How to find a record of a name change

Is there a register of deed polls?#

Not of ordinary ones. Most deed polls are unenrolled: signed, witnessed and kept at home. The National Archives says a deed drawn up without a solicitor may never have been recorded anywhere except on the document itself, and that a solicitor's file, if there was one, is unlikely to have been kept for more than five years. It estimates that fewer than 1% of changes of name by deed poll are enrolled, so most deed poll records do not survive, and it adds that a change of name has never had to be registered, so for many changes no proof exists.

The exception is enrolment, which leaves a record at the court and a notice in The Gazette. Do I need to register my deed poll? explains why so few deeds are enrolled.

How do I search The Gazette?#

The Gazette is the UK's official public record, published as The London Gazette, The Edinburgh Gazette and The Belfast Gazette, and its archive can be searched online free of charge. The National Archives says every enrolled change of name by deed poll has been announced in one of the Gazettes since 1914, and the 1994 regulations on enrolment still require each enrolled deed to be advertised. The Gazette says these notices appear in its London or Belfast edition; Belfast notices record deeds enrolled in the High Court in Northern Ireland. A recent notice gives the date of the deed, the date it was enrolled, the new name and address, marital status and citizenship, and the name given up.

• Search the name in quotation marks, then try variations. The Gazette warns that names have been printed in different forms, with or without middle names and initials.
• Search the former name as well as the new one.
• Use the notice code for recent notices only. Changes of name are notice code 2901, but The Gazette says codes, notice types and location filters work only for notices published from 1998; for older ones, search by text and date.
• Allow for gaps. Older issues were scanned and read by software, which misreads some characters, and a few issues were never digitised.

Where are the enrolment records kept?#

For deeds enrolled up to 2003, The National Archives in Kew holds the enrolment books and their name indexes, which are not online.

For the free search, find the Gazette notice first; The National Archives says that without one it will have no record. Then send its records and research enquiry form with the current name, the former name and the year of the change, and allow 10 working days. If the deed is found you are given its J 18 reference, and you can order a certified copy through the paid record copying service.

What about deeds enrolled since 2004?#

The National Archives sends enquiries about enrolments since the end of 2003 to the King's Bench Division at the Royal Courts of Justice. HM Courts and Tribunals Service says its Deed Poll Team keeps a photocopy of every deed it enrols, for reference and to make copies, and handles queries about deed polls up to five years old, referring older ones to The National Archives. For a deed enrolled between 2004 and five years ago, each office's guidance points to the other: start with the Deed Poll Team, and quote the date of the Gazette notice.

Are name changes recorded in Scotland and Northern Ireland?#

Yes, in a different way: both can record a change of name against a birth entry. National Records of Scotland can record a change against a birth or adoption entry registered in Scotland, after which newly issued certificates carry both names; for someone aged 16 or over it records one change of forename and up to three changes of surname, at least five years apart. The General Register Office for Northern Ireland records changes against Northern Ireland birth entries on similar limits, and its form says the changed name is then shown on the birth certificate. For anyone born in either place, a later birth certificate may be the record you need.

For older Scottish changes, The National Archives notes that they were commonly recorded in the registers of the Court of the Lord Lyon.

How do I trace a relative's change of name?#

The National Archives' guide points to traces outside the enrolment books:

• Newspaper announcements, traditionally in The Times, searchable in The Times Digital Archive (at The National Archives and subscribing institutions) and the British Newspaper Archive.
• The 1939 Register, which was updated until 1991 and records many changes of name; the annotation NR230 marks a change made for a reason other than marriage.
• Gazette notices of changes during the Second World War, when a declaration had to be published 21 days in advance, and of changes by royal licence.
• An index to changes of name 1760 to 1901, compiled by Phillimore and Fry and digitised on the Internet Archive, which covers private Acts, royal licences, deed polls and notices in The Times.

From 1919 until 1971, foreign nationals in Britain were barred from changing their names, except a woman taking her husband's name on marriage, a change by royal licence or one allowed by the Home Secretary's special permission, and those permissions were announced in the Gazettes.

How do I prove my own change if the deed is lost?#

If your deed was enrolled, the steps above lead to a certified copy. If not, there is no record to find, and what you need is fresh evidence. A replacement deed poll records the change you already made and when you made it, signed and witnessed like any deed. Where there are gaps in the evidence linking your names, for example after several changes, the same guidance asks for a statutory declaration covering every name you have used, when you used each and why it changed. I have lost my deed poll covers where to look before you replace it.