How to change your surname in the UK

Which document changes your surname?#

That depends on why it is changing. Taking a husband's, wife's or civil partner's surname needs no deed poll, GOV.UK says: you send each organisation a copy of the certificate instead. After a divorce or dissolution, you may be able to go back to your original surname with the certificate and the decree absolute or final order, though GOV.UK warns that some organisations will want a deed poll. Every other new surname is a deed poll, which anyone aged 16 or over can make.

Changing your surname when you marry#

The certificate does the work. HM Passport Office's guidance says marriage gives no legal basis for a name to change, so the choice is yours: keep your surname, take your partner's, double-barrel the two with a space or a hyphen, or take part of a partner's surname. Its own example is Sue Smith marrying David Jones da Silva and becoming Sue Jones. For any of these, the certificate is enough for a passport, and you can apply for one in your married name up to three months before the ceremony.

What the certificate cannot carry is a new name. HM Passport Office says two surnames run together as one word, such as Crickle and Wood becoming Cricklewood, are not a double-barrelled name and need a change of name deed: combining your surnames and the surname combiner. Nor does the certificate cover keeping your old surname as an extra forename: HM Passport Office treats that as a change of name needing its own evidence.

Going back to your own surname after divorce#

For a passport, HM Passport Office asks for your birth certificate, the marriage or civil partnership certificate showing both names, a statement you sign saying you have gone back to your previous surname for all purposes, and a document showing you already use it. Returning to an earlier married name, or any name that is not your birth name, is treated as a new change of name. Going back to your maiden name and dropping half of a double-barrelled surname cover each case.

Changing your surname by deed poll#

For any other surname, make a deed poll. GOV.UK says anyone aged 16 or over can make one and start using the new name, without a reason and without anyone's consent. The explanatory note to the 1994 enrolment regulations puts the law simply: at common law a surname is "the name by which a person is generally known", and a deed poll's effect is "only evidential and formal". The deed is what organisations accept as evidence.

You sign it in your old and new names, in ink, in front of a witness who then signs too. HM Passport Office's guidance needs at least one witness; GOV.UK's wording has two, aged 18 or over, and so do our deeds. You can use it straight away. Writing your own from GOV.UK's wording costs nothing; ours is £18.50, drafted and checked by a paralegal and posted the same working day. Enrolling it with the High Court, for £53.05, is optional.

This covers a parent's or step-parent's surname, a partner's surname without marrying, a spelling change and a completely new surname.

Changing a child's surname#

A child's surname is changed by a child deed poll, and only with the agreement of everyone who has parental responsibility, or with a court order. If someone will not agree, GOV.UK's route is a specific issue order on form C100; the court fee is £270. Since 13 July 2026, re-registering a birth in England, Wales or Northern Ireland after the parents marry no longer changes the child's surname: HM Passport Office's birth registration guidance says a deed poll is needed. Changing a child's surname and a stepchild's surname go further.

At 16 or 17 a young person can make their own deed poll, unless a court order says otherwise.

Scotland and Northern Ireland#

A deed poll works in both. For anyone born or adopted in Scotland there is also an optional record, which updates the birth entry itself: National Records of Scotland charges £40, takes applications by post, allows up to three surname changes at least five years apart from age 16, and does not record a change made on marriage, divorce or civil partnership. HM Passport Office accepts the new birth certificate as evidence. In Northern Ireland, GRONI records a change of surname for someone born or adopted there, up to three times from age 18, five years apart, for £35.

Who to tell about your new surname#

The passport and licence each want the original and send it back, so do them one at a time. To have a document in the new name ready for them, tell HMRC or your council first. Banks compared shows which banks want ID first, and who to tell, and in what order has the full list.