GOV.UK's three rules#
You can change any part of your name, add or remove names or hyphens, or change the spelling. The new name must:
- be pronounceable;
- not include symbols, numbers or punctuation, unless it is a hyphenated name or the punctuation is part of an established name, such as O'Hara;
- not be offensive or against the public interest, GOV.UK's example being "Ltd" added to the end of a name.
Can you change your last name to anything?#
Within the same rules, yes. GOV.UK's three rules apply to a surname exactly as to a first name, and nothing in them says a new surname has to come from your family, your partner or anyone else. HM Passport Office's guidance to its staff puts it plainly: "The name the customer uses is up to them", and in most cases it can go in a passport. The exceptions it gives are names that would cause public offence and characters its system cannot print, such as symbols. A brand name taken as a surname is not a problem for the passport either: the guidance says having a trademarked name in a passport does not breach trademark or copyright law, though using it for commercial gain without permission could. Changing only your first name or your surname.
Two things a deed poll cannot do#
GOV.UK also says a deed poll cannot change which letters are capitalised in your name, and cannot change a title such as Mr, Mrs, Sir, Lady or Doctor. A title is not part of your legal name: you tell each organisation which one to use, and DVLA changes one on a licence by the same process as a name, asking for evidence only for a hereditary title. Can a deed poll change my title?
What we will not draft#
Because it would be refused, and the guarantee is on acceptance:
- names with numbers or symbols;
- titles, ranks or qualifications you do not hold, whether as a title or as a forename: Lord, Sir, Doctor, Captain, Reverend;
- anything vulgar, offensive, or that promotes crime;
- a string of letters nobody could pronounce.
We decline those and refund in full.
Names that get through and cause trouble#
Not refused, and we will draft them, but worth knowing the consequence. A famous living person's full name, a trademark taken as a surname, a phrase that reads like a form filled in wrongly ("Thank You"), or a spelling nobody can guess from hearing it. Each is a conversation at every counter for years. How to choose a new name has the practical checks.
HM Passport Office's own rules#
A passport is printed to HM Passport Office's guidance on names, which applies its own limits on characters and length and its own treatment of titles and single names, whatever a deed poll says. Its guidance on names that cannot be used in passports follows the international passport standard: no numbers, symbols or punctuation other than hyphens and apostrophes, and no accents or other marks added to letters, for which it uses an agreed alternative spelling. The application takes up to 30 characters for forenames and 30 for the surname, spaces included. A refusal there is a decision about the name, not about the deed, and it is worth reading that guidance before choosing a name that is unusual in form. The name checker runs a name past each of these rules as you type it.
