UK Child Deed Poll

In some instances, a name change may not require you to obtain a Deed Poll. For example, if you have officially adopted your child and are only changing their surname, the adoption certificate will be sufficient evidence.

Most other instances of name change will require a Deed to be created. This could include:

• Changing the child's forename
• Addition or removal of a middle name
• Gender affirmation reasons
• You later marry and wish to double-barrel their name
• Family reasons

You will need 2 witnesses to be present and sign your Deed with you, who must both:

• be over 18 years old
• know who you are
• not be a relative or someone you live with

To order a Retroactive Deed Poll for a child, get in touch.

Titles, officially known as "honorifics", are not a legal part of your name. If you are a Master, Mr or Mrs, but would prefer to be known as something else, no documentation is needed to make this change. You can simply choose a title by usage.

If you would like to change your child's name to more accurately reflect their gender, you can do so with a Deed Poll. Bear in mind however, that their official ID will still display their legally recognised gender until a Gender Recognition Certificate has been obtained, which you can find out more about here.

In the UK, the government currently only recognises two genders. You are still able to change your name as you choose, and can adopt a gender-neutral title such as "Mx." if you wish. More companies are starting to recognise additional genders and making accommodations in their forms and paperwork processes.

If your child is under 16, you will need to prove parental consent was given for the name change to happen. This will need to mention and be signed by everyone who has legal parental responsibility for the child and if the letter is not provided with the Deed Poll, it will likely be rejected.

To help you create your letter of consent, as well as identify who legally holds responsibility, you will receive our useful and easy to follow guide when your order has been placed. This will give you wording templates and explain what you need to include in the document.

Although there are no offical laws in the UK on the use of names, there are regulations enforced by individual government departments. For example, HM Passport Office have their own guidelines on the acceptance of names and if your application doesn't meet these, it will be rejected. Things to generally avoid when changing your name could include:

• A registered trademark such as Coca Cola
• Anything deemed offensive
• A name which is unpronounceable
• Contains numbers or special characters
• Includes anything which could be deemed misleading such as Lord, Duke, Prince
• Is extremely long
• Only includes a single name
• Gives the impression you have honours such as MBE, OBE

An Apostille is a government-issued verification applied to documents that are going to be used outside of the UK. If you have your UK-issued Deed Poll and are using it overseas for official purposes, such as applying for a Passport or Citizenship, you will likely need this service; if you're only going to be using your document within the UK, this won't be necessary.

Bear in mind that an Apostille is only recognised as full legalisation in other Hague Member states, including the USA, Australia and most of Europe. If you're using it outside the Hague zone, additional steps will be required. To find out more about this, see our Apostille page here.

Yes, but you will likely need to complete several other stages before it will be recognised outside of the UK. If for example your child needs to enroll in a new school and needs to provide personal documents, the Deed Poll will need to be legally recognised by the authorities in the country.

To make this possible, you will need to legalise, also known as "attest" their Deed for them. The process itself will differ, depedent on where you're moving to, and you may also require a translation. For more information, get in touch with our friendly team of specialists who can advise on legalising the Deed for use in over 150 countries.

Some companies may supply digital Deed Polls, but we don't feel these hold any real value. When you're presenting your Deed to a company or government department, they will expect to see an official looking document which has been professionally drafted and bound. Having a hard copy posted out to you for you to sign ensures that we can guarantee your Deed will be accepted, provided you follow the guidance notes we provide on having it witnessed.

Technically, no. If they're under 16 and you hold parental responsibility, as long as you give consent (along with any other parent who holds parental responsibility) the Deed Poll can be created. However, it's important you speak to your child and ensure they understand the change and why it is being made. You will also need to bear in mind any possible family tensions which may arise due to the name change, dependent on the situation, so discussing this with your child will give them more confidence with their new name.