Two routes, one of them for everyone#
nidirect, the Northern Ireland government's site, sets out three ways to change the name of someone born or legally adopted in Northern Ireland: record a change of name with the General Register Office for Northern Ireland (GRONI), re-register a birth, or change your name by deed poll. The first two are tied to a Northern Ireland birth registration. The third is not, and nidirect sends you to GOV.UK's deed poll guidance for it: a deed poll is a legal document that proves a change of name, and it is made in the same way in Belfast as in Birmingham.
If you live in Northern Ireland but were born elsewhere in the UK, or abroad, the deed poll is your route. If you were born or adopted in Northern Ireland, you can choose.
Recording the change with GRONI#
A recorded change of name is an entry against your birth registration. nidirect says that if you are 18 or over you apply on the change of name application form for adults and sign it in front of a Justice of the Peace, a lay magistrate or a practising solicitor; JPs and lay magistrates will not charge for witnessing it. You send or bring the form, the fee and a certified copy of your birth certificate to GRONI.
The limits are worth knowing before you choose. nidirect says an adult can change their forename once and their surname up to three times, with a gap of five years between each change of surname. A deed poll has no such limits.
The fees nidirect gives are £35 for a person over 18 and £35 for a child under 18, with £16 for second or further members of the same family applying at the same time, and these are for recording the change only; a certificate showing the recorded change is £15 more.
Children#
For a child under 18, the GRONI form must be signed by the qualified applicants, usually the parents or guardian, and nidirect lists who qualifies: both parents if married or in a civil partnership with each other; both parents if not, where the father or second female parent has parental responsibility; the mother alone where the parents were not married at the birth and the father has no parental responsibility; a surviving parent with parental responsibility; or a guardian or other person with parental responsibility. Where there are two applicants, both signatures must be witnessed.
nidirect also explains re-registering a birth, which can change a child's name or surname where the birth was registered without the father's details or before the parents married or formed a civil partnership.
A deed poll for a child follows the same rule as everywhere in the UK: everyone with parental responsibility has to agree. Changing a child's name covers it.
Which to choose#
A GRONI record changes what your birth entry says and gives you a certificate that shows the change. A deed poll gives you a signed document that shows the change. Organisations accept both; HM Passport Office and the banks see far more deed polls than GRONI certificates, because deed polls are used across the whole UK. If you value having the change on your birth record, or expect to need a certificate rather than a deed, the record is worth its £35. If you want a document this week, with no limit on how many times you change, the deed poll is the simpler route, and nothing stops you doing both.
Living in Northern Ireland, born elsewhere#
The GRONI record is tied to a Northern Ireland birth or adoption registration, so it is not open to someone born in England, Scotland, Wales or abroad who now lives in Northern Ireland. For them the deed poll is the route, and it is no different for being made in Northern Ireland: GOV.UK's guidance on making an unenrolled deed poll applies, the deed is signed in the old and new names in front of witnesses, and HM Passport Office's evidence rules for a deed poll are the same across the UK. Someone born in Northern Ireland who now lives elsewhere can still apply to GRONI by post.
Documents and organisations#
Passports are HM Passport Office for the whole UK, and the evidence rules are the same in Northern Ireland: changing your name with HM Passport Office. Driving licences are not: GOV.UK's licence page says there is a different process in Northern Ireland, where the Driver and Vehicle Agency (DVA) issues licences rather than DVLA. Banks, HMRC and the benefits system work as they do elsewhere in the UK, and who to tell, and in what order applies.
Enrolment#
Enrolling a deed poll, the optional public record, is a High Court process in England and Wales; it is not required anywhere in the UK and makes no difference to acceptance. Enrolled and unenrolled deed polls explains it. For Northern Ireland, the GRONI record is the public-record equivalent for those who want one.
