31 Changing Your Name
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2. When may I want to change my name?
There are many reasons for wanting to change your name, including:
- if you get married or enter into a civil partnership, or want to take your partner's name;
- if you get divorced, dissolve a civil partnership or end a long-term relationship;
- to take a double-barrelled name after you marry or enter into a civil partnership;
- as part of a change of gender;
- because you dislike your current name;
- to separate yourself from a particular person or a time or event in your life;
- to stop a former partner finding you; or
- to feel more part of a new family, for example a step-family.
You may also want to change a child’s name.
3. When am I allowed to change my name?
5. What if I enter into a civil partnership?
6. What if I want to change my child´s name?
7. What sort of name can I choose?
8. How do I prove I have a new name?
9. Who should I tell about my name change?
This leaflet is published by the Legal Services Commission (LSC). It was written in association with Citizens Advice.
The leaflets are regularly updated but the law may have changed since they were printed so the information in them may be incorrect or out of date.
Leaflet version: February 2007