Passport office won’t issue my passport,help pls

[Christmaspug]

I’ve never really used my first name ,always used my middle name ,.on my wedding certificate the registrar put my middle name first as that’s what everyone calls me.
Passport office want proof of a name change from first name to middle name

Obviously I’ve not got that ,lots of people use their second name when they don’t like their first name,why would I change it officially as they are both my name.
I’m about to loose my £80 fee ,as this has been has been going backwards and forwards for some time ,
I’ve simply not got the proof they want ,
What on Earth can I do
I’m 46 always lived in uk and never had a passport before

On the other hand, I'd question potential issues of your qualifications @Christmaspug. How could your mum have randomly changed your surname (without a legal adoption) each time she re-married? Did your school never ask for proof of adoption each time you changed your name from your birth cert to your step father's names, then back again when they split up?

Schools requiring proof is a very new thing when it comes to surnames. It was completely accepted that the “known as” box could be used for surname just as easy as first names.

Even now people think they should just be able to change their child’s surname after a split or if the Dad doesn’t bother fir a while and they get arsey with schools and nurseries that they can no longer do that so easily. It frequently comes up on here

I went to school with a lad who couldn’t find his registration class on the first day of S2. Turned out his mum had changed his name wuth the school as she’d got married over the summer. She’d just assumed and hadn’t even mentioned it to him. That was the second name change in 3/4 years and he still has the nickname “Switch” to this day

The same thing happened to me, dm remarried and changed my name to my stepfathers, id checks for schools must have been a lot less stringent then(1970s/early eighties)
and children could travel on parents passports so did not need their own.

When I got to 18 I had to get a statutory declaration drawn up which stated that I had been known by my stepfathers name since I was four and no longer used my irth name.

@theunknownknown Given your last post, what difference would being married in a church make?

I've always assumed it's the vows, because the vicar declares "I know pronounce you husband and wife" (or whatever the actual words are) BEFORE the signing of the register.

The paperwork isn't signed in this case either, because the op did not sign her real name.

But does your signature have to be your name? I thought it just had to be a mark you could reproduce that was unique to you. DH doesn’t sign with his name.

I think I must be lucky. When I was 2 my mother remarried and unofficially just “changed” my surname to my dads surname. So on my birth certificate it says eg Brown but from the age of 2 i went by Smith. My national Insurance number was issued to me as Smith and on my wedding day no problems arose.

Having read this thread not sure how I’ve managed to get through life with having my surname unofficially changed. Had no problems getting a passport in my new married name either. I think as a previous poster pointed out this was in the 70’s when things were less stringent.

I changed my name by deed poll with solicitor but solicitor cocked it up and passport office wouldn't accept it,lovely lady on the phone told me I could do it for free,you write it yourself,saying your changing your name from this to that sign in both names(this is the important bit).
Then get 2 witness signatures and all done.

Even now people think they should just be able to change their child’s surname after a split or if the Dad doesn’t bother fir a while

Agree - I had this conversation with a friend recently who has just come through a very acrimonious divorce and her former husband no longer sees their child. The child's name id officially something like John Smith-Brown, she's Jane Brown. She has told the child to drop the Smith so he's just John Brown. Which is fine, as she recognises that he's still officially Smith-Brown and can't change that without permission from his father until he's an adult himself.

DH doesn’t sign with his name

What does he sign with then?

Yes it has to be your name. You can't sign with Donald Duck for example. It doesn't have to be your full name, but on legal documents, it does need to be your legal name.

Well, even allowing for the 'casual attitude' of the 1970s, I still think it's bizarre that people thought they could simply change their names willy nilly and use them for legal docs and qualifications.

I was teaching in the 1970s and pupils ( GCEs and A levels) certainly could not just swap a surname if their parents remarried.

Amazed at the ignorance of people thinking you can, or who did in the 70s.

It's really worrying how people are so ignorant or think these things don't matter.

DH doesn’t sign with his name
This is really intriguing! Wondering if it is a Prince-like symbol now

@user1475002412 I don't know how you 'got away ' with this and even if now years later you may encounter some problems at one point.

Your NI number is linked to your NHS medical card which is linked to your birth cert.

Maybe they went by the number and not the name?

I think you ought to look into this because if you ever have to produce your birth certificate and your marriage cert, there is going to be discrepancy because in between those your mother gave you another surname.

DH doesn’t sign with his name Either he just puts an X, or maybe she means his real name is Peter John Smith and he signs it J Smith. Or if his name is William, and he gets called Bill, he signs it B Smith.

OP, it doesn't matter if you like to call yourself Bonzo or whatever, your official name is what authorities identify you with. They don't care what you call yourself at work or with friends. Your official name is on your birth certificate. You really need to stop changing names on documents when it's incorrect to do so. Your marriage certificate is wrong and therefore cannot be used as identification because your official name isn't on there.

He signs with his initials.

About 25 years ago, in the days of cheques, he had a letter from the bank saying that his signature no longer matched the one they had on file. Could he please come in and fill in a form to get a new signature sample. So he decided to change his signature from his name to a kind of monogram of his initials.
It’s never caused a problem.

I was teaching in the 1970s and pupils ( GCEs and A levels) certainly could not just swap a surname if their parents remarried.

Maybe not where you taught, it it absolutely did happen.

Amazed at the ignorance of people thinking you can, or who did in the 70s.

Nobody is being ignorant. They simply have had a different experience to you.

My mum remarried and we moved to a new county in 1987. She turned up at my new (primary) school in and told them I was 'record label' so that is what they wrote on all the forms. My name was actually 'record box' but she told them my stepdads name, the recorded it and I got my NI number in that name years later as a result. In the 90's I applied for a passport and all the asked as proof that my birth name was changed to my used name was my mother and step fathers marriage certificate. Looking back is was bizarre but it did happen. I had all my banking etc in that name. When I was 20 I reverted to my legal name and that was a bigger problem that using my step dads name.

Not ignorant. Different.

Having read this thread not sure how I’ve managed to get through life with having my surname unofficially changed. Had no problems getting a passport in my new married name either. I think as a previous poster pointed out this was in the 70’s when things were less stringent.

It happened later than the 70's as well. I didn't start school until 82.

It's much more common than a lot of people think. Especially the child's name changing to the mother's maiden surname after a split - that comes up on here regularly even now!

Even now a lot of schools are only just grasping that they should only be allowing children to use a 'known as' surname if all parties with PR agree.

It's really worrying how people are so ignorant or think these things don't matter.

I think it's more worrying that some people think because they didn't do it, or know anyone who did it, means it didn't happen.

It's just that they had a different experience to you.

There just wasn’t the paper trail in the past that’s required now. Many people have some things in one name and some on another. Sometimes they didn’t even know their birth certificate name until adulthood.

I actually think we need ID cards in this country now because we’re being asked to provide identification more and more frequently and it’s ridiculous to have to carry a passport at all times.

What a mess. I'd just apply for a passport in your birth name. Although if deed polls can be backdated could you use a date a month prior to your marriage showing you changed your forenames to match the marriage cert but with birth surname. Then the marriage cert could be used to change surname. That would be a paper trail to your preferred name now.

*jingling I had no choice in the matter. I was 2 years old. My mother just started using my stepdads surname as my surname. I have worked for the civil service, undergone stringent security checks especially when applying for senior jobs and it’s never been an issue. I’ve always had to put my natural birth surname down as “also known as”. I had 3 children via the NHS and again no issues.

I do remember the registrar asking about my birth fathers surname though but that’s it.

I’m not happy my mum did this especially as she divorced the man a few years later but left me lumbered with his surname unto I got married.

A friend of mine discovered she’s wasn’t ‘Sarah’ as her mother wanted her to be named but ‘Jane’ on her birth certificate that her father registered. ‘Jane’ was a famous actress or singer at the time. She found out when she had to sign for her exam entries and needed a birth certificate. So her exams are in her ‘wrong name’ it was a shock!!! To her and her mother.

Schools now request birth certificates before they register you on the system. If the child changes name they need legal documents to do so. They can be ‘known by’ but the legal name remains.

@user1475002412 I think it might be different now. I wasn't blaming you- it was your mum's doing.

As for security checks- maybe they weren't as good as they should have been or would be now- wouldn't surprise me with the civil service unless it was MI5. You'd certainly not get away with an unexplained / illegal surname change now.

I assume they simply looked at your married name or your surname when single and assumed you had been adopted, if they even noticed your surname had changed between birth and marriage.

. I’ve always had to put my natural birth surname down as “also known as”

. It really ought to have been your step father's name that was 'also known as' not your birth name.

It's just that they had a different experience to you
I think it's more worrying that some people think because they didn't do it, or know anyone who did it, means it didn't happen

So people who were sensible enough not to do it are in the wrong and you assume therefore that they didn't know other people did it?

Odd sense of ethics going on there..

No, it's not that they had a different experience that's the issue, it's that they didn't even begin to realise they were in the wrong.

You can know right from wrong even if you have had a 'different experience'.

The default setting is you can on;y change your surname legally.

So people who were sensible enough not to do it are in the wrong and you assume therefore that they didn't know other people did it?

You are the one repeatedly telling people that things didn't happen...

Such as "I was teaching in the 1970s and pupils ( GCEs and A levels) certainly could not just swap a surname if their parents remarried." even though people are telling you it did happen

No-one has said it's right that names could be changed easily until very recently (and still happens in schools that aren't hot on it), but that it did happen. You keep telling people it couldn't happen and you are wrong.

The default setting is you can on;y change your surname legally.

You can call yourself whatever you like as long as you don't intend to defraud. You could start calling yourself whatever you liked tomorrow and it wouldn't be illegal as long as you were open and honest about your previous names to banks, employers and the likes

Institutions like banks will now request a deed poll, but it's not illegal to call yourself Mary Smith day-to-day and have everything official in Barbara Jones if you really wanted