Enter a first and/or last name to search South Carolina birth records. This website was created to provide genealogists with access to the South Carolina birth records from a single place. Additional information on how to obtain South Carolina birth certificates is available below.
Birth records contain information about a person's birth, including the date of birth, place of birth, sometimes the names of the mother and father, and even the physician who attended the birth. Birth certificates issued by state and local governments will often include the place of residence, and the mother's maiden name.
This webpage gives you access to all of the online databases containing South Carolina birth records, South Carolina birth ceritificates, South Carolina birth notices, South Carolina birth indexes, and other related South Carolina genealogy records.
Birth records have long been used to help with genealogy research. They are considered to be "primary source" records, because the information is recorded by an eye witness, at the time the birth takes place. The Internet has allowed people to store birth records into various online archives. This has brought access to online birth records much more easier for genealogy researchers.
Newspapers frequently publish notices of births, and in addition to birth certificates, are a popular source of research by genealogists. Newspapers typically do not announce the names of the newborn, but list the sex of the child, the names of the parents, the place and date of birth.
On this page you will find the most comprehensive databases containing birth records of South Carolina. We also suggest searching for "South Carolina birth records" using Google.com, which will yield all such databases.
Search the South Carolina Birth Records Database
How to Obtain South Carolina Birth Certificates
A law mandating registration of all births and deaths in South Carolina was signed into law on 1 September 1914. Actual registration began in 1915, and South Carolina achieved 90-percent compliance within a few years. South Carolina had no law requiring marriage licenses or registration until 1911, though many earlier records were recorded on the county level.
For birth and death records in the last fifty years and marriage records from 1 July 1950, write:
South Carolina Department of Health and Environment Control
Bureau of Vital Statistics
J. Marion Sims Building
2600 Bull Street
Columbia, SC 29201-1797
For birth and death records from 1915 to "50 years ago," write:
South Carolina Department of Archives and History
1430 Senate Street
P.O. Box 11669
Capitol Station
Columbia, SC 29211-1669
For prior records, write to the clerk of the county in question.
Other South Carolina Birth Records Websites
- SC Vital Records Services - HOW TO OBTAIN A CERTIFIED COPY OF A BIRTH CERTIFICATE
- Vital Records at the SC Archives
- SC Genealogy Helplist
- SC Vital Records from the SC GenWeb
- VitalRec - South Carolina Vital Records
Request Birth Certificates Online - VitalChek
- Birth, Marriage & Death Certificates! at Ancestry.com
Recommended South Carolina Genealogy Records
- South Carolina Cemetery Records - online burial records
- South Carolina Genealogy Records - online genealogy databases
- South Carolina Genealogy Explorer - complete listing of genealogy resources
- South Carolina Genealogy Queries - meet other South Carolina genealogy researchers
- South Carolina Birth Parent Search
- Search the Social Security Death Index