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Thirty-four years after he was born, a St Elizabeth resident said that he feels lost as he is not sure about his name.

He goes by Tajay Tagike Cunningham, but through a series of events, that name is not 100 per cent certified.

"Mi can't get a good job because of this, suh mi have to just a box around. Right now I don't even have a bank account, because mi nuh have any documents. When mi a grow up, mi did want to become an engineer, but now mi just work on construction sites. Whole heap a people a try help mi inna life, but when dem ask mi what mi have, I don't have anything suh mi have to sit back," he said.

Cunningham was born in Siloah, St Elizabeth, to Novlette Williams, but he recently found out that she had given him the name Shemroy George Woodbine. However, when he was about two weeks old, she gave him to a friend, Maria Moxam, who renamed him Tajay Watson.

"I was told that she (Moxam) took me to Bull Bay and that was where I grow up, and mi member going to school under the name Tajay Watson, because that was the name of the man that my adoptive mother was living with. Mi grow with Miss Maria and when mi was about 16, mi meet mi biological mother," he said. Tajay said he was given a change of surname once more; this time of a former stepfather.

"It's complicated, because when mi grow up and the man name Watson drop out, mi hear say is a next man a mi father, name Cunningham. So a it [Cunningham] deh pon mi ID. When mi was about 19 years old, mi a go look about mi ID and mi mada (Moxam) put it on the ID form say is Cunningham mi name," he said.

Cunningham said that while growing up, he never saw any immunisation card or any documents pertaining to him.

"Mi come a country to live with mi big sister because mi real mother drop out, and Maria drop out as well. So right now I am with my sister just a try know more about myself. Mi sister a tell mi say mi real surname is Woodbine, but mi have three children and they are registered under the name Cunningham," he added.

Although he has managed to secure a National Identification Card, it serves very little purpose as the surname is incorrectly spelt.

"Instead of Cunningham, it spell 'Chunnaham', suh mi have to go get it change. Mi nuh have any TRN or NIS because I need a birth certificate to get them," he said. He is pleading with the Registrar General's Department (RGD) for assistance.

"Mi want a birth certificate and mi would keep the Cunningham name, because that is what the kids name in. Bwoy, it rough, because mi can drive, but mi can't even get a licence. Mi can do whole heap a things, but the birth certificate a stop mi. Mi go RGD before and do a search under Woodbine, but nothing came up. Mi born at home and at two weeks, the lady take mi and is like she never know say she must get papers for mi, and mi just grow like a pigeon," Cunningham said.