New York City Births Index
Database updated June 12, 2025
This database currently contains the indexes to 2,379,993 birth records from 1855 to 1909 for the five boroughs of New York City (Bronx, Kings, Manhattan, Queens and Richmond).
NOTE: You access many years of New York City vital record certificates at the New York City Municipal Archives Historical Vital Records web site, for free. You can search by name or by certificate number. You can find the certificate number in this database or from the familysearch.org website. Certificate numbering starts over each year; so you will need to know the certificate number, the year and the county.
If you would like to help index some of the early years, contact us at .GGG@GermanGenealogyGroup.com
The New York City Birth index includes the following years:
- Bronx: 1872 - 1873, 1898 - 1909, with 1 or 2 records in 1876, 1888, 1891 and a small number in 1897
- Kings: 1866 - 1909
- Manhattan: 1866 -1909, with 1 or 2 records in 1855, 1857-1861,1863-1865
- Queens: 1898 - 1909, with 1 or 2 records in 1866, 1876, 1883, 1886
- Richmond: 1898 - 1909
NOTE: Be aware that a date like Nov 25'05 with a year 1906 indicates that the event took place on the 25th of the month in the year 1905, but was recorded in 1906.
ALSO: Some birth and marriage certificates may have a letter following the certificate number. An "S" means Special, and is an indication that the certificate has been corrected. A "D" means a Delayed Certificate; usually issued because an original was never issued and a certificate is required for something like Social Security or maybe some legal action. Special births were never filmed by FamilySearch. Also, most "S" birth certificates are not available on the NYC Historical Vital Records website. They are available on site at New York City Municipal Archives.
For all certificates, an "A" after a certificate number means that the number was issued twice, to different people;. The letter does not always appear on the certificate.
A "?" after a number indicates that we found that the certificate number is not correct (or the year or county); that particular number was assigned to someone else. It's an indication to the Municipal Archives staff that they may have to do some other digging to find the right person.
