A court yesterday upheld a woman's request for her birth certificate to be corrected after noting that although she had been officially named Josephine she had always been known as Josette.

Josephine Farrugia told the court that when she was born in 1948 her parents had wished to christen her Josette. But the parish priest had refused on grounds that there was no saint by that name. She was therefore christened Josephine and the name was entered on her birth certificate.

However, she had always been known as Josette and this name was used by her on a number of official documents. She therefore asked the court to order a correction to her birth certificate to indicate that her name was in fact Josette.

The same correction was also requested in her own children's birth certificates. Mr Justice Joseph Azzopardi, sitting in the First Hall of the Civil Court, upheld Mrs Farrugia's application after noting that she had always been known as Josette.

The court, however, ordered Mrs Farrugia to pay all the costs of the litigation on the basis that the Director of Public Registry was not to blame for the error in her birth registration.