Can I use a different name without changing it legally?

Can I use a different name without changing it legally?#

Yes. The National Archives says it is "perfectly legal for anyone over the age of 16 to start using a new name at any time, as long as they are not doing so for a fraudulent or illegal reason", and The Gazette says you can start using a new name without a legal process. A preferred name, a name you are known by at work, a professional name, a stage name or a pen name can all sit alongside your legal name. What does not change is your records: organisations that have to check who you are keep the name your documents show, so the two names run side by side until you make one official. The principle is Rule 1 of the law on names.

When is using another name against the law?#

When it is used to deceive. In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, section 2 of the Fraud Act 2006 makes it fraud to make a false representation dishonestly, intending to make a gain or to cause someone a loss, and a false name can be that representation. Using a name openly, at work or on a book cover, does not in itself deceive anyone.

One group must report any other name they use. Under sections 83 and 84 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003, a person subject to the sex offender notification requirements must give the police every name they use, and notify a new one within 3 days of starting to use it (criminal records and a change of name).

Can I use a different name at work?#

Yes, but your employer's records still need your legal name.

• The right to work check is made from your passport or other documents, so it is in the name they show. The Home Office tells employers to check that any difference in names across those documents is explained.
• Payroll reports you to HMRC. HMRC asks employers for your first forename in full and to "not use nicknames or familiar names", so your payroll record carries your legal name.
• HR records. NHS Employers recommends recording a person's full legal name alongside all the other names they are known by, and counts professional reasons, or preferring a middle name, among the legitimate reasons for documents in different names.

Whether your email address and badge show the name you go by depends on your employer's systems, so ask HR.

What do banks and HMRC need?#

Your legal name. Under the Money Laundering Regulations 2017 a bank must identify you and verify your identity from documents or information from a reliable, independent source, so your account is in the name your documents show. Some banks hold a preferred name too: Monzo keeps a legal name and a preferred name, and changes the preferred one without asking for ID.

GOV.UK asks you to tell HMRC when you have changed your name, and payroll reports your legal name in any case (changing your name with HMRC).

What goes on a DBS check?#

Both names. DBS's guide to the application form says that if you use two names at the same time, "for example, for professional reasons", your primary name goes in the current name fields and the secondary name in the other names section, with the current date as the "to" date. The person checking your documents must be satisfied that every name you are known by is on the form (changing your name and DBS checks).

Can my passport show a stage or professional name?#

As an observation, not as your name. HM Passport Office's guidance says that if you give evidence of a stage, professional or religious name, such as an employment contract, the passport is issued in your real name with an observation that "the holder is also known as" the other name. Its own example is a passport issued to Michael Jones, also known as Signature. Someone who took a spouse's surname but still uses their previous one, at work for example, can have the same kind of observation. Book travel in the passport's name itself: GOV.UK says the two must match.

Do stage names and pen names need paperwork?#

No. A stage or pen name is a name you use, and nothing has to be registered. Equity, the performers' union, gives each member an Equity name that no other member can share, but says stage names in general are not subject to copyright, so it cannot stop others using the same name.

When should I make it official?#

When the other name has become the one you use for everything. HM Passport Office asks you to apply for a passport in the name you use for all official purposes, and the deed poll wording GOV.UK publishes has you adopt the new name "for all purposes". So if you want your passport, licence, bank and payroll in the new name, a deed poll makes it your legal name from the day you sign it. Ours is £18.50, drafted and checked by a paralegal and posted the same working day (get a deed poll).

If you have used the name for years already, I changed my name years ago without a deed poll explains how to document the history. If you are transitioning, changing your name when you transition covers what each organisation asks for.