GuidedResearch:Why Can't I Find the Record - Scotland Births

This page will give you additional guidance and resources to find birth information for your ancestor. Use this page after first completing the birth section of the Scotland Guided Research page.

Mandatory birth registration started in 1855. Before this, birth and baptisms can be found in church records (mainly the Church of Scotland or Roman Catholic Church). Although the oldest baptism records date to 1553, many churches only have records starting in the 18th or early 19th century.

Additional Databases and Online Resources

 * 1553-1855: Church Registers - Births and Baptisms at ScotlandsPeople (free to search, $ to view image)
 * 1855-1917: Statutory Register of Births at ScotlandsPeople (free to search, $ to view image)
 * 1564-1950: Scotland, Select Births and Baptisms, 1564-1950  at Ancestry ($)
 * 1564-1950: Scotland Births & Baptisms 1564-1950  at FindMyPast ($)
 * 1571-1997: Scotland, Extracted Parish Records, 1571-1997  at Ancestry ($)

ScotlandsPeople ($) is the premiere website for Scotland birth records. The site requires the user to register in order to search the index for free. It costs a small fee to view any image. ScotlandsPeople is the only site with the images to Scotland church and vital records; all other sites only have indexes to these records. The FamilySearch Catalog has some these records available online as digital images.

Additional Records with Birth Information
Substitute records may contain information about more than one event and are used when records for an event are not available. Records that are used to substitute for birth events may not have been created at the time of the birth. The accuracy of the record is contingent upon when the information was recorded. Search for information in multiple substitute records to confirm the accuracy of these records.

Tips for finding births
Successfully finding birth records in online databases depends on a few key points. Try the following search suggestions:
 * Spelling variations. Your ancestor's name may be misspelled. Search with spelling variations for the first and last name of your ancestor.
 * Search parents. Search for the parents, if known, as the child's first name may not be on the birth record.
 * Search given name. Search by given name (leave out the last name) with the approximate date of birth.
 * Add information. For common names, add more information to narrow the search such as approximate birth date or parent's names if known.
 * Date range. Expand the date range of the search by 5 years.
 * Search county. Search using the county name only instead of by parish.

Known Record Gaps
Records Start Mandatory birth registration started in 1855. Before this, birth and baptisms can be found in church records (mainly the Church of Scotland or Roman Catholic Church). Although the oldest baptism registers date to 1553, many churches only have records starting in the 18th or early 19th century. While parishes were required to record baptisms and marriages beginning in 1552, many parishes did not comply with the requirement until much later.

Records Published

Records Destroyed Some church records may have been lost or destroyed, although more specific information is not known. Civil registration records are generally complete.