How do I prove I am who I am on my birth certificate with no official name change...

[fruitslice]

New account as TOTALLY outing!

When I was born, I was given my married parents surname ( name 1 )

When I was around 10 my parents split up and I took my mothers maiden name - there was no paperwork, no deedpoll nothing ( name 2 )

When I was 16 I got my NI number/card in name 2

When I got married, my maiden name was name 2 and now I have name 3

I worked for an airline where we could add family members, I couldnt add my siblings as we had different names (airline had my first name as name 2 and my siblings had name 2)

I'm now looking at getting my Irish Citizenship (via the Grandparent route) but I cannot prove that I with name 3 am also name 1

Does anyone know what I can do?
(going to post in Legal as well - but here for traffic)

I think that legally, you can call yourself anything as long as there is no intention to deceive. So, if I called myself Lady Lois in the hope that people would think I was titled I might have a problem, but if I asked everyone to call me Susannah Lois from now on and told everyone that was my name, there is no issue. It is better to do any name change along those names by deed poll, but I don't think it is an actual requirement.
My husband died recently and did not use his first name at all, he hated it, he didn't say it when we got married and his death cert doesn't mention it. He told everyone that his second name was his first, and that was accepted. All of his docs had that name and his surname, including his passport.

My MIL married DH step dad when DH was about 10. Original surname is bio dad's, NINO and school was step dad's name (even though he was never adopted by SD or had name officially changed). Then changed by deep poll to mother's maiden name.

I’m a registrar. Name 1 should have been recorded on your marriage cert as it’s your last legally acquired name, along with name 2. Name 2 should have been recorded first if it’s the name you usually go by with name 1 as a ‘formerly known as’ name. I’d seek advice from the registration service area responsible for your marriage as they may be able to do a correction on the marriage entry/cert to add name 1 as a ‘formerly known as’ name, as long as you can provide your birth certificate showing name 1. Hope that helps!🙂

In fact I recall my mum was able to get me added to her passport using surname 2 with a letter from my dad that he was comfortable for me to be known under that name. Then when I applied for an adult passport I was already on the system under that name so the passport office didn't ask for any further information at the time. It was only an issue when I went to university and then needed to get the affidavit.

Very similar here

• birth cert in surname 1
• child benefit, ni number and all school records in name 2
• passport name 2, first issued at about 15 using letter from mum and her child benefit book for me as evidence

But when I did my wedding certificate they put on both names. Seemed like something they've definitely seen before

But it wouldn't have matched your BC?

In case it helps, here is the current link from the passport office for all the options for getting a passport in a name tbat is different to that on your birth certifucate

Passport Name Change

How does that square with this info from my local council which says that you can use your passport to prove your identity for the purpose of giving notice of marriage and do not also have to produce a birth certificate? OP had a passport in Name 2 so she would have had no need even to mention Name 1 at the time of getting married I don’t think?

NI number is created by HMRC based on the child benefit records. So your mum must have changed your name on the child benefit claim.

You’d think but I’ve had a U.K. passport issued under an unofficial name. I put my wrong name down on the form accidentally and they issued it. Bizarrely they won’t let me change it to my actual name without a deedpoll certificate. I’ve given up and have had a passport in the wrong name for fifteen years now, even applied for my new one in the wrong name on purpose as was worried otherwise they might refuse to issue me one.

I had a similar problem.
I was born with name 1, then when my mum divorced & remarried, she just told the school I was now known as name 2. This was my stepdads name.
my bio dad didn’t give two hoots , & it was never legally changed. This happened when I was 10/11 so in 1981/2.

when i wanted a passport, I had to send my mums decree nisi (probably spelt that wrong!), & her marriage certificate with my step dad. Passport was then issued when I was 15 in name2.

My husband & I got married in Cuba, & as I had nothing to show the name difference between my birth certificate & passport had been legally changed. I just changed it via deed poll. Did it online, & it cost around £30.

No one questioned it.

You need to contact a solicitor and talk through the options. A relative of mine was born with Surname A, when she was a child her mother changed her name to Surname B. She got married with Surname B, but when it came to apply for a passport much later on, it was discovered that the document that officially changed her name from A to B had been lost/ destroyed.
So there was a gap, in her ID “timeline”. She consulted a solicitor and all that was needed was an official Statement of Declaration to fill the gap.
might be worth a try 🤞

I wondered about child benefit too or maybe it had something to do with social security.

My mum is in her 80's but it's difficult to remember minor details that happened 50 years ago when she got remarried.

To be fair I can't remember much about it either😀

I hope you manage to resolve this OP! I found this situation to be a complete pain until
I got married and now my passport is in married name so I just produce that. Things obviously worked differently in the past!

You’re welcome.

Hope it’s plain sailing.

I think we have this now:

OP’s Mum applied for child passport and child benefit in Surname 2. NI number issued from child benefit records.

Child passport was used to evidence identity for adult passport in Name 2.

Adult passport used as ID for marriage.

To close the gap with Name 1 OP needs retrospective Deed Poll or affidavit from her mother. She can possibly also have name 1 added to her marriage certificate as a “former name”.

I wonder if because you were on your mum's passport, she just changed your name, maybe provided a doctor's letter or something, then because you were on one passport, they used that as evidence for your first adult passport? If it was a while ago, they were obviously a lot more lax than nowadays

That's what my marriage certificate states

Currently going through divorce now and have no intention of creating further issues over my name so I'll be leaving it as it is now. 😁

@fruitslice I could have written your post almost verbatim, except I am not married so am still name 2.

My current UK passport is in name 2, birth certificate in name 1 with no deed poll or any other official paperwork having been done by my mother to change my name when I was a child following her second marriage. Was born with my father’s name, mum remarried, and we were then double barrelled, at some point my mum dropped my father’s part of my surname and just kept my stepdads, though my brothers kept just our original name. I applied for my first passport at age 17 in name 2 and it was given no questions asked.

I did speak to the passport office a few years ago to find out what could be done to prove the connection (mothers marriage certificate apparently is not proof) so that I could do the process for getting my Irish passport but was told that my official name (name 2) is illegal and therefore so is my passport and that I should surrender my passport and seek legal advice. Luckily, I was only speaking to general enquiries and had not given my name or any other details and have not had my UK passport renewals refused.

So, in short, I have no idea but, like you, would very much like to find out so that I can apply for my Irish passport too.

Re your airline benefits. My sister and I are both married and have different names. I had to send in my birth certificate, her birth certificate and both our marriage certificates and she was added to my travel profile. You should be able to send in similar (you may need something to show name2 too) but it should be a problem.

thats interesting - I have my parents wedding cert, and that has DM First Name Last Name formerly known as First Name Last Name

(we have a thing about names in our family obviously!)

I didnt have anything to link name1 and name2 - they refused to accept it

I dont work for the airline any more

You're in a slightly better place than me, as you want to keep name2

If i wanted to keep name 2, i would probably deedpoll and back date if possibe?

If you have your birth certificate, that'll prove you are name 1.

Any other documentation you have from recent times, will prove you're also name 3.

It also only costs £5 to do a Statutory Declaration, which is valid for all purposes, if you want to do that.

I think you're worrying unnecessarily.

I also have a weird one. My dad registered my birth but spelt my name a different way than my mother wanted.
So on my birth certificate i am one spelling of my name, also the same spelling on my NI card. However my passport, driving licence, all school exam certificates have the spelling my mother wanted.
It's very confusing. And I'm not sure whether I should do the retrospective deed pole to change my name to the 'correct' spelling I've always used