Searching Birth Certificates

Do you know who you are looking for?

The simplest way to search is if you know the name of the individual you are looking for. Type the first name and last name in the Search box at the top of this page. Put quotation marks (“) before the first name and after the last name (for example, “John Smith”). Press enter or click on the magnifying glass icon at the right side of the box to search. Thumbnails for any certificates will appear on the right side of the screen. Click on a thumbnail to view, print, or download a certificate. To learn more about advanced searches, please see the page “Searching in SCERA”.

Are you unsure of who you are looking for?

Using the index to find a certificate

There is an index available if you need to find the name of the individual you are trying to research or were not able to find a certificate using the method above.

Follow this link to go to the index of birth certificates for 1915.

Follow this link to go to the index of birth certificates for 1916.

Follow this link to go to the index of birth certificates for 1917.

Follow this link to go to the index of birth certificates for 1918.

Follow this link to go to the index of birth certificates for 1919.

Follow this link to go to the index of birth certificates for 1920.

Follow this link to go to the index of birth certificates for 1921.

Follow this link to go to the index of birth certificates for 1922.

Follow this link to go to the index of birth certificates for 1923.

The indexes are also available on the public computers in the SCDAH Research Room. Click the “download” button in the upper-right corner to download the index to your computer. The index is arranged by the last name of the child. The index also contains the certificate number, date of birth, county of birth, mother’s full maiden name, and digital file name. You can copy and paste any of these fields into the search box at the top of this page. Don’t forget to place quotation marks around what you enter into the box (enter “John Smith” instead of John Smith). Press enter or click on the magnifying glass icon at the right side of the box to search. Thumbnails for any certificates will appear on the right side of the screen. Click on a thumbnail to view, print, or download a certificate. For the most detailed results, use the digital file name.

Browsing all certificates

If you wish, you can also browse all certificates by following this link. They are divided into months, and within each month for 1915 they are arranged alphabetically by county; for 1916, 1917, 1918, 1919, 1920, 1921, and 1922 they are arranged by digital file name. There are folders titled “Affidavits and Amendments” which contain corrections and amended birth certificates. These documents are not arranged. For 1920, the digital file name includes the child’s name from the birth certificate. For 1919, there is also a folder titled “Delayed Birth Certificates” which contains birth certificate records which were filed significantly after the date of birth.