Name change is the legal act by a person of adopting a new name.
The procedures and ease of a name change vary between jurisdictions. In general, common law jurisdictions have looser procedures while civil law jurisdictions are more restrictive. While some civil law jurisdictions have loosened procedures, a few remain complicated.
A pseudonym is a name used in addition to the original or true name. This does not require legal sanction. Pseudonyms may be adopted to conceal a person's identity, but may also be used for personal, social or ideological reasons.
Reasons for changing one's name
Changes in status Marriage or civil partnership (e.g. by taking someone's name or combining names) Adoption by or marriage of a custodial parent Divorce or estrangement of parents Religious conversion or deconversion, ordination or return to lay status (e.g. Cassius Clay to Muhammad Ali upon conversion to Islam, Ibrahim Yassin to Avraham Sinai upon conversion to Judaism) To better fit one's gender identity, or as part of one's gender transition (e.g. Chaz Bono, born Chastity Bono) To reflect immigration or adaptation of the name to a different language or script (e.g. Roberto Firmino from Robert Firm after becoming a Brazilian national)
Associative To associate themselves with a hobby, interest, or accomplishment (e.g. Henry Lizardlover, born Schifberg) To associate themselves with a famous or fictional person (e.g. old name Simon Johnson, new name Simon Pendragon) To remove associations from a family black sheep (e.g. relatives of Adolf Hitler). To remove associations from an ethnic origin (e.g. changing Battenberg to Mountbatten or Jan Ludvik Hoch to Robert Maxwell). To remove associations from a slave name (e.g. Malcolm X, born Little). To reclaim a traditional name (e.g. many indigenous Canadians did so under new legislation in 2021).
Practical To evade the law, a debt or to commit fraud. (Illegal in many jurisdictions) To avoid a stalker or harassment. In accordance with witness protection. Personal dislike of one's name (e.g. old surname Lipschitz, new surname London) To bring the legal name in line with the one used in everyday life (e.g. Michael Caine adopted his middle name legally after using it for most of his career).
Financial To receive an inheritance conditional on adopting the name of the deceased (e.g. Augustus Pitt Rivers was required to adopt that surname when he inherited from his cousin, Horace Pitt-Rivers; this reason was once quite common among landowning families in the UK). Commercial sponsorship (e.g. Jimmy White temporarily became Jimmy Brown for HP brown sauce, Ashley Revell became Ashley Blue Square Revell for Rank Group's Blue Square service, Peter Janson briefly changed his name by deed poll to NGK Janson to circumvent a Motorsport Australia rule that only allowed a driver's, and not a sponsor's, name to be carried on a windscreen at the 1977 Bathurst 1000). To make their name more attractive or "catchy" so as to increase their chance of professional success (see Stage name).
Other Protest or activism To gain superstitious consequences of the old name (e.g. Joko Widodo, born Mulyono) To circumvent election law governing what information can be provided on a ballot paper, by changing (for example) one's middle name to a short political message (see Byron (Low Tax) Looper). Losing a bet (e.g. a New Zealand man changed his name to Full Metal Havok More Sexy N Intelligent Than Spock And All The Superheroes Combined With Frostnova, and apparently discovered it had been accepted when his passport expired.)
United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom, citizens and residents have the freedom to change their names with relative ease.
In theory, anyone who is at least 16 and resident in the United Kingdom can call themselves whatever they wish. However, over the past hundred years or so, formal procedures that are recognised by record holders such as government departments, companies and organizations have evolved, which enable someone to change the name recorded on their passport, driving licence, tax and National Insurance records, bank and credit cards, etc., provided that "documentary evidence" of a change of name is provided. Documents such as birth, marriage and educational certificates cannot be changed because these documents are considered "matters of fact", which means that they were correct at the time they were issued. However, exceptions exist, such as holders of a Gender Recognition Certificate.
Documentary evidence of a change of name can be in a number of forms, such as a marriage certificate, decree absolute (proof of divorce), civil partnership certificate, statutory declaration or deed of change of name. Such documents are mere evidence that a change of name has occurred and they do not themselves operate to change a person's name. Deeds of change of name are by far the most commonly used method of providing evidence of a change of name other than changing a woman's surname after marriage. A deed poll is a legal document that binds a single person to a particular course of action (in this case, changing one's name for all purposes). The term 'deed' is common to signed, written agreements that have been shown to all concerned parties. 'Poll' is an old legal term referring to official documents that had cut edges (were polled) so that they were straight.
England and Wales
People whose births are registered in England and Wales may, but are under no obligation to, have their deed poll enrolled at the Royal Courts of Justice in London.
Scotland Residents of Scotland can change their name by deed poll or statutory declaration. Scottish-born/adopted people may optionally apply to the Registrar General for Scotland to have their birth certificate amended to show the new name and have the respective register updated. There is also an alternative route to changing one's name in Scotland, equivalent to enrolling a deed poll with the College of Arms; one may petition the Court of the Lord Lyon for a name change and subsequently receive a Certificate of Recognition of Change of Name.
Historical usage
From the medieval age to the 19th century, the era of family dynasties, name changes were frequently demanded of heirs in the last wills and testaments, legacies and bequests, of members of the gentry and nobility who were the last males of their bloodline. Such persons frequently selected a younger nephew or cousin as the heir to their estates, on condition that he should adopt the surname and armorials of the legator in lieu of his patronymic. Thus, the ancient family otherwise destined to extinction would appear to continue as a great dynasty in the making.
Such changes were also more rarely demanded by marriage settlements, for example where the father of a sole daughter and heiress demanded that as a condition of his daughter's dowry her husband should adopt his father-in-law's surname and arms. Thus the progeny of the marriage would continue the otherwise extinct family's name. Such name changes were generally only demanded of younger sons, where an elder brother was available to inherit the paternal estates under primogeniture and carry on the name and arms abandoned by the younger brother. Such name changes were effected by obtaining a private act of Parliament or by obtaining a royal licence.
Well known examples are: Russell to Gorges (14th century). Ralph IV Gorges, 2nd Baron Gorges, died without issue in 1331. In an effort to preserve his family name and arms he made one of his younger nephews his heir, on condition that he should adopt the name and arms of Gorges. This nephew was William Russell, the second son of his second sister Eleanor de Gorges who had married Sir Theobald Russell (d. 1341) of Kingston Russell, Dorset. The event is referred to in one of the earliest heraldic law cases brought concerning English armory, Warbelton v Gorges in 1347. Smithson to Percy (18th century). Sir Hugh Smithson, 4th Baronet (1715–1786) in 1740 married Lady Elizabeth Seymour, daughter and sole heiress of Algernon Seymour, 7th Duke of Somerset, and granddaughter of Lady Elizabeth Percy (d. 1722), daughter and sole heiress of Josceline Percy, 11th Earl of Northumberland (1644–1670). In 1740, by a private act of Parliament, the Hugh Earl of Northumberland's Name and Arms Act 1749 (23 Geo. 2. c. 14 ), Smithson changed his surname to Percy and inherited the title Earl of Northumberland and was later created Duke of Northumberland.
A less radical procedure adopted from the 18th century onwards was for the legator or settlor to demand only that the legatee or beneficiary should adopt his surname in addition to his patronymic, not in place of it, which gave rise to the "double-barrelled", even the "triple-barrelled" name, frequently parodied in literature as epitomising the wealthy "squirearchy" with an embarrassment of inherited estates.
Canada In Canada, name changes are handled through the vital statistics bureaux of the various provinces and territories, except in Nunavut, where they are handled by the Courts.
All Canadian provinces and territories allow their residents, whether Citizens, Permanent Residents or Temporary Residents, to obtain a name change, provided they fulfil the pertinent regulations (e.g. time lived in province). Quebec, a civil law jurisdiction, has historically had substantial differences from the common law jurisdictions comprising the rest of Canada in how it permits its residents to obtain a change of name—for example, requiring them to be citizens, which was abolished on January 28, 2021, due to a Superior Court of Quebec decision.
All Canadian provinces except Quebec also recognize common law name changes—i.e. by "general usage"—even if not registered with the government or ordered by a court. Although a common law name change is still a legal name, formal processes may be required to obtain government-issued ID or change the name on accounts (like banks) that depend on government ID; this is one situation where a person may have more than one name.
Quebec also historically had other strict regulations regarding name changes. For example, the transgender Quebecker Micheline Montreuil had to undergo a lengthy process to have her name legally changed. Initially, the Directeur de l'état civil refused to permit the change on the grounds that someone who was legally assigned male at birth could not bear a female name. According to Quebec law, Montreuil could not change her registered gender because that required proof of a completed gender confirmation surgery, which was not the case for her. On November 1, 1999, the provincial court of appeals ruled that nothing in the law prevented a person who was registered as male from legally adopting a woman's name.
Another issue specific to Quebec is married names. Because of the Quebec Charter of Rights, married women in Quebec have been unable to adopt their spouse's surname since 1976. Other provinces allow their residents to change their last name on the strength of their marriage certificate. The Directeur de l'état civil will amend a Quebec birth certificate if a name change certificate is issued by another province. Some have used that loophole to legally change their names by temporarily moving to another Canadian province or territory, which follow more permissive common law rules.
Additionally, Saskatchewan registers changes of name made outside its jurisdiction and issues a "Registration of Change of Name Effected Outside the Province of Saskatchewan".
United States