Tennessee · Certified copy
Tennessee Birth Certificate: Order a Certified Copy Online
We prepare your application and file it with the Tennessee Vital Records. The office mails the certified copy to you.
- Secure payment
- Encrypted data
- Email support
- Private service — not a government agency
Tennessee at a glance
- Issuing office
- Tennessee Vital Records
- Who can order
- 10 relationships · see the list
- Standard processing
- 15–17 Business Days
- What you need
- Photo ID, names, date and place of birth, parents' names
- Expedited processing
- 5–7 Business Days
- Proof of relationship
- Required for some relationships
A certified copy is the document most agencies accept for a passport, a driver's license, school enrollment or benefits. Tennessee issues it for births recorded in the state.
Tennessee birth certificate: who is entitled and where to pick one up
Tennessee issues certified birth certificates to the registrant, the mother, the father named on the record, a son or daughter, and a husband or wife. Legal guardians, legal representatives and attorneys can order with documents, and every county health department can print any birth registered in the state, not only births in its own county.
Entitlement and the documents that go with it
Tennessee's entitlement list is short: the registrant, mother, father, son, daughter, husband or wife. A father who is not named on the certificate is not entitled. Others need paperwork: a guardian sends a certified guardianship order, an attorney a letter on letterhead naming the client together with a bar card, ID and representation agreement, and a power of attorney works only while the registrant is alive. An entitled person can also authorize someone else with a notarized letter, or a letter plus that person's ID. Under the state's rules, natural parents of a child who was adopted, and parents whose rights were terminated, have no direct and tangible interest.
Memphis, Nashville and every county health department
Tennessee's local health departments are connected to the statewide file, so any county health department can issue a birth registered anywhere in the state; there is no need to travel to the county of birth. That makes a copy of a birth in Memphis available in Nashville and the other way round. Shelby County notes that the long form, a copy of the original record with the parents' information, is the version it and the state issue.
What the Tennessee application asks for
The application asks for the full name at birth and any earlier name, the date and place of birth, sex, the hospital, the father's full name, the mother's maiden name and her last name at the time of birth, and, unusually, the names of the next older and next younger siblings, which help the office find the right record. You give your relationship and purpose and sign. Unless the application is notarized, it goes with a copy of a government ID showing your signature, such as a driver's license, passport or military ID; without one, two documents such as a pay stub, vehicle registration, voter card or utility bill are accepted.
One hundred years and the State Archives
The state office keeps birth records for one hundred years and then transfers them to the Tennessee State Library and Archives, where they become available for public access and family research. The section of each certificate marked for medical and health use only is never released, and records are not open for hands-on inspection.
Adoptions, paternity and later changes
After an adoption the original record is sealed; Tennessee adoptees apply through the Department of Children's Services, and people born in Tennessee but adopted elsewhere need a court order. A new certificate after a Tennessee adoption requires the certified adoption order and a certificate of adoption. A father can be added by voluntary acknowledgment of paternity while the child is under nineteen if the mother was unmarried and no father is listed; parents who marry after the birth file a notarized form signed by both. A birth that was never registered can be filed as a delayed certificate after the state confirms there is no record.
How it works when you order with BirthChek
BirthChek keeps the Tennessee relationship list to the people the state entitles, plus legal guardians and attorneys. You enter the birth details, including the parents' names as the state form asks, upload your ID and sign. We assemble the application from your answers, file it with the state office and show every step on your order page until the long-form certificate is in the mail.
Facts checked October 24, 2026 against the sources below.
Sources
- Vital records — Tennessee Department of Health
- Entitlement guidelines — Tennessee Department of Health – Office of Vital Records
- Identification requirements — Tennessee Department of Health – Office of Vital Records
- Application for certificate of birth (PH-1654) — Tennessee Department of Health
- Rules of the Department of Health, chapter 1200-07-01 — Tennessee Secretary of State
- Genealogy research — Tennessee Department of Health – Office of Vital Records
- Birth and death certificates — Shelby County Health Department
Where to get a Tennessee birth certificate: state and local offices
Certified copies for births recorded in Tennessee are issued by the Tennessee Vital Records.
We take orders for births anywhere in Tennessee, including Memphis and Nashville.
Replacing a lost or damaged Tennessee birth certificate
A replacement is simply a new certified copy of the same birth record. You answer the same questions as for a first copy and nothing on the record changes. Order one when your copy is lost or damaged, or when you need more than one copy for applications running at the same time.
Who can order a Tennessee birth certificate
- You, the person named
- Attorney · proof needed
- Daughter
- Father
- Husband
- Legal Guardian · proof needed
- Mother
- Son
- Wife
- My relationship is not listed · proof needed
Relationships marked "proof needed" must send proof of the relationship with the application; we tell you what counts after you order.
If your relationship is not listed, the office may refuse the application or ask for a court order.
Reasons to request a Tennessee birth certificate
- Adoption (US Only)
- Driver's License
- Employment
- Genealogy/Family History
- Government Assistance/Benefits
- Housing
- Identification
- Income Tax
- Inheritance/Estate Settlement
- Insurance
- Legal Purposes
- Passport
- Personal Records/Use
- Retirement
- School
- Social Security Card/Benefits
- Sports
- Travel
- VAOP
What you need to order a Tennessee birth certificate
- A photo ID: driver's license, state ID, passport or military ID
- Full name on the certificate and date of birth
- City or county of birth
- Both parents' names, including the mother's maiden name
- A debit or credit card
- Proof of your relationship, for the relationships marked above
Prefer to order directly? Find the office in the CDC directory
Ready to order your Tennessee birth certificate?
About ten minutes. Have your photo ID nearby.