I changed my name years ago without a deed poll

Is it legal to use a name I never made official?#

Yes. The National Archives, whose research guide covers name changes back to the sixteenth century, says it has always been possible to change your name without registering the change with the government or any other official body, and that anyone over 16 may still start using a new name at any time, as long as it is not for a fraudulent or illegal reason. It adds, plainly, that proof of a change of name may simply not exist.

HM Passport Office's guidance starts from the same place. A name is usually taken at birth and proven by a birth, adoption or naturalisation certificate, and people can choose to change it, but "will need evidence to show how they changed it". So the name is not the problem. The missing piece is a document.

Why does everyone still ask for a document?#

Because every record you hold was opened from one. The passport office says an application must be made in the name you use for all official purposes, and that it must match your supporting documents; exceptions aside, it will not issue a passport while there are doubts or inconsistencies between the two. Look at what the organisations people meet first accept as evidence of a change of name:

• HM Passport Office lists marriage and civil partnership certificates, deed polls, statutory declarations, affidavits, adoption documents and re-registered birth certificates, among others. Years of use are not on the list.
• DVLA asks for at least one of: a marriage or civil partnership certificate, divorce papers with a birth, adoption or naturalisation certificate, a deed poll, a statutory declaration, or a GB passport number already updated after a marriage or divorce. With a deed poll or statutory declaration it also wants one document showing the new name.
• NatWest, for any change it files as "other change of name", asks for a deed poll or a statutory declaration.

Evidence of use on its own is enough at the passport office only in narrow cases, chiefly what it calls a minor change, such as a slightly different spelling of a forename or forenames in a different order; different names on documents explains that route.

What will the passport office ask for?#

It asks for two separate things: evidence that the name has changed, and one document showing you use it for all official purposes. The change has to link back to your birth, adoption or naturalisation certificate for a first passport, or to the name on your last passport for a renewal, with evidence for each change along the way.

Where you do not have evidence from the time for every link, the guidance says you must provide a statutory declaration covering all the names you have used, when each was used and, where known, the circumstances of each change. That covers a gap in the middle of a history: a birth name, then a surname used informally for years, then a marriage certificate in that surname, with nothing from the time linking the first two.

Two parts of the guidance are worth knowing before you apply. If you tell the passport office your name has changed but ask for the passport in the old name because you cannot prove the new one, staff are told to make additional checks and refer the case for investigation if needed, so sort the evidence out first. And if the name was changed when you were a child, an adult applicant is treated as choosing to keep it, provided there is evidence of the change and of its use; a 16 or 17 year old who cannot provide the parental consent the guidance would otherwise need can make a new change of name document themselves.

Can I make a deed poll now, years later?#

Yes, and it supplies the missing document. GOV.UK's wording has you declare that you "have given up" your former name and "have adopted for all purposes" the new one, which reads as naturally of a name used for twenty years as of one taken this morning. Three details keep it working:

• The former name is written exactly as the document your records start from shows it: your birth certificate or last passport, or, if you took a spouse's surname in between, your married name. That keeps the chain unbroken.
• The date is the day you and your witnesses sign. GOV.UK's wording has no place for when you started using the name, and the deed must not carry an earlier date to match: that is backdating. The years before are evidenced, where anyone asks, by the documents from them and a statutory declaration if one is needed.
• Proof of use is judged by its date. For a passport, most documents showing the name must have been issued in the last 12 months; a driving licence, a foreign passport or an identity card can be older, but only if issued after the change of name document, so an old licence in the name does not help.

Our replacement deed poll is for a different situation: it replaces a deed that was made and then lost or damaged, recording the change and the date the original was signed. Where there never was a deed, there is no earlier signing to record, and what you need is a new deed poll.

Where can I get advice?#

A long or tangled history is worth a professional eye. The National Archives says that if you need legal advice on providing evidence of a change of name, to obtain a passport for example, you should speak to a solicitor or to Citizens Advice, and GOV.UK has a service to find a legal adviser.