How to change your name in the United Kingdom

After marriage

Nothing changes by law when you marry. A surname after marriage is a matter of use and evidence, not of registration: no register records the choice, no office has to be told, and there is no deadline. GOV.UK's own words are that you do not need a deed poll to take your spouse's or civil partner's surname — you send a copy of the marriage or civil partnership certificate to record-holders. Either spouse may do it, and you may take your spouse's surname, keep your own, or use both, hyphenated or not.

What each body actually checks is the link between the names. HM Passport Office accepts a marriage or civil partnership certificate as evidence of a change of name provided it shows the old name and the new one, and it will not accept evidence that does not; for a change-of-name passport application it will even accept a laminated certificate, which it refuses for every other purpose. If the wedding is still ahead and you want the passport waiting in the new name, HM Passport Office issues a post-dated passport, valid from the day of the ceremony, on a PD2 form completed by you and the person conducting it.

A deed poll is the fallback rather than the rule: use one for a name the certificate cannot evidence, such as a blend of the two surnames, or for an organisation that will not act on a certificate. National Records of Scotland says the same for people born in Scotland — you do not need to change your surname after marriage, and most organisations accept the certificate — and its own change-of-name service cannot be used for a change because of marriage.

After divorce

Nothing comes back on its own. A divorce or dissolution does not restore a former name, and nothing stops you keeping the married one; you go back to a former name the way you took the new one, by using it and by showing the papers. GOV.UK says you may be able to go back to your original name by showing record-holders your marriage certificate and decree absolute, or your civil partnership certificate and final order, and warns that some organisations will not change your name back without a deed poll. In England and Wales the document that ends a marriage has been called a final order since 6 April 2022 (a decree absolute where the court issued the application before that date); Scotland issues a decree of divorce, which National Records of Scotland says most organisations accept as evidence. There is no deadline.

HM Passport Office is the strictest reader, so plan around it. It will not accept divorce papers on their own, because divorce documents issued in England and Wales since 1971 no longer show the link between the married name and the name before it. To go back to your birth name with no other change in between, send your full birth certificate, the marriage or civil partnership certificate showing both names, a signed statement that you have gone back to the previous surname for all purposes, and a document showing you are already using it, such as a payslip or a letter from your local council. The court takes the marriage certificate during the proceedings and returns it only if you ask, so order an official copy — from the General Register Office, or from the registrar of the country where you married — before you apply.

Going back to any other name is treated as an ordinary change of name rather than a reversion. That covers a previous married name, a name you once adopted by deed poll, and a brand-new name: the office asks for evidence of the change, such as a deed poll or a statutory declaration, and evidence that you use the name for all purposes.

For any other reason

For any other reason, England and Wales use the deed poll, and no reason has to be given. If you are 16 or over you can write an unenrolled deed poll yourself and start using the name at once. GOV.UK publishes the wording — “I [old name] of [your address] have given up my name [old name] and have adopted for all purposes the name [new name]” — and it must be signed in both names and by two witnesses aged 18 or over; some organisations will not accept a witness who lives at the same address or is a close relative. It costs nothing to make. HM Passport Office accepts an unenrolled deed poll, also called a change of name deed, as long as it is signed in the old and the new name, signed by at least one witness, dated, and in wet ink.

If you are 18 or over you can put the change on public record by enrolling the deed poll at the High Court, which some banks, mobile-phone companies and energy providers insist on. It costs £53.05 (2026). You complete forms LOC020, LOC021 and LOC027: the LOC020 is signed in front of two witnesses, who also sign it, and the LOC021 and LOC027 in front of a solicitor or another authorised witness. Send them within 28 days or you start again, to the Deed Poll Office, King's Bench Division, Room E15, The Royal Courts of Justice, Strand, London WC2A 2LL. The change is published in The Gazette unless you give a strong reason and a judge agrees to publish only the forename or only the surname. Enrolment can take several months; you can ask the Deed Poll Office for an update six months after you apply. If you are a permanent resident overseas you cannot change your name by deed poll at all.

The new name is not unlimited. It must be pronounceable, must not include symbols, numbers or punctuation unless it is a hyphen or part of an established name such as O'Hara, and must not be offensive or against the public interest — GOV.UK's example is adding Ltd. A deed poll cannot change which letters are capitalised, and it cannot change a title such as Mr, Mrs, Sir, Lady or Doctor. A registered sex, violent or terrorist offender must tell the police at their local prescribed police station within three days of the change; not doing so is a criminal offence.

If you were born or adopted in Scotland, National Records of Scotland records the change on your birth entry instead, and new certificates then show the new name and the previous one. Apply by post on the form for your age — there is no online application — to the Change of Name Team, New Register House, West Register Street, Edinburgh EH1 3YT. Someone over 16 may have one forename change and up to three surname changes, with at least five years between each; someone under 16 may have one of each. It costs £40, plus £10 for each additional family member applying at the same time. NRS aims to email within 20 days to confirm the details and ask for payment, then within 15 working days of payment to confirm the change is complete and explain how to order a replacement birth certificate. The service cannot be used for a change because of marriage, divorce or a civil partnership. If you were born outside Scotland, NRS points you to your country of birth's own process, a deed poll, or a statutory declaration signed in front of a notary public or a justice of the peace.

Northern Ireland works the same way, through the General Register Office for Northern Ireland, for anyone born or legally adopted there. Fill in the change-of-name form for your age and sign it in front of a justice of the peace, a lay magistrate or a practising solicitor — JPs and lay magistrates do not charge for witnessing it — then send or bring it to GRONI with the fee and a certified copy of the birth certificate. Someone 18 or over may change their forenames once and their surname up to three times, with five years between each change of surname; someone under 18 may change once, and the form is signed by a qualified applicant, usually the parents or guardian. Recording costs £35.00, or £16.00 for each further family member applying at the same time, and a certificate showing the recorded change is another £15.00. A deed poll is the alternative in Northern Ireland.

If you married outside the United Kingdom

There is no UK act of recognition and no UK register to enter. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office stopped depositing foreign marriage and civil partnership certificates with the General Register Offices on 1 January 2014, and said plainly at the time that there is no legal requirement to deposit one or to have the marriage recorded in the UK, that depositing a certificate does not make the marriage legal here or recognise it, and that the validity of a foreign marriage is in no way affected by whether it was recorded here. British embassies, high commissions and consulates cannot confirm the validity of a foreign marriage either; the most the FCDO offers is a per-country information letter, and a stamped and signed version, available only in some countries, costs £50.

Recognition therefore happens body by body, when a passport examiner, a bank or a Home Office caseworker looks at your certificate. The rule they apply is the same across England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, and Home Office guidance states it: a marriage that took place overseas is recognised where the type of marriage is recognised in the country in which it took place, the marriage was properly conducted to satisfy the requirements of that country's law, nothing in the law of either spouse's country of domicile at the time prevents it being recognised, and any previous marriage or civil partnership has broken down permanently. In Scotland the same rule is in statute: section 38 of the Family Law (Scotland) Act 2006 makes formal validity a question for the law of the place where the marriage was celebrated, and capacity a question for the law of each spouse's domicile.

The certificate itself needs no apostille for any of the offices in this guide, and a certificate already in English needs no translation; HM Passport Office asks for a translation only where a document is in another language. A divorce from abroad is read the same way: Part II of the Family Law Act 1986 recognises an overseas divorce obtained by means of proceedings if it is effective under the law of the country where it was obtained and, when the proceedings began, either spouse was habitually resident in, domiciled in, or a national of that country.

The unsettled case is an online ceremony: one run by an officiant in another country while you were physically in the United Kingdom. Recognition turns on the marriage having taken place overseas, and the same Home Office guidance says that a marriage that takes place in the UK must be carried out in accordance with the Marriage Act 1949, the Marriage (Scotland) Act 1977 or the Marriage (Northern Ireland) Order 2003 to be valid, which a ceremony held by video is not. A UK body could take the view that a ceremony you attended from your living room took place in the United Kingdom, and so had to follow UK form. No published Home Office, HM Passport Office or General Register Office guidance addresses ceremonies conducted by video, and we know of no reported UK decision on the point. Home Office guidance does accept a proxy marriage conducted under the law of another country, following the Upper Tribunal in CB (Brazil) [2008] UKAIT 00080, on evidence that both parties had capacity under the law of their domiciles and that the marriage was properly registered where it took place — but it says nothing about a ceremony by video. In practice HM Passport Office accepts a marriage certificate as evidence of a change of name provided it links the old name to the new one, and does not ask where you were sitting; the risk sits with immigration, where a caseworker has to decide whether you are married. If a visa or settlement application depends on the marriage, take advice, and consider marrying again at a UK register office as well: it does not undo the first marriage, and it removes the doubt.

Build my checklist for the United Kingdom

The steps above become a checklist you can work through and tick off, with the office, the form and the fee on every one. It is free, and it is the whole plan if the United Kingdom is where your records are.

If you live in the United States

A British citizen living in the United States changes their US records with the US checklist: Social Security, the state driving licence, banks and the rest. The United Kingdom does not need to hear about it — there is no register to tell, and a marriage or divorce from abroad is never recorded here. The British passport is renewed in the new name through the Overseas British passport applications service on GOV.UK, an online application made from the United States with the same evidence as at home; the overseas fee is higher than the UK fee and is listed on the GOV.UK passport fees page. A US certificate or court order is in English, so it needs no translation, and HM Passport Office asks for no apostille.

Two things differ from the route at home. You cannot make a UK deed poll while you are a permanent resident overseas, so a change by choice is made under US law instead — and HM Passport Office is instructed to accept a deed poll enrolled in an overseas court, an unenrolled overseas deed poll, and the overseas equivalent of a statutory declaration or affidavit, which is what a US court order changing a name amounts to, as evidence of a change of name. And if you were born or adopted in Scotland or Northern Ireland, National Records of Scotland or the General Register Office for Northern Ireland can still record a change by choice on your birth entry; both turn on where you were born rather than where you live, and both are applied for by post.

Your US records, from Social Security to your state license and the everyday accounts, change with the US checklist; it prepares each form and letter in the order the agencies check them.

Change Your Name is a self-help form-preparation service, not a law firm; this page is general information about the United Kingdom, not legal advice.