What if my name is too long, or has accents, for my passport?

How long can my name be on a British passport?#

Thirty characters for your forenames and thirty for your surname, counting the spaces between names. That is the room the personal details section of the application gives you, according to HM Passport Office's guidance on names that cannot be used in passports (version 19.0, July 2026). A longer name is shortened and your full name recorded inside the passport, and accents give way to an agreed plain spelling. Most names fit. When yours does not, the office decides how to show it, with two tools.

• A shorter form. It can abbreviate a name, or reduce any additional name to its initial, though never your first forename or your first surname.
• An observation. The passport then carries an observation reading "The holder is" followed by your full name, as your supporting documents show it. If the full name is too long even for that, staff add another line.

If you have many names rather than one very long one, HM Passport Office keeps your first forename, followed by as many other forenames and initials as fit, and your first surname, followed by as many other surnames and initials as fit. The order of your names never changes.

You can shorten the name yourself on the application, explain the short form in a letter, or send documents that already show it. Either way HM Passport Office still checks your full name, and if it does the shortening itself, it tells you how the name will appear. If you will not accept a shortened version, it withdraws the application rather than refusing it, and the only ways forward are to accept the short form or to change your name to one that fits.

What happens in the machine-readable lines?#

The two lines of code at the foot of the photo page follow the passport standard of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), and they are tighter. ICAO's Doc 9303 gives the whole name, surname and forenames together, 39 character positions in a passport, including the filler signs that separate the parts. A longer name is cut short there even when the printed name above it is complete. The same lines carry no accents, drop apostrophes and turn a hyphen into a filler sign, so O'Hara becomes OHARA and Smith-Jones becomes SMITH<JONES.

Can a British passport show accents?#

No. HM Passport Office says the systems it uses to issue passports meet ICAO's standards and cannot accept a name with accents or other marks added to letters, such as é, ü or ñ. Instead it uses the alternative spelling agreed by ICAO and published in a transliteration table. ICAO's Doc 9303 recommends, for example, A or AE for Ä, O or OE for Ö, U, UE or UXX for Ü, and E for É. Welsh names with accents are treated the same way.

What happens next depends on your documents:

• You already use a plain spelling from the table. If your supporting documents show it, the office accepts it without asking for more evidence.
• Your name is on the table. Staff change it to the table's spelling, and need not tell you.
• Your name is not on the table. You are asked for written evidence of an alternative spelling, such as an official document or a letter from the country's government, embassy or high commission in the UK. If you cannot get one, you explain why in writing, with proof that you tried.

Passports issued overseas before 1 April 2014 could show accents, which is why an older passport may look different from a new one.

A deed poll is not limited in the same way. GOV.UK's rules for a new name rule out symbols, numbers and most punctuation, and say nothing about accents. Your passport will still show the plain spelling, so it helps to settle on one plain form and use it wherever accents cannot be typed.

Hyphens and apostrophes#

Both are allowed. HM Passport Office's guidance lists punctuation among the things its systems cannot accept, except for hyphens and apostrophes in the name fields, and says its application system accepts an apostrophe anywhere in a name. GOV.UK's deed poll rules allow the same two: a hyphen in a hyphenated name, and punctuation that is part of an established name such as O'Hara. Full stops, commas and other marks cannot be used. The name checker tests a name against each of these rules as you type it.

Choosing a long new name#

If you are changing your name, keeping each part within 30 characters, spaces included, avoids the question altogether. The Home Office's wider policy on names lists a name with too many characters to fit on the face of the document among its grounds for refusing an application to change a name on its documents. The rules for a new name and choosing a new name cover everything else to check first.

When you apply, GOV.UK says to fill in and sign the passport application in the name you want printed on the passport. An adult passport costs £102 online or £115.50 with a paper form.

Driving licences, bank cards and tickets#

Other organisations set their own limits, and not all of them publish those limits. DVLA's guidance on GOV.UK for changing the name on a licence gives no character limit and does not say how accents are shown.

Card issuers vary. Revolut publishes its rule: a name on its cards must fit in 20 characters, spaces included, so it prints your first name and last surname, shortens or drops middle names, cuts the first name to an initial if it has to, and as a last resort prints only the last surname. Accents become plain letters, so Müller appears as Muller, and only Latin characters are printed. You cannot choose the name on the card (changing your name with Revolut). If your bank publishes nothing, ask what will be printed before you order a new card.

For travel, GOV.UK's rule is that a booking must be in the same name as the passport you travel on, so make the booking in the name exactly as your passport prints it.