What is my legal name?

What is my legal name?#

Your legal name is the name you use for all official purposes, and that you can prove with documents. For most people it is the name on their birth certificate, or that name as changed by a marriage certificate or a deed poll. There is no register of names in England and Wales: the birth register records the name you were given, and The National Archives says it has always been possible to change your name without registering the change with the government or any other official body.

At common law, in the words of the explanatory note to the Enrolment of Deeds (Change of Name) Regulations 1994, a surname is "the name by which a person is generally known", and you may use any name unless you use it to deceive (the law, Rule 1). HM Passport Office asks you to apply for a passport in the name you use for all official purposes, which its guidance explains as the name you use to go about your daily life, with your bank, employer or council.

How do I prove my legal name?#

With a chain of documents. HM Passport Office's guidance says a name is usually taken at birth and proven by a birth, adoption, naturalisation or registration certificate, and that someone who changes it "will need evidence to show how they changed it". Each change has its own document showing the link between the old name and the new: a marriage or civil partnership certificate for a spouse's surname, a deed poll for any other change, or sometimes a statutory declaration. A passport then carries the name forward: NHS Employers' identity standard describes a full legal name as the name "as written on their passport or birth certificate".

What does a birth certificate prove?#

The name you were given when your birth was registered, and the facts of the birth. It does not prove two things people often assume.

• That you are the person named on it. DBS's identity checking guidelines put it plainly: "Birth certificates are not evidence of identity and are easily obtained." Identity checks pair one with other documents.
• That it is still your name. In England and Wales a birth entry is corrected only for mistakes: GOV.UK says a correction cannot show new information after circumstances change, so a later change of name does not alter it. The exception is a child's name given or altered within 12 months of registration, under section 13 of the Births and Deaths Registration Act 1953. Otherwise your birth certificate and the document that changed your name are read together (can I change the name on my birth certificate?).

Is my legal name my married name?#

Only if you use it. HM Passport Office's guidance says there is no legal basis in the UK for a name to change because of a marriage or civil partnership: you may keep your name, take your partner's surname, double-barrel the two, or take part of your partner's. If you took your spouse's surname and use it for all official purposes, it is your legal name, and the certificate is the evidence; GOV.UK says no deed poll is needed. If you kept your own surname, your maiden name is still your legal name. Someone who uses both, one of them at work, can have a passport in the married name with an observation that they are also known by the other. Do I have to change my name when I get married?

What is my legal name after divorce?#

The same as before it: a divorce does not change a name. You can keep your married name or go back to your former one. GOV.UK says you may be able to go back by showing your marriage certificate and decree absolute, or civil partnership certificate and final order, though some organisations will not change your name back without a deed poll. HM Passport Office also asks for a signed statement that you are going back to your birth name. Going back to your maiden name after divorce takes each organisation in turn.

Does my full legal name include my middle names?#

Yes: every forename, first and middle, and your surname, each written in full. Official forms say so in their own ways:

• The school census asks for a pupil's forename and middle names "in full", not a shortened or familiar version.
• HMRC asks employers to report an employee's first and second forenames in full, without nicknames or familiar names.
• DBS's identity guidelines say that where a document leaves out a middle name, the name on the application should still be the full name, including it.

Leaving a middle name off a form does not remove it: HM Passport Office tells its staff to put back a middle name shown on the old passport if a renewal leaves it out with no evidence of a change. Dropping a forename other than the first is a minor change of name, accepted with two documents showing you use the shorter name (adding, removing or moving a middle name).

Legal name, preferred name or nickname?#

A preferred name, nickname or known-as name is the name you go by; your legal name is the one your records hold, and many organisations keep both. The school census has a pupil's "full legal surname" and, separately, a preferred surname. NHS Employers recommends recording a person's full legal name "alongside all other names by which the individual may be known by". Monzo keeps a legal name and a preferred name, and changes the preferred one without asking for ID. Small differences need not matter: at a polling station, GOV.UK says ID showing Jim Smith works for James Smith on the register.

On forms, a given name is a forename and a family name is a surname; HMRC's payroll fields use both pairs. A title, such as Mr, Ms or Dr, is separate from your name, and GOV.UK says a deed poll cannot change one (can a deed poll change my title?).

Can a change be recorded in Scotland or Northern Ireland?#

Yes, if your birth or adoption was registered there. National Records of Scotland can formally record a change of name, and new copies of the certificate then show the new and previous names. It costs £40; from 16 you can record one forename change and up to three surname changes, at least five years apart, but not a change on marriage, divorce or civil partnership. HM Passport Office accepts the new certificate as evidence of the change.

The General Register Office for Northern Ireland does the same for a birth or adoption registered there: from 18, one change of forename and up to three changes of surname, five years apart, for £35, plus £15 for a certificate showing it. Both records are optional, and a deed poll works in either country (Scotland, Northern Ireland).

How do I change my legal name?#

Use the new name for all purposes, with the document that links it to the old one: your certificate for a spouse's or civil partner's surname, and a deed poll for any other change, which works from the day you sign it in front of your witnesses. Every legal way to change your name compares the routes, and certificate, deed poll or court order? finds yours in a few questions.