Dd wants to change her name before her gcses

I did O levels many years ago and years later changed my first name by deed poll. I then contacted the exam boards and new certificates were issued in my new name, I think I had to pay for the copies, but they were not expensive.
I got married in my new name and my old first name was never mentioned or written anywhere. The Deed Poll says that I 'shall be known by word, deed and thought' as my new name. not sure how they can enforce 'the thought' I haven't had to show my deed poll to anyone for years, once you have a passport in the new name that usually covers all need for ID.

Hi, just wanted to let you know how my son changed his name for the summer '15 exams. We used the UK deed poll service. He was able to apply for the deed poll before his 16th birthday which was beginning of May. All paperwork was signed and in place and on his birthday it came into effect and the U.K. deed poll service sent out his deed poll plus 4 legal copies about 3-4 days later. These legal copies were sent off by the exams officer as soon as we got them, to the 2 exam boards he was sitting exams for and although he'd been entered in Feb with his old surname and his coursework was written with his old surname, everything transferred over seamlessly and his GCSE certificates and results all were in his new surname.
Good luck to your dd for her exams

Dc born 02, father named on birth certificate. Separated 04, he had zero parental rights. Had to go to court to get them. Thankfully the name was never contested.

I used to be an Examinations Officer. You can change names on exam entries up until the results come out, or even after this. There is a final deadline some time after the results come out but before certificates are issued. However, there may well be increasing fees to pay the later on you do it.

DS has a change of name deed. His passport has the surname as his birth certificate which he can't change until he is 16 as it's too complicated to get it done before.

He sat a GCSE in the summer and the certificate came back with the name that is on his passport - I spoke to the Exams Officer at the school and sent in his change of name deed so the certificate could be sent back and have his surname changed to the one he has used for the past 15 years.

His surname for the exams that he has been registered with for this summer is now the same as the one on his change of name deed.

Sadly bubble passport and crb (or now DBS) checks need all.

And they MADE me have it on my marriage certificate. I was j. Smith (formally known as j. Green)

I was fuming. I was told I wouldn't have to, and didn't have my fathers details on the certificate, but this name thing they jumped me on the morning of my wedding and told me it had to be on there

I'm hoping next marraige it doesn't. Can't fit enough names in there!!!

Have just checked and the deadline for GCSE entries this year is 1st Feb 2016. You need to check with the school. It may be possible to change details later on but there is a charge for this and some schools may pass on any charges to parents.
PS a child's legal name must be used for exam entries and if your dd writes a different name on the front of her exam papers then it could delay the results.

Married fathers named on birth certificate generally have PR.

The post 2003 rule gives unmarried fathers named on BC PR.

Actually depending on when she was born her father won't automatically have parental responsibility - that;s only for married fathers of kids born after somthing like 2003 (google it)

I bow to the superior knowledge of Baronesss and Four as I don't have direct experience of this, but that isn't the guidance on gov.uk.

You do not need a parents permission once you reach 16 except in circumstances listed in the post at 19.43.

Blue - it is possible to get away from the birth surname. I've got away from mine. It was changed when I was a child and then changed again when I got married. So now when I fill in forms, I put my married surname and when it asks for a maiden/previous name, I use the surname that I acquired as a child and never use my birth surname. Often it will only have space for one name anyway and I have not had to show my birth certificate for decades. It's part of the reason I really wanted to take dh name when got married - to fully shake off birth name.

Just to add - if you and DD's father were married at the time of registering the birth, he theoretically has parental responsibility, and she'll need his permission too at 16.

The school has to put her legal name on the exam entries. It's very unlikely that you will be able to get a change through in time for the summer exam series.

It may be more straightforward in the future for her to present her qualifications with proof of her change of name. Get a couple of authenticated copies of the deed poll when you do get it to make this easier.

But to add, she will never be able to fully get away from her current surname.

On every form ever, passport, drivers, crb checks etc, you have to list previous names as well as current. Is pretty shit tbh.

I changed my name by deed poll, but had to wait until my 18th birthday as before then I had to have my fathers consent and he would have refused.

All my gcse and college Certs are in my original name. My marraige certificate has both names which upset me.

I currently still have my married name, I divorced years ago but kept it for the children. I will complete my degree in 2018, and that will be in my married name - DP and I have plans to marry, but sadly it won't be before then, which means I'm stuck with it.

Four names by the time I'm 40. I'm collecting them

You can change exam entries up until the day of the exams but it gets progressively more expensive the closer you get. So even if school enter her and you want her name changed it would be possible but you might need to pay for the changes.

I think if people don't know the answer to this they shouldn't just speculate. OP I know exactly how your dd feels because I had the same problem in my GCSE year and my mum and I insisted the school change my name on their records so my exam certificates would be in the right name. Thank god I did. The next few years I had to produce those certificates repeatedly and I would have hated to have to explain my name over and over again.

'Legally' - the law isn't a tick box, there are no definite steps to changing a name. However, to ensure I had a piece of paper confirming that someone in authority had agreed to the change, I also asked my step-dad to adopt me and used the adoption certificate later to prove my name for the purpose of getting a passport and driving licence in the right name.

Consent for name change is 16 except in certain circumstances these are where a residence order, special guardianship order or care order has been issued after 1 September 2009 and is still valid so basically unless the child is already under a court order of some sort they can change their name at 16 without parental consent or the permission of the court.

The exams officer will be entering pupils now for the summer exams and will have to use the current name on her birth certificate. I suspect March will be too late, I am afraid .

Our school has recently had a few cases where pupils want to change their surnames as they want to apply for MFL courses at top unis and don't want it to be obvious they are native speakers of said language. The aim is to change their surname to their Mother's English sounding name rather than Father's Russian/Spanish etc surname to fool the unis. Apparently this does work quite well. However it needs to be done well in advance of the exam periods.

I know it was some years ago. but I had a deed poll at 13

Scotland is different to England & Wales.

It is 16 rather than 18 for a name change.

I'm in Scotland do that may be different.

My DC are at school under a 'known by' name for the same reason as op - to be honest I don't think school (secondary) even have their official name!! I saw a solicitor about changing them officially but it was going to be a nightmare and she advised for kids to just do it themselves at 16.