Can someone find out my new name?

Is a deed poll public?#

No. An ordinary deed poll, called unenrolled, is a document you sign and keep; no register holds it and nothing about it is published. GOV.UK says anyone aged 16 or over can make one and use it straight away, and treats putting a change of name on public record as a separate, optional step: enrolment with the High Court. HM Passport Office's guidance to its staff describes an unenrolled deed as one the court has not endorsed, and The National Archives, which keeps the older enrolment books, says a deed drawn up without a solicitor may leave no record beyond the paper itself.

In practice, your deed is known to you, your witnesses, whoever drafted it and any organisation you give it to. The deed itself shows both names and an address: the deed poll we draft opens with your former name and the address you give when you order, and GOV.UK's suggested wording includes an address as well. Anyone who sees the deed or a copy sees all of that (keeping your address off your records).

What does enrolling a deed poll make public?#

Enrolling makes a deed poll more acceptable only at a few organisations, such as some banks and the Railcard scheme; what it mainly adds is publicity. GOV.UK says a public record of the change and your address is published in The Gazette, and the 1994 regulations require that notice for every enrolled deed. It sets the name you gave up beside the one you took, with your address, marital status and citizenship and the dates of the deed and its enrolment, and The Gazette's search finds notices by name.

GOV.UK leaves one opening: give the judge a strong reason in your application, and the notice may carry only your first name or only your surname. Once it is out there is little way back, because The Gazette exists to put information permanently on the public record. For anyone changing their name to be harder to find, that is the main reason not to enrol. How to enrol a deed poll sets out each step if you do need it.

Will my birth certificate show my new name?#

That depends on where your birth was registered.

• England and Wales: no. GOV.UK allows a birth registration to be corrected only for information that was wrong, and gives a later change of name as an example of what a correction cannot add. Every certificate keeps the name you were registered with.
• Scotland: only if you record the change with National Records of Scotland, which says new copies of the certificate then show your new name and your previous name. Scottish law lets the Registrar General issue an extract of any entry to any person who pays the fee, and NRS asks only for the person's name and the year and place of the birth.
• Northern Ireland: only if you record the change with the General Register Office for Northern Ireland, whose form says the changed name will then be shown on the birth certificate. Any person may ask for a certified copy of an entry there, and nidirect's ordering page asks for the name, date and place of birth, the parents' names and the mother's address at the time.

Recording is optional in both (Scotland, Northern Ireland), and a deed poll is accepted wherever you were born. Our page on birth certificates after a change of name covers each register.

Which records link my old and new names?#

A deed poll starts nothing by itself. Links appear when you update records that other people can see.

The electoral register. It lists the names and addresses of everyone registered to vote, and you register again after a change of name. GOV.UK says the full version can be viewed, often in a library, and the open version bought by anyone; the Information Commissioner's Office says the open version's users include online directory firms. Because the register lists names against addresses, someone who knows your address can see the name now registered there.

Companies House, if you are a director. The change has to be filed (changing a director's name), and form CH01 asks for your details as they stand on the register alongside the new name. Companies House says its register is free to search worldwide, appears in search engines and keeps officers' details, resigned officers included, for the life of the company. Section 167J of the Companies Act 2006 also makes any former name you used for business purposes part of what a director must give, unless you dropped it before you were 16 or at least 20 years ago.

Your credit file. Experian says its reports include any other names you have been known as, and may show a link between your current and former names. The file is not public: Experian says a company can see it only with a legitimate reason, such as a lender you apply to or a letting agent, and the ICO says an organisation needs a lawful basis to search it and must have told you (does changing my name affect my credit rating?).

HM Land Registry, if you own property. Anyone can download a title register for £7, and it shows who owns the property, which after an update is your new name. GOV.UK adds that your previous name stays on documents filed before the change.

Who can see my former name? looks at the records that keep an old name.

Can my ex find out my new name?#

Not from a register of deed polls, because there is none. The routes are the records above, and most can be narrowed:

1. Keep the deed unenrolled, or, if you do enrol, give the judge your reasons for a shorter notice.
2. Leave a Scottish or Northern Irish birth record as it is, if privacy matters more to you than a certificate in the new name.
3. Opt out of the open register when you register in your new name. The ICO says the open register is updated and published every month. If your safety is at risk, anonymous registration keeps your name and address off both versions.
4. Ask witnesses who will keep it to themselves; they see both names as you sign.
5. Review your online accounts. Refuge's social media guidance notes that your profile, posts, pictures and location may be visible even to people you are not connected with. It also warns that some privacy changes can alert someone who is watching your accounts, and offers help to plan them first.

If you are changing your name to stay safe, planning a change of name for your safety takes the steps in order, and changing your name after domestic abuse covers support and children's names. In an emergency, contact the police.