Why do people change their name?

The reasons people have for legally changing their name are many and varied. Whatever your reason, you are perfectly entitled to change your name so long as you are not attempting to deceive or defraud anyone. Below is a list of the most common reasons people change their name by Deed Poll:

• Because of a dislike of the name given to you at birth
• Newly married couples taking both their surnames to join them together with a hyphen
• People who have been known by another name to the one shown on their birth certificate legalising the name change to have official records amended
• Transsexual people wishing to change their name to something which matches their chosen gender
• Women wishing to revert to their mainden name after the break-up of their marriage
• Seperated men wishing to revert to their own surname after orginally double-barrelling it with their wife
• Mothers changing the name of their children to match their own surname after a breakdown in the relationship with the father
• People who, for whatever reason, have fallen out with their family and therefore no longer wish to be associated with them by using the family name
• Young people changing their surname to match that of their step-parent once they have reached 16 because one of their biological parents would not give consent

You do not need to tell us why you are changing your name -- you have the legal right to be known by whichever name you desire. Note: we do impose an acceptable names policy which your chosen name must comply with in order for us to process your application and issue the Deed Poll. If you are at all unsure as to whether or not your name complies with our acceptable names policy, you can also check with us first by either calling our helpline on 020 3397 0441 or by using our live chat service.