Has anyone changed their surname not through marriage?

[whereisthe]

Hi
My surname comes from my dad's side of the family, however I have nothing to do with him or them for various reasons and don't wish to. I'm very close with my mother and have really been considering changing my surname to her maiden name. I feel more from her side of the family and we are all very close.
I do however have a daughter whose surname is double barrelled with mine and he dads, so I'd therefore have to change her surname too.
Has anyone ever done this? How easy is it to do?

Think on dd's df would need to agree to a change. I actually have dh's first name as my surname...

Daughters father would be fine with it!

Wow that's very interesting about your dh first name as your surname, I've never heard of that before!

I have two friends who both changed their surnames after divorce. They didn't want to return to their maiden names as that felt like a step backwards, but equally they didn't want to keep their married names. So they just picked new surnames they liked and changed by deed poll! It seemed like a pretty straightforward process, although neither of them had DC.

My friend changed her name by deed poll - I don't know the details, but it wasn't complicated.

My DD chose her name and when she married she kept it and also her DS has her name and not his dad's but he is on the birth certificate.

When she went to the passport office recently with her marriage certificate listing both her previous name (birth name) and her chosen one (current). She handed in her evidence and was challenged about why she hadn't taken her then husband's name "like she was supposed to" and despite lots of actual evidence she had to write a deed poll change of name on a bit of paper and get a complete stranger (from a supermarket) to sign it which was accepted as good quality evidence. 😳

There is no requirement for a deed poll either.

I added my mother's maiden name to my surname (from my father) as soon as I legally could. But that was in another country. Simple enough, but procedurally different from the UK: we don't have anything nearly as unofficial as deed polls, you have to submit an application for change of name at a registry office and they have to accept it.

I did a statutory declaration at a courthouse many years ago which gave me a piece of paper to add to my birth certificate with my new last name.

The name I chose was my mother's maiden name and I got rid of my waste of space "dad" last name.

No regrets at all.

I changed mine to my mother's maiden name over thirty years ago. Granted this was in Australia, so I don't know how the deed poll process compares with Britain's, but it was very simple. Same reason as others in the thread, too - father was a waste of space. Plus his surname wasn't even his original name, he was adopted, so it had no connection to me at all, whereas my mother's family has been traced back centuries.

Yes - I did mine by deed poll. Dh and I got married in Vegas. Within a few days of the ceremony, you’re meant to get a certified copy of the marriage certificate from the county Clark officer. We never got round to it. When I got home, I just changed my surname by deed poll. Really easy, cost £50.

It's really simple and straightforward, and costs nothing.

Fill in the change of name deed with current name, new name, and get witness to sign. You can also change your title from Mrs back to Miss for example.

Print and have witnessed as many copies as you need, then just forward to the relevant authorities. Job done.

I can confirm this works with DWP, DVLA, HMRC, NHS, local council and passport office. I also changed my maiden name to my stepmum's as I wanted to completely disassociate with my sperm donor. Nothing was queried by any of these organisations, very straightforward.

https://freedeedpoll.org.uk/

Yes I did! I was doing a degree and had just got divorced (in my 30s) and I didn't want my married name on my degree certificate...so I changed it! 🤷‍♀️