GP receptionist thinks that all women's surnames change upon marriage....

[onlychildhamster]

Basically the set up in my passport is that I am allowed to add my married name in brackets.

So as an e.g. my name is in the format:

Rachel Tan Huimin (Mrs Rachel Smith)

Tan is my maiden name, Huimin is my Chinese name. In the UK, I go by my married name, Rachel Smith because I find having a white passing names makes life easier in many ways i.e. people aren't confused what your surname is and some people are also nicer to you.

Until now... Basically I need a vaccine certificate to get back to my country. I am concerned that my NHS Covid pass doesn't match what is in my passport exactly. I asked my GP if I could change the name on my NHS Covid pass and got this response. They are telling me that when I married, my name changed and therefore I can't change it back! But I never changed my name in the first place, it just got added to my passport so that I can use it for official purposes. I bought my property in my married name, opened a bank account in my married name and have travelled under my married name. But at the same time, I never changed my name so I still have my maiden name in my passport. It is very unusual in my home country to completely change your name, hence this option to add husband's surname to passport (it's very common for ladies who married Europeans to have this setup). But now the GP said they will not change my name to my maiden name unless I show a name change document!

'When you got married your name changed, now you are asking to change it back to your maiden name, so we need to see Legal documentation that you have changed you name again, so please come to the surgery with this.'
What should I do? Would it help if I register with another GP (who hopefully has a smarter receptionist)?

@onlychildhamster

The NHS surgery is now saying: Without a Legal Document we cannot change your name on the NHS records. You will also need to come to the surgery with your Passport and the Legal Documentation.

I have emailed them copies of my birth certificate and marriage certificate (both in English).

I have written to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in my home country seeking their advice.

So why can’t you go to the surgery with your passport and your birth certificate? They are saying emails will not suffice.

I very much doubt they will be able to register you with your married name in brackets but they are telling you to register as a different name you need to bring the documents.

I think the issue is that when you registered with the GP, they took the name that appeared on your passport AND your proof of address. Which does make sense from their point of view.

[quote onlychildhamster]@gogohm it's weird, I was registered with NHS before I married at 19. I came back to UK at 22 and re-registered at a new GP. Don't really remember it tbh but I submitted this new passport with the married name in brackets. MY poa was my bank statement in my married name. So they used this name.

I was kicked out of my GP when I bought a flat as it was outside the catchment area and they realized this when I changed my address details. So I registered with this new GP online during the pandemic- just sent passport copy and new proof of address.[/quote]
So by your own admission they used your married name (from your passport) and married name (from your bank statement) when you first registered with a gp when you returned to the UK aged 22. Then you used the same passport to re-register at a new GP after you moved (what name was the proof of address you used at that point?)

The fact is that you used your married name to register at both GPs, so you can't blame them for not using the one you want now.

Download a change of name deed template, stick your name (the one you need on your travel documents) on it, get 2 friends to witness it then take it to the GP surgery. You do not need a deed poll to register a change if name in the UK.

If the Singaporean officials won't accept the Covid pass in your married name, just print one of these out in the correct names to give to GP, sort out your Covid pass, then do another one to correct it back to your common usage name and give that to the GP. I had to do one to get into China. It was just a box I needed to tick.
freedeedpoll.org.uk/

Just take an id of you with your maiden name and/or your marriage certificate.
I changed my name with the GP and they accepted my marriage certificate - it basically demonstrates that you are entitled to use both names.
I think as pp says the name will have to be changed on the system completely rather than just the NHS pass. You can always change it back once you've returned.

This is why I am so glad I didn't change my name when I married in the UK. I have dual nationality in a country where your passport by law has to have your name as it is on your birth certificate ( or in the equivalent of a deed poll name change). It is illegal to use any other name on legal documents, married or not. There is a space on the passport to add your married name if you choose to but your birth name is the main name used and most women don't use a married surname anyway

I have family members who did change their name on being married in the UK and there are ways to deal with this but it makes any legal paperwork needed in our second country of nationality much more complicated .So when my uncle died for instance, all of the inheritance paperwork was a nightmare for my cousin who uses a married name here. It was much simpler for my sister and I when our dad died as we had kept our maiden names all our lives so that the names on UK certificates and documents matched with the ones used in the country .
As to not using a married name in the UK, that has never caused me any problems at all as there is no legal requirement to use a married name and it is in fact just simpler not to change name.
Anyway not much help to the op I know but it is honestly worth thinking about whether changing your name is worth it if you have dual nationality in some countries and are getting married in the UK.

@IsItTooHotInHere Oh I don't mind using Rachel Smith here. I just never envisioned that I would have to use proof of my UK life back home. I go to my country mainly to see family. I never thought that I would ever have to present vaccination certificates obtained in the UK to go back to my country. In fact, I always thought that if i had to get any medical procedures done, i would get it done in Singapore as I still have medical insurance there!

@IsItTooHotInHere Oh and I got married in europe! My marriage cert is in 3 different languages.

@IsItTooHotInHere also my name on bank statements and NHS is actually Rachel Huimin Smith. I always keep my Chinese given name and would also give DC a Chinese name. But on nhs vaccine pass, its Rachel Smith cos i guess it got shortened!

@bumblingbovine49 yes but i was so so sick of people continually writing my name as Rachel Min. When my surname is Tan. As an example.

chinese surnames come before the given name, hence the structure.

But tbh my sister's name structure is Tan Huimin Rachel and you can structure it both ways in my home country. But my parents chose to structure my name with the Western name first.

You must have changed your name to get official documents registered with it - such as bank account and mortgage! I couldn't get them to open as Eric unless I had evidence it was legally my name. Sounds like you having a non UK passport has confused people opening these accounts into thinking this is your legal name if you didn't do it at yourself in the usual way after marriage.

What happened to the banks you had open before you were married? Or did you change this name to your married name?

@EricScrantona My bank account in university was a HSBC Premier International banking account opened by my father in my home country and held jointly in our names. This meant that my dad could convert SGD to GBP at a competitive rate and send money to me in the UK instantly. As it was also in my dad's name, he closed it when I graduated. I opened a new bank account as a married woman in the UK when I returned to UK after a short stint in Europe aged 22 (7 years ago).

Interesting! I am surprised that they didn't use both names if you used a non UK passport to open the bank. For example Mrs Born Name (Married Name) or ask what the formal way is rather than guess or even have also known as! I have suffered from complicated surnames and identity but nothing as significant as you have here.

If it was me I would say that you were registered incorrectly and as per your passport should be this but I see you have done a variation of this! Also, you are registered this way in all UK evidence to persuade them to change it which doesn't help. Talk about sticky wicket.

As an update I finally managed to call the authorities in my home country and they think it would be fine as the name is in brackets... Just waiting for the written confirmation...

Thank you all.