To want to change my surname to...

[confusion39]

My Grandmas maiden name?

My mum was horrendous when I was younger and died when I was 10, my father disowned me when I was 16.
I married a few years ago and need to return my surname but would want to change it to this different one not my maiden name.

Have been looking at the deed poll..can I change it there then change everything over?
Has anyone done this..thought it was harder and more expensive?

You can change your name by deed poll to anything you like as long as you don't mind it being a giant faff. I still use my old married name (I see it as my kids surname rather than my exes name) despite being remarried again because its such a pain to change everything & I really don't want to change it again.

Thanks, why a huge faff? I guess I'd change everything to new surname and have done. Do you mean on forms when it says previous names?

You married?

Do you mean divorced?

I changed my surname by deed poll, it was unbelievable easy and not very expensive at all:

You just need a deed poll signed by a friend. It’s a major pain but lots of women do it on marriage, I can’t imagine it’s any harder. I have changed DC’s name with deed poll. But they only have doctors and passports to change. The passport office have no problem with the deed poll. However when I apply for a foreign citizenship, the friend signed deed poll wasn’t accepted, and they won’t accept her birth name either because she held a passport in a different name. In the end I have to get a notary signed deed poll drawn up. This can then be certified by the home office. Just something to consider if you ever emigrate.

You can change it to anything (think Princess Conseula Banana Hammock) but get one of those name change checklists to make sure you change it on everything which as PP pointed out, is a giant faff.

It’s not a huge faff in the slightest.

Legally I don’t have to change my passport until it runs out.
Banks are simple, you just take your certificate of name change in, job done. You send your driver license to the DVLA, and all the other stuff (electric bills, phone bills etc) just do when you can be arsed. Which in our instance is never.

The pain part being you have to change every document. And on new jobs, they often asked for your university records. If in a different name, you then need to again provide your deed poll. But it’s no different to name changing on marriage.

I did this for DM, it was free and very easy. I think the trick is to get your bank to change your name first. Then you can get a bank statement with your ‘new’ name, and everything else should fall into place. It was a bit of a chore to let everyone know, but worth the effort - at least DM thinks it was.

It’s absolutely no different to a woman getting married and changing to her surname to her married name.

Which women do constantly.

Why is it so much more a ‘faff’ than that?
We don’t tell women who are about to get married “oof, don’t take his name, it’s such a faff with all the paper work!”

Thanks for the replies.
Yes divorced but would like to change my surname and not go back to my maiden name but my new surname.

So deedpoll from married surname name to new one
Change relevant docs?
Is it that easy?!

What about my maiden name when does that come into it or doesn't it?!

I’ve no idea, I’ve only changed my nam once.

You need to prove the sequence of names, I think, until you have a new passport and driving license. I reverted to my maiden name after divorce without deed poll and found the faff in the way you have to show all the documents every time - pretty much everyone insists on original docs so sending them all (birth cert, marriage cert, divorce cert) off to different places and waiting for them all to be returned was the biggest pain.

As I instigated the divorce, I had sent my copy of the marriage certificate away to get the decree nisi - getting the second copy of the marriage cert from my ex at the beginning of the process was also a pain.

Hopefully for you deed poll will be more straightforward.

My Mum did something similar - after getting divorced, she changed her name to her mother's maiden name. There were no problems at all.

Years ago my brother took my mother's maiden name as he didn't want he same name as our useless, deadbeat Father

Thanks for the replies. Think I'll contact deedpoll and see what they say

I’ve done it, it’s teally simple.

My passport is still in my old name as you have to buy a new one with the name on, and you have to send proof for a DBS.

When showing right to work or similar, a lot of people have never seen a deed poll and get flustered by it, but it’s fine. You can do it for free. I paid £15 because I wanted 5 copies of their certificate. Definitely don’t pay more than that!

Also, there are hundreds of companies offering it, it’s not a case of contacting deed poll because there isn’t one main organisation. This is because you can do it for free and they want you to pay

You will find all the information about deedpolls at the government site : Gov.uk

Don't bother with any other site, they are just trying to make money from something that is free to do.

Thanks for all your help x

The biggest pain is having to come up with a new signature on the spot that you will remember & be able to replicate for life. When I got divorced I took in my decree absolute to the bank to change back to my maiden name & they asked me to sign the paper in a brand new signature. I told them id come back & I never did. No way would I be able to remember it. My signature is a scribble anyway so I don't see why it matters.

Pixie I hadn't thought of that..I'll get practising!

Yep, easy enough to do by deed poll!

I did something similar when I got married and double-barrelled my mum's maiden name with my husbands name, dropping my then-surname, which was my dad's name (iyswim).

Sound that sounds similar to what I want to do!
So the deed poll says check if your bank requires it to be an enrolled deed poll..I'm not sure on this? Has anyone checked or just done it? My banks in another town?!

You’ve got to be able to prove the name changes. So if you’re born as x change to y and then change to z, you have to have all the documents from birth cert and each name change.

It’s easy and cheap, the annoying part is updating all your records. Think changing your phone number- there’s always someone you forget to tell!

Start off with changing passport and driving licence, then banks for proof of address.

Thanks. Need to find my decree first and go from there so I've got everything