I’m a little leery about posting the birth certificate of a living person.  However, it is publicly available via the Cook County, Illinois records on FamilySearch.com. It’s already out there for the world to see, so we might as well examine it here.

Please observe:

• Contrary to a popular assumption, Betty’s name is not “Elizabeth.”  Betty has said in interviews that her mother wanted to avoid nicknames. She named her “Betty” and immediately began calling her “Bets.”
• They put Crede’s silver nitrate solution in her eyes to protect them in the event her mother had gonorrhea.  Guess we couldn’t be too careful!
• Betty was born on a Tuesday evening.
• Her parents’ residence was listed as being located at 220 Pleasant Street.  That would have been this very apartment building.