Registering child's name

[RMarieClaire]

Sorry if this should go in another topic. I don't really know my way around the other forums.

When my DH and I got married, we decided we would both double barrel our surnames so that we could have the same full name, retaining both our family names.

Only it was quite complex, so we put it off and just changed our names at work and on social media, not officially for passports and such.

We're now having our first daughter in July, and we'd like to register her with our double barrelled surname. Can we do this if we haven't yet made the change official ourselves? Or do we have to get our names sorted first?

On top of everything, the cost and faff of new passports and the paperwork feels a bit much, but of course we'll do it if it must be done :)

Thanks

I know my friends were not married and managed a double barrelled surname for their children :)

You can name a child anything you like, a made up brand new surname if you feel like it!

Yes you can do that. We weren’t married when we had my eldest and double barrelled his surname.

You can give the child any surname you wish!!

Of course you can.
Like Mummy, I know a married couple who both kept their own surnames, and then gave their children both surnames (double barrelled).
I don't see the need to change your own surnames tbh, you will each share one surname with your child.
Nice easy and fair way to do it.

Ah this is great! Such a relief not to have one more thing to think about. I'm sure we'll get ours sorted one day... just maybe not till we're nearer needing new passports.

It really isn’t that difficult to change your surname to double barrelled when you marry (I know as we did it). We took marriage certificate into the bank to change with them, electoral role and council in general we just wrote saying we had married and changed with them. The only things we didn’t do immediately were passports and driving licence but, as they’ve come up for natural renewal, we’ve changed the names on them so my driving licence and passport now reflect our married name but DH’s passport isn’t due to expire till next summer so will change once it’s time to do that!!

Rememberallball it used to be that simple but it changed a few years ago. Now if you want to double barrel or switch a maiden name to a middle name etc it has to be done by deedpoll. I only discovered this when I changed my name on driving licence. I’ve switched my maiden name to a middle name and although I put this on the form and sent off my marriage certificate as proof it came back as just a change of surname and my maiden name was not included anywhere. I thought it was a cock up but after looking into it I discovered they had changed the rules.

Thanks!

@TerriB1984 this is what we found too. We were told we would have to go via a solicitors and get verification signature from two people who had known us for 10 years and owned property - not easy when you live in London and you're in your late 20s so everyone rents. We'd now be in a fine position to do this, but it just feels like extra hassle and expense we could do without in the next 12 weeks - there's so much else to do!

@TerriB1984, I only got married in 2015 and we simply told the registrar at the pew marriage appointment that we intended to go double barrelled and she wrote it on the form (so it was already on the register and marriage certificates we signed at the ceremony). I changed the bank account details soon after the wedding and my driving licence in 2017. My passport only changed in September 2018 so even more recently. I’ve never had to do anything but send my marriage certificate and definitely didn’t have to change my name by deed poll and no one has queried it.

We both kept our surnames when we married and registered our baby with a double barrel. It is very normal and no problem at all.

@TerriB1984 I got married last summer, we both double barrelled and no deed poll necessary, just showed the marriage certificate. Was fine with DVLA, bank, and everyone.

We changed names - I could change passport and driving license simply with the marriage certificate. My husband just wrote a deed poll certificate ( you can Google a template for free) and got it counter signed by one person. This has been accepted for passports and driving licence. Best bet is to change driving licence and bank account first followed by passport. It really was no bother and other than the renewal costs on the passport and licence which we needed to renew anyway, it was free.