be quite a few results – try adding in a place name or year. If after all attempts the result still eludes you, are you certain the event took place on the Island? Finally, there is always the possibility that the person was missed from the handwritten index.  Unfortunately this has happened.

All the entries in the database are double-keyed – two people transcribe each record – this is to ensure that the records are as accurate as possible. Because there are so many records you may find some with a note saying “not cross checked”. This means that only one person has transcribed this record and it hasn’t been cross checked yet.