Wedlock, illegitimate, bastard: the words for children of unmarried parents

What does 'born out of wedlock' mean?

'Born out of wedlock' means born to a mother and father who were not married to each other at the time of the birth. It is a formal and now old-fashioned phrase, used in historical writing, in older legal documents and in religious contexts. It is the polite cousin of two harsher words, 'illegitimate' and 'bastard', which describe the same status in more pointed terms.

The phrase puts the emphasis on the parents' legal state rather than on the child. That was typical of the older law, which attached consequences to the circumstances of the birth: a child born outside marriage could not normally inherit from the father on intestacy and was not treated in law as a member of the father's family. These rules changed in stages across the twentieth century and have been almost entirely removed, as later sections show.

The vocabulary has a history of its own. English has at least four layers of words for the same fact. 'Wedlock' is an Old English word. 'Bastard' came from Old French. 'Illegitimate' was formed in the sixteenth century from Latin building blocks, and 'natural' was a euphemism in use from about 1400. Each layer shows a different attitude: the legal, the aristocratic, the learned and the tactful.

Context matters for the numbers behind the words. Historians at the Cambridge Group for the History of Population and Social Structure write that, until the last few decades of the twentieth century, fewer than 10% of births in England and Wales, and often fewer than 5%, took place outside marriage ^[12]. The share fell during the second half of the nineteenth century and stayed around 4% until the 1960s, then rose from 6% in 1961 to more than 50% in 2022 ^[12]. The words were coined when the practice was unusual, and they have been largely retired as it became common.

Words and laws for children of unmarried parents

1. Early 13th century'Bastard' is recorded for an illegitimate child, from Old French bastard [3].
2. c. 1400'Out of wedlock' is first recorded; 'natural' also appears as a euphemism for illegitimate children [1][10].
3. 1530s'Illegitimate' appears in the sense of born out of wedlock, replacing the older 'illegitime' [2].
4. 1830'Bastard' is attested as a general term of abuse for a man [3].
5. 1926The Legitimacy Act 1926 legitimises a child whose parents later marry each other [9].
6. 1969The Family Law Reform Act 1969 allows a child born outside marriage to inherit on a parent's intestacy [9].
7. 1987The Family Law Reform Act 1987 requires family relationships to be read without regard to the parents' marital status in England and Wales [4].
8. 2006Scotland abolishes the status of illegitimacy by amending its 1986 Act (in force 4 May 2006) [8].

Where does the word 'wedlock' come from?

'Wedlock' comes from Old English wedlac, meaning a pledge-giving or a marriage vow. Etymonline traces the Middle English wedlok, "the institution of marriage or the state of being married", to that Old English form ^[1]. The first element, wed, goes back to Old English weddian, to pledge oneself or to betroth, and later to marry, from a Germanic root meaning "to pledge" that is related to Latin vas, "bail, security" ^[1].

The second element looks like the English word "lock", but it is not. Etymonline explains that -lac was a noun ending meaning "actions or proceedings, practice", found in about a dozen Old English compounds, of which wedlock is the only survivor ^[1]. Etymonline says that folk etymology probably reshaped the ending through association with "lock", which is how a word about a promise came to look like a word about a latch ^[1]. The idea of marriage as a lock is a later gloss on the spelling, not the source of the word.

The sense "state of being married" is recorded from around 1200, in the phrase "in wedlock", and the negative phrase "out of wedlock", meaning outside marriage, is attested from around 1400 ^[1]. So the negative phrase is recorded about two centuries after the positive one.

The pledge at the root of the word is a reminder that marriage rested on a promise, and that promises to marry later had their own legal history, treated in the site's article on heart balm and breach of promise actions.

How did 'illegitimate' and 'bastard' enter English?

'Bastard' entered English in the early thirteenth century, and 'illegitimate' in the 1530s. Etymonline gives early 13th century for 'bastard' as a word for an illegitimate child, taken from Old French bastard, which meant a nobleman's acknowledged child by a woman who was not his wife ^[3]. The French word is probably from fils de bast, "packsaddle son", referring to a child conceived on an improvised bed, since saddles often doubled as beds while travelling ^[3]. Etymonline adds that the Oxford English Dictionary suggests a possible source in an Old Frisian word, bost, "morganatic marriage" ^[3].

'Illegitimate' is a Latin-based formation. Etymonline dates it to the 1530s in the sense "born out of wedlock, unlawfully begotten", formed from the negating prefix il- and 'legitimate', and modelled on Late Latin illegitimus ^[2]. It replaced an earlier English form, illegitime, about 1500 ^[2]. 'Legitimate' itself goes back to Latin legitimus, "lawful", from lex, "law" ^[2]. The word is thus a legal term from the start, and it is built on the idea of conformity to law.

Not every 'bastard' suffered social stigma. Etymonline notes that stigma was not always attached to the word, and that records call William the Conqueror "William the Bastard" ^[3]. The best-known bearer of the name was a duke of Normandy who became king of England, which shows that the word could describe an origin without cancelling a person's rank. The distinction mattered mostly for inheritance, where a child born outside marriage could not claim the estate of a father who left no legitimate heir.

The terms were not synonyms for long. 'Illegitimate' became the neutral, technical word in law and bureaucracy, 'bastard' the old, blunt one, and 'natural' the tactful one. Etymonline records "natural" as a euphemism for illegitimate, said of children, from about 1400, based on blood kinship rather than legal status ^[10].

When did 'bastard' become a general insult?

'Bastard' became a general term of abuse for a man by 1830. Etymonline attests that sense from 1830 as a vulgar insult that no longer needed any reference to a person's parentage ^[3]. An earlier figurative use had existed since the late fourteenth century, in the sense of something impure or not genuine ^[3].

The way the word travelled from description to insult is typical of terms for social status. The label attached to a group by law becomes an insult when it is applied to individuals regardless of their circumstances. By 1830 the word could be used of any man who annoyed the speaker, which is the sense most people recognise today. The literal sense is now found mainly in historical writing.

Related words went the same way. Etymonline lists 'bastardize' from the 1540s, meaning to declare illegitimate, and from the 1580s in the figurative sense of making degenerate ^[3]. These derivatives show that the idea of impurity was attached to the word early on, and that it was easy for later speakers to extend the metaphor from a person to a thing.

As an insult, the word no longer describes anyone's parentage. It survives because of the history of the word, not because of the facts to which it once referred.

Why did the law stop distinguishing between children?

The law stopped distinguishing between children because Parliament accepted that children should not be disadvantaged by the status of their parents' relationship. Legal reform came in stages. The Legitimacy Act 1926 allowed a child to be legitimated when the parents later married each other, but not where the parents had not been free to marry at the time of the birth, a limit that the Legitimacy Act 1959 removed. The Family Law Reform Act 1969 then allowed a child born outside marriage to inherit from either parent who died without a will ^[9].

The decisive step in England and Wales was the Family Law Reform Act 1987, whose section 1 came into force on 4 April 1988 ^[13]. Section 1 sets the general principle: references to relationships in that Act and in later enactments and instruments are to be read without regard to whether the parents of the persons involved were married, unless a contrary intention appears ^[4]. The section has exceptions, for example for adopted persons, and it extends to England and Wales only ^[4]. The Bill enacted the general recommendations of the Law Commission's first report, with modifications from its second, and the Solicitor General, Sir Patrick Mayhew, told the Commons on 7 April 1987 that it did nothing to undermine the institution of marriage ^[5].

Its other parts covered fathers' parental rights, custody and financial provision, the repeal of the old affiliation proceedings, intestacy and succession, and the recording of paternity on a birth certificate, although the descent of titles of honour was left unchanged ^[5]. In a written answer on 4 March 1988, the Attorney General said that the Lord Chancellor would bring the Act into force on 4 April 1988, except for Part II and sections 23 to 25, which depended on further arrangements such as those for DNA testing ^[6]. The commencement order for that date brought into force section 1 and a number of other provisions, including those on intestacy and succession ^[13]. The children's legal position is covered in detail in the article on the law on children born outside marriage.

Scotland moved first on the principle and later on the label. The Scottish Law Commission published its Report on Family Law: Illegitimacy on 7 November 1983, as Report No. 82 ^[7], and the Solicitor General described the Scottish line of approach as already enacted when the English Bill was debated in 1987 ^[5]. The Scottish Parliament then went further in the Family Law (Scotland) Act 2006: section 21 rewrote section 1 of the Law Reform (Parent and Child) (Scotland) Act 1986 so that nobody whose status is governed by Scots law can be illegitimate, and it ended actions of declarator of legitimacy, legitimation or illegitimacy, with effect from 4 May 2006 and with savings for succession and for the Lord Lyon ^[8].

Which words are used today?

Today the standard phrases are neutral: 'born outside marriage', 'to unmarried parents', 'to parents who were not married' or simply 'a child of unmarried parents'. Official statistics use the formula "births outside marriage or civil partnership", and the Office for National Statistics reported that 51.4% of births in England and Wales in 2022 were registered outside a marriage or civil partnership ^[11]. The same bulletin notes that 69.3% of these births were registered jointly by parents living at the same address ^[11].

The older terms survive in specific places. 'Illegitimate' still appears in historical sources and in genealogy, and the Family Law Reform Act 1987 left the descent of titles of honour unchanged ^[5][14]. The word 'wedlock' remains in formal and journalistic writing, as in 'children born out of wedlock'.

The social side of the story is covered elsewhere. The attitudes of the churches towards unmarried parents, the tradition of the pregnant bride and the 'shotgun wedding' are discussed in the article on the meaning and origin of the shotgun wedding. For readers interested in the vocabulary of sex outside marriage more generally, the article on the meaning and origin of fornication is the starting point.

Frequently asked questions

Is 'illegitimate' still used in UK law?

Only in a few corners. Section 1 of the Family Law Reform Act 1987 requires family relationships in England and Wales to be read without regard to whether the parents were married ^[4], and Scotland abolished the status of illegitimacy for anyone whose status is governed by Scots law in 2006 ^[8]. The word can still appear in old documents and in the rules on the descent of titles of honour, which the 1987 Act left unchanged ^[5].

Why was William the Conqueror called 'the Bastard'?

Because his parents were not married to each other, and at the time the word described his birth rather than insulting him. Etymonline notes that stigma was not always attached to the word and that state documents refer to him as "William the Bastard" ^[3]. The word came from Old French, where it meant a nobleman's acknowledged child by a woman who was not his wife ^[3].

What does 'natural child' mean?

It means a child born to parents who were not married. Etymonline records this euphemistic use of 'natural', based on blood kinship rather than legal status, from about 1400 ^[10].

What share of UK births are outside marriage?

In England and Wales, 51.4% of births in 2022 were registered outside marriage or civil partnership, according to the Office for National Statistics ^[11]. The Cambridge Group's historians write that the share stayed around 4% until the 1960s and rose from 6% in 1961 ^[12]. This page gives no single UK-wide figure, because Scotland and Northern Ireland publish their own statistics.

Did Scotland abolish illegitimacy at the same time as England?

No, it moved in two steps. Scotland had already legislated on the principle, in the Law Reform (Parent and Child) (Scotland) Act 1986, and the English Bill of 1987 was said to follow the Scottish approach ^[5][8]. The label itself was abolished in Scots law by section 21 of the Family Law (Scotland) Act 2006, in force from 4 May 2006 ^[8].

Can a child born outside marriage inherit a title?

Generally the 1987 reforms do not apply to titles. The Solicitor General said in the Commons in 1987 that none of the reforms would alter the descent of titles of honour, and section 19(4) of the Act keeps property that goes with a title on its old course ^[14]. The position on a particular title depends on its own rules, and this page does not set them out.