Can I change my daughters name?

[katherinez]

Just wondering whether this is even possible. She is 2.6 and has a shortened name which I love. Just keep kicking myself, wish we had put the longer one on her birth certificate.

I believe you can do Deed Poll, and it's not that expensive.

costs about £42 - I did mine online. Can dig out a link if you like.

Oh yes please, that would be fantastic. It shouldnt matter really, but it just keeps bugging me.

Anyone else know anything about this?

here

I don't really see why it's a problem. You say you love her shortened name, so why do you want to put the longer one on her birth certificate? Odds are you/she would never use the longer form, but it would be a pain because it would then go on all official documentation and everyone at school and other official places will call her by the longer version even when she doesn't want them to!

Deed poll is a possibility, but I think I would leave it for now and leave it open for when she's older. She's got the name you like now, and when she's older she can know there's a possibility of changing it.

Yes - v easy but all the other paperwork is a fag - passpost, NHS, tax etc,etc. Works out as quite expensive once all costs taken into account.

I hear what you are saying about the school thing. I need to give it some thought. I just keep coming back to it. It is keeping me awake at night.

My other dd has a longer, more formal name which we shorten quite frequently and when she is older she will have more choices over what she wants to be called. I wasnt thinking straight postnatally.

FWIW I do like the longer version too. I dont think I could see past the baby stage when we named her.

Thankyou Petronella.

I know it would be a pain, but I just keep going back to it. I dont think I will be satisfied if I dont change it. And I hate feeling that we made a mistake with her name.

I dont think it would make any difference to her now. We will still use the shortened version.

If you can/want to do it do so before she starts school. There are lots of kids I know who have formal names but are known as an abbreviated version .

Trouble is, you don't know how she will feel when she's older. She may well resent you for saddling her with the longer name. Or of course, she could love it.

Or she could change it to something completely different anyway when she has the choice!

Certainly at secondary school, my children have several friends whose family and friends always use the shortened form of their name, but of course the full form is written in the registers, official documents etc. So every single cover teacher who comes in looks at the register and calls them by the long name. Child is then embarassed and either has to correct the teacher or live with being called a name they aren't used to being called.

Because you aren't actually unhappy with the short form in itself, I would still leave the decision - it could be something you and your daughter discuss when she's 8 or 10 or just becoming an independent teenager who wants to make her own choices!

Yeah if we do will need to do so soon. Will have to convince dh first though

I can remember that happening at school portonovo.

The longer version is fine though.

When she was born I think part of the reasoning in my very contrary head was that I wanted a contrast to dd1s name. One long and slightly flouncy, one short and simple.

Now shes older and Im seeing her more as her own person IYKWIM I wish we'd given her the full name