legally changing your name

[Vince Noir]

My girlfriend has said that if we have kids she want to have the same name as them.
She wants to keep the tradition of having the kids on the fathers side, and thus changing her name so its the same.
Now, i don't want to get married
So can you legally change your last name without getting married ???

[Astraeus]

Yes. I researched this a while ago as I was interested in adopting my mother's maiden name. It's as simple as using the new name for everything from this point on - passports, driver's licenses, bank cards etc. You'll also need to change any existing bank accounts etc. in order that there is no confusion.

It was lazy of me not to provide this link - http://www.ukdps.co.uk/WhatIsADeedPoll.html

[Reign-Mack]

had this done when I was still at prime school, dont remember it being too much hassle, but nothing really is when you are that young and people do everything for you.

[dan1979]

I did this a couple of years ago.

Just walked into a solicitors with a copy of my passport and a cheque for something in the region of £117.

You get a deed of name change certificate which you send copies of to relevant parties to get your documents/services in your new name.

[sim667]

yes my ex did it when she was a kid, she kept moving between her mum and dad hence kept changing her name.

[geomuss]

Originally Posted by Vince Noir

My girlfriend has said that if we have kids she want to have the same name as them.
She wants to keep the tradition of having the kids on the fathers side, and thus changing her name so its the same.
Now, i don't want to get married
So can you legally change your last name without getting married ???

Yip and you can legally be removed from the birth certificate as well !

[Stephen Wilde]

Don't confuse a Change of Name Deed with a change of name by Deed Poll.

The commercial product referred to above is the former not the latter despite it's description.

A Change of Name Deed is simple and cheap and all you really need. Just produce the original or a certified copy whenever necessary. Any solicitor will arrange it for you.

Changing a name by Deed Poll is much more time consuming and expensive and involves changing all official records in the process.

In 35 years of legal practice I have done many Change of Name Deeds but never once has anyone thought it worthwhile to do it by Deed Poll.

The only time to be cautious is when changing the names of children. If there has been a divorce it may be necessary to get court approval.