Can You Provide Primary Information Regarding Your Birth?

There’s a potential gray area here.

Information is considered to be primary is the informant reasonably had first hand knowledge of the information.  It is worth noting that all memory can be fallible. ageknowledge

I know my precise date of birth not because I remember the actual day. I remember my birthday because I’ve been told it numerous times and it’s on my birth certificate. I cannot provide primary information regarding my date of birth because I do not have personal memory of being born on that day. This does not mean the date is wrong–just that I cannot provide that primary information myself.

Can I provide primary information on my approximate age?

Sure. If I stop and think, I can remember being in the third grade during the US presidential election where the “peanut president won.” I remember it was third grade because it was when I was in Mrs. Putman’s class and she was my third grade teacher. Assuming that my memory is correct, I can fairly closely approximate my age from something that I myself remember. I also remember the year I graduated high school as well. Usually a person can “remember” their approximate age if they stop to remember ages they were at certain events, etc. That’s different from claiming to remember your exact date of birth.

Classification of information as primary or secondary merely indicates our perception of how the informant came to know something that they claim to know.

Whether they are correct is another matter entirely.