legitimus
Legitimus is Latin for "legitimate": filius legitimus means a son born to parents married to each other.
Legitimus (feminine legitima) marks a child born within marriage. Priests often wrote filius legitimus or filia legitima.
Its absence can matter. If most entries say legitimus and one does not, or uses illegitimus instead, read that entry closely for the mother's name and any note about the father.
As seen in a recordBaptism entry in a Catholic parish register
Joannes, filius legitimus Petri Miller et Annae
How to cite this page
Daily Ancestor. "legitimus." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/latin/legitimus. Last checked 2026-10-01.