What do these fields on a Swedish Baptism Certificate mean?

March 13, 2015 12:52 PM

Looking at a Swedish baptism certificate (long story) using Google translate, the parents are listed under Vårdnadshavare (caregivers). For each caregiver there is an Tillhörighet (affiliation) field. I'd like to understand what this means.

On this certificate Tillhörighet is 'Tillhörig' (belonging) for the mother and 'Ej tillhörig' (not belonging) for the father. The mother is Swedish and the father isn't. Is that what the belonging / not belonging refers to or does it mean something else?
Thanks!

posted by NailsTheCat to Writing & Language (4 answers total)

Best answer: Could it be "belonging to the congregation in which the baptism took place"? In this case, the baby is being baptized in his mother's church, and presumably his father didn't attend or wasn't registered there.
posted by Liesl at 1:03 PM on March 13, 2015

Best answer: My guess is whether the person is a member of the same church/denomination as the one providing the baptism.
posted by trivia genius at 1:03 PM on March 13, 2015

Response by poster: Brilliant! That makes a lot of sense. Thanks!
posted by NailsTheCat at 1:15 PM on March 13, 2015

Best answer: If the father's not from Sweden, it's more likely "member of the Swedish Church/tillhörighet i svenska kyrkan."
posted by Namlit at 1:54 PM on March 13, 2015