Iranian Genealogy

Currently, speaking with relatives and Internet research are the most promising and accessible ways to make progress in Iranian genealogy. Iran’s international relations, communication and Internet unreliability, and complicated bureaucratic procedures make doing genealogy research in Iran a challenging task. For those able to get to Iran, there are a few ways to pursue genealogy research: requesting death certificates, accessing archives, and visiting cemeteries

If you have any additional information about doing genealogy research in Iran, please send it via the Contact Form!

The first shenāsnāmeh was issued on December 8, 1918, to Fatemeh Irani in Tehran. (Sabt-e Ahval, History of Shenasnameh in Iran (Farsi)). These first documents were a single page with fields for date of birth, place of birth, marriage, and divorce. (Id.). After 1928/9 (1307 SH), shenāsnāmeh were issued as booklets, with additional fields for the recording of children and the shenasnameh owner’s death. (Id.). These shenāsnāmeh were issued by the civil registration office, now the National Organization for Civil Registration (NOCR).

The civil registration office initially operated as part of Tehran’s city government. (IRNA). It was not until 1924/5 (1303 SH) that it became part of the Ministry of the interior and civil registration offices were established in other localities. (Id.).

Shenāsnāmeh should be the first document sought after in Iranian genealogy. It acts a birth/marriage/death record, a family group record, and a record of other details (e.g., elections voted in, stamps for rations).

Death Certificates

In 2005, photographer Najaf Shokri found a trash bin full of vital record booklets (shenāsnāmeh) for people born in 1942 outside a branch of the NOCR in Tehran (The Guardian, Irandokht: Daughters of Iran). Shokri’s anecdote indicates that any shenāsnāmeh not kept by relatives are simply thrown away. It is unknown whether the NOCR retains the information recorded in shenāsnāmeh in another format.

If the all-important shenāsnāmeh are indeed destroyed by the Iranian government, with no copies elsewhere, then the only way to get comparable information is via death certificates.

What is in an Iranian death certificate? 

ِEach province and city has discretion over the format and information required in death certificates, and so the information contained may vary depending on where your ancestor died.

Death certificates issued after the Iranian Revolution have more complete information. They contain the following fields:

Information about the deceased: 

• Forename
• Surname
• National ID number
• Shenāsnāmeh number
• Year/date of birth
• Place where shenāsnāmeh issued
• Date when shenāsnāmeh issued
• NOCR branch when shenāsnāmeh issued
• Father’s forename
• Mother’s forename
• Marital status
• Occupation
• Education

Information about death:

• Year/date of death
• Place of death
• Cause of death
• Death registration number
• Place of registration
• Date of registration

Death certificates issued before the Iranian Revolution have less, but still helpful, information:

• Forename
• Surname
• Shenāsnāmeh number
• Year/date of birth
• Place where shenāsnāmeh issued
• Date when shenāsnāmeh issued
• Father’s forename
• Mother’s forename

Unfortunately, Iranian death certificates issued before the Iranian Revolution may not have any details about the death itself, and all death certificates do not have burial information. However, death certificates still have the name of an ancestor, their date and place of birth, and their parents’ forenames. That is a wealth of valuable information that could not be obtained otherwise.

How do I obtain an Iranian death certificate?

1. Gather information and documents

If you want any hope of success, you must come prepared. Have a paper with all name, location, and date information that you know about your ancestor(s). Be able to show how you or the person getting the records for you are related to the ancestor. Whoever is making the request must bring their shenāsnāmeh and national ID card. It seems that NOCR offices will only give death certificates to Iranian citizen relatives of the deceased, and they are more likely to give the death certificates of direct ancestors. 

2. Find an NOCR office

Iranian death certificates from anywhere can be requested from any NOCR office. Choosing a NOCR office where you or a relative know staff is the best way to ensure success.  If you or a relative do not know any NOCR staff, choose an office that is nearby so that the requester can travel there multiple times without great inconvenience. 

3. Patiently but persistently navigate the bureaucratic process

Sometimes, the requester may have to wait a long time, or make multiple trips, before they even speak to the NOCR clerk. Once the request is filed, clerks will often make excuses, delay, or forget, so multiple trips might be required, even if the clerk is someone you or your relatives know. Obtaining death certificates costs money, but the price may have to vary depending on the willingness of the clerk. Hopefully, persistence pays off and you get the information you have worked so hard to get.

Archives & Libraries

Iran’s archives and libraries may contain valuable genealogical information. Accessing these archives presents its own challenge and bureaucracy. 

For information on how to research at the National Library and Archives of Iran, see Beeta Baghoolizadeh’s article The National Archives and Library in Tehran on Dissertation Reviews as well as Navid Zarrinnal’s article Finding Your Way Around Tehran’s Public Archives on Jadaliyya.

For information on how to research at the Golestan Palace Library and Archive, see Leila Pourtavaf’s article The Golestan Palace Library and Archive in Tehran on Disseration Reviews.

For information on how to research at the Malek Library and Museum, see Gennady Kurin’s article Malek National Library and Museum on Hazine. 

For information on how to research at the Library, Museum, and Document Center of Iran Parliament; Institute for Iranian Contemporary Historical Studies; Islamic Revolution Document Center; Specialized Library of the Foreign Ministry; and Center for Presidential Documents, see Navid Zarrinnal’s article Finding Your Way Around Tehran’s Public Archives on Jadaliyya.

Another piece on archival research in Iran is A Survey of Middle East Archives: Iran by Kian Byrne.

Cemeteries

Iranian cities and villages have cemeteries where your ancestors might be buried. By providing death dates, tombstones supplement the information found in death certificates. Tombstones often include the deceased’s name, death date, birth date, and father’s name. Burials in certain cemeteries are searchable online. The links for those indices are in the Collections and Databases page.