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Changing your name upon marriage
Changing your name after you get
married is an old tradition that has
been in practice for many years.
Most commonly the wife takes her
husbands surname, but the reverse of
this, and many other variations are
also possible. If you wish to alter
your name after marriage, the
necessary steps must be followed to
make the name change official.
1. Women who continue to use their
maiden name
There is no legal requirement for a
woman to change her maiden name (her
surname before marriage) when she
gets married. This option is
becoming increasingly popular as
more women are establishing
reputations at work with their
maiden name, and want to keep it to
avoid confusion.
If a woman does decide to continue
using her name and title as they
were before marriage it is not
necessary to contact anyone since no
personal records need to be altered.
Even if you choose not to change
your surname to that of your
husband, you may wish to change your
title. You can change from ‘Miss’ to
‘Mrs’ to show that you are now
married, or alternatively take the
title ‘Ms’ which is not indicative
of any particular marital status.
For further information on this
option
click here.
2. Women who take their husbands
surname
This is by far the most popular
choice among today’s brides, being
the most traditional and easiest.
Having both the husband and wife
operating under the same surname is
the most convenient option when
making financial, legal and social
agreements. If children are also
involved this is particularly
advantageous.
In order for a woman to change her
surname to that of her husbands, she
does not need a Deed Poll. She can
simply send off her marriage
certificate along with a covering
letter explaining that she wishes to
have her surname changed to that of
her husband. This will be accepted
by all government bodies and
organisations including the Passport
Office as a legal entitlement to a
change of name. Certain official
authorities will require sight of an
original marriage certificate, for
example the DVLA
(Driver and Vehicle Licensing
Agency). Therefore it is advisable
to obtain several marriage
certificates on the wedding day so
that organisations can be notified
of your name change quickly and
conveniently.
In following this tradition women
abandon the use of their maiden
name. For example, if Jane Jones
married Matthew Morgan she would be
known as Jane Morgan or Mrs. Matthew
Morgan. However in common usage you
will find that most will address you
(incorrectly) as Mrs. Jane Morgan.
Collectively you will be formally
known as Mr. and Mrs. Matthew
Morgan.
3. Men who take their wife’s surname
The option of a husband taking his
wife’s maiden name is also
available, though rather uncommon.
However, the process involved is
different to that when women take
their husbands name. A man can
simply start using his wife’s
surname after their marriage but
this is not sufficient if he wants
to formally change his name.
In order to get his personal records
amended on documents such as his
passport, a husband must execute a
Deed Poll.
This would allow him to get all
records changed into his new name
without any problems or delays.
How
to apply for a Deed Poll
4. Double-barrelling the surname
This decision to double barrel is
becoming more widespread among
today’s couples. Both the wife’s and
the husband’s surname are combined
to form a hyphenated version. It
allows both the partners to maintain
links to their family name, and at
the same time recognise a change in
their marital status. It also moves
away from the traditional idea,
where the wife takes her husbands
surname, while not abandoning the
sharing of a surname completely.
For example, if Jane Jones married
Matthew Morgan, they could take the
surname ‘Morgan-Jones’.
Alternatively, they could use
‘Jones-Morgan, depending on their
personal preference, and which
combination sounded better.
In order to double-barrel the
surname, a Deed Poll must be used.
The easiest way to do this is for
the husband to change his surname by
Deed Poll before the wedding to that
which the double-barrelled name he
and his wife-to-be have chosen.
Then, after the wedding, the wife
can use her marriage certificate to
get her records changed into her
husband’s new name, thus avoiding
the need for two Deed Polls.
How
to apply for a Deed Poll
5. Creating a new surname (meshing)
The idea of meshing is a recent one
and originated in the Unites States
where both couple's surnames are
‘meshed’ to create a new one. Many
newly-weds do not want to have to
choose between his surname and her
surname and have difficulties
deciding whose surname will go first
if they double-barrel. Meshing their
surnames provides a solution to this
problem. For example if Jane Johnson
married Michael Francis they may
mesh their surnames to become Mr.
and Mrs. Franson.
Some couples who mesh their surnames
choose to continue using their
previous surname as a middle name in
order to maintain a link with their
family name. This can easily be done
at the same time since ‘meshing’ of
surnames requires a Deed Poll.
How
to apply for a Deed Poll
6. Women who take their husbands
surname but continue to use their
maiden name as a middle name
Women who take their husbands
surnames may wish to continue using
their maiden name as a middle name.
This allows them to maintain links
with their family name as well as
avoiding the pretentiousness
associated with having a double
barrelled name. For example, if
Louise Williams married Matthew Rose
she would become Mrs Louise Williams
Rose. It is also possible for the
man to also take his wife’s previous
surname as a middle name which would
allow both couple to share the same
middle name, and forename. In the
aforementioned example, Matthew Rose
would then become Matthew Williams
Rose. Collectively the couple would
be addressed as Mr. and Mrs. Matthew
Williams Rose.
Women who take this option will need
to apply to change their name by
Deed Poll to have their maiden name
incorporated in their new name. This
will allow them to get their
personal records changed into their
new name including the name on their
passport.
How
to apply for a Deed Poll
7. Women who continue to use their
maiden name at work but use their
husbands for all other purposes
If you have a particular reputation
at work or just want to keep your
maiden name to avoid confusion with
contacts, you may decide not to
alter your professional work name.
You'll probably need to write to
your work, explaining what you'll be
doing and also to let them know
which name your bank account/NI/tax
records should be held in.
8. Women who change their title
8.1 Women who change their title to
‘Mrs’ and take their husbands
surname
Women who follow the tradition of
taking their husbands surname
usually change their title to ‘Mrs’.
In order to do so, when notifying
organisations of your change of
surname, by sending off your
marriage certificate, simply mention
the change of title you require in
the covering letter. Those
departments holding personal records
of you will then amend them, and
address you by your new name and
title.
8.2 Women who keep their current
surname but change their title
Some women choose to change their
title upon marriage but retain their
maiden name.
You have two options as regard the
title change. Assuming your title
before marriage is ‘Miss’ you can
change it to either ‘Ms’ or ‘Mrs’.
Obviously, using the title ‘Mrs’
indicates that you are married and
at the same time avoids
complications involved with changing
your surname in the workplace.
The title ‘Ms’ (pronounced ‘miz’)
is becoming more popular especially
among professional and business
women. Those who have an established
name at work, for example with
clients, may not wish to go through
the inconvenience of being addressed
by a different surname, therefore
avoiding confusion.
Both options are perfectly
acceptable and the use of a Deed
Poll is not necessary. You simply
need to send your marriage
certificate to the departments which
hold personal records of you. You
will need to enclose a covering
letter explaining the exact changes
you require and outlining that you
do not want to take your husbands
surname (as this is common practice
and may otherwise be expected). The
departments that you notify can then
amend their records and you can
start using your new title. It will
not be necessary to notify the
Passport Office or DVLA (Driver and
Vehicle Licensing Agency) of your
title change, as it does not appear
on either of these documents.
Changing a name upon forming civil
partnership
A civil partnership is a legal
marriage between couples that are
gay or lesbian. Once a civil
partnership occurs between these
couples, they are entitled to
receive similar treatment and
benefits as that of any married
couple.
Many couples wish to follow
the traditions of a civil marriage
and change their name. In
these cases the same rules apply as
in a marriage (see
Changing your
Name upon Marriage).
A woman's name change rights upon separation
Many women (who took their husband's
surname upon marriage) believe that
they have to wait until they have
divorced before reverting to their
maiden name. This is not the case. A
separated woman has the right to
change her surname at any time. The
change can be carried out through
use of a deed poll and does not
effect any divorce proceedings that
may have already began, or may
happen in the future. The only thing
you need to do as regards this is
notify the other party of the name
change. Following this, any
documentation regarding the divorce
will be in your maiden name. When changing your name by deed poll
you may choose to consider making
alterations to your forenames.
For example to alter, add or remove
your first and/or middle names.
How
to apply for a Deed Poll
A woman's name change rights upon divorce
A woman can revert to using her
maiden name upon divorce. To get all
her documents and records changed,
she will usually be required to
produce her decree absolute
certificate and her marriage
certificate (a marriage certificate
shows a woman's name before
marriage). However, many companies
and organisations will not accept a
decree absolute, in particular the
financial institutions such as banks
and building societies. If this is
the case, or if you do not have
either of these documents to hand,
you may find it more convenient to
execute a change of
name by
Deed
Poll.
As regards your title it is entirely
up to you whether you choose to use
Mrs, Miss, or Ms. If you do decide
to change it you will find it a
simple process - simply fill in the
‘title’ section on our Deed Poll
application form.
You may also
like to change your children’s names
to your new surname by Deed Poll, or
to a double barrel name
incorporating both you and your ex
husbands names. However in order to
change a child’s name, permission
from all parental guardians is
required. To find out more read our
page on
Changing a child's name.
How
to apply for a Deed Poll
A
woman's name change rights upon being
widowed
If a woman wishes to revert to her
maiden name upon being widowed she
can do so without the need for a
Deed Poll. This is because her
husband's death certificate and her
marriage certificate (which shows
her maiden name) are usually
accepted as documentary evidence
that her name has changed.
Government departments and most
companies and organisations will
change their records to show the new
surname upon presentation of these
certificates.
However, if the death certificates
and marriage certificates are not
accepted by everyone a Deed Poll
will be required as there s no
question of whether a Deed Poll is
sufficient documentary evidence of a
change of name.
A Deed Poll must also be used if a
woman wishes to be known by another
surname, or wishes to change her
forenames.
How
to apply for a Deed Poll
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