Just to show I don't know everything about Ray Bradbury! I'm posting these on the message board in case anyone here knows, and I'll also try to send them to the address on the website for submitting e-mail questions.

1. A number of sources list Ray's given name as Raymond Douglas Bradbury. Does it actually say Raymond on his birth certificate, or just Ray?

2. One source said he was born at home, another at a hospital in Waukegan. Which was it, and if it was a hospital, where was the hospital?

(I do remember the date was August 22, 1920, and time of day was afternoon. His father and brother had gone out to a baseball game and he was born during their absence. He claims to remember every detail, which could be one explanation as to why Ray has never been keen on sports.)

I've seen a recent copy of his birth certificate; it says "Raymond".

According to THE RB COMPANION (Nolan), he was born "at 4 P.M. at a maternity hospital one block from his parents' house."

Hope this helps. It isn't exactly confidential information, but if you can't afford the $100 or more the COMPANION usually brings, it can be a little hard to come by.

Yes, I have the Companion, but was unable to learn the location of the maternity hospital before my trip to Waukegan. I ended up walking at least one block in each direction, up and down his street and up and down the nearest cross street. It seemed to me everything there was residential. Perhaps the hospital was in a house, or converted to or replaced by a house later. And, gee, you sort of burst my bubble there...you seemed to know so much I was hoping *you* were Bill Nolan!

LOL... No, not quite Nolan. Actually, the birth certificate lists the location as the "Waukegan Medical Center"; whether it still exists, or ever did, remains to be answered. I wouldn't trust the information on this certificate 100%: I found it at a student website, and it misspells items like his father's place of birth (Irinve instead of Irvine, CA, etc.).

I don't see myself as knowing that much about Bradbury; I've only made about a half-dozen posts and that's just because I only post when I can help someone out. I'd love to find a more complete and up-to-date reference, but until Albright finishes his update to the COMPANION (if he ever does), I'm not sure that's going to happen. So I just piddle around and pick up odd facts. Sorry I couldn't be of more help.

I was born outside of Waukegan in the 50's, but grew up in Waukegan. My aunt and I have been spending time together and she lived in Waukegan at the same time that Ray did. I will check with her about the hospital. She knew where his parents lived, so she would have a good idea. Most of the children were delivered by midwives, but that was the children of European immigrants - which my grandparents were.
Until a couple of weeks ago, I had no idea that Ray was from Waukegan. My aunt and I checked to see if they were in high school together, but his family had moved on by then. My aunt has been describing to me what the area was like when she was younger - the times that Ray has written about.

Um, yeah, that birth certificate makes a lot of sense. The word at the top looks an awful lot like "Tasmanian." It doesn't give his middle name, and has his mother's maiden name wrong, as Bobbitt--hers was Moberg--and her "age or year of birth" as "12." Does that mean she was 12 when she had Ray? As he was her third child, that makes her precocious indeed! Or does it mean she was born in 1912--two years AFTER the date given for her marriage? Or maybe it was 1812 and she was 108 when she had Ray! Some serious Science Fiction at work there!

I KNEW IT! RAY BRADBURY IS AN ALIEN!

Yup, you got him figured. They were planning to send him in advance, since his birth certificate was registered in April when he wasn't even born until August!

Thats one way you can live forever is to get your vital statistics so confused that the only way any one knows you have been around is the writings found in Libraries, and not reliably verified by the government.

Great disappointment in the new book, "Bradbury: An Illustrated Life." Not only does it not reproduce his birth certificate, which would show his full name and whether he was born at home or elsewhere, it doesn't give that information in the text, or even contain any pictures of Ray until late teens/early twenties. In this way it is inferior to the Companion, though they both sadly lack any pictures of Ray at 10-12 years of age, his most influenced and written-about time of life. Presumably there are some, as pictures of him at 3, 6, and 14 years of age have been published. I've yet to see a picture of him from that critical time. Otherwise, it seems like a good book.

Somewhere...about 20yrs back or so...I was led to understand that Ray Bradbury's real first name is just...Ray.

My understanding of this came about at The Santa Barbara Writer's Conference back then, when Barnaby Conrad, the Moderator, introduced speaker Bradbury as... Raymond, and somehow I heard from... a 'good source'.... that it wasn't Raymond, but 'Ray'... Okay, Is this vague enough...??