Name change (General)

by slowhands , proud of his ancient Dean Forest roots, Tuesday, February 09, 2010, 15:47 (5481 days ago) @ brianpowell

An adult can call himself what they like (within reason)
Under English law it is legal to change your name without drawing up any formal record, provided that such action is not undertaken for the purpose of fraud. Very often a proof of change of name either never existed or no longer exists. Enrolling a deed poll in the Supreme Court was therefore a voluntary process and extra fees were payable. Consequently, very few changes of name were enrolled in these records.

From 1916, enemy aliens resident in Britain had been forbidden to change their names. This ban was extended to all foreigners in Britain in 1919. The only exceptions made were when a new name was assumed by royal licence or by special permission of the Home Secretary. These restrictions were removed in 1971.

I suspect your question relates to an informal arrangemet i.e. John JONES "takes" on the mantle of John SMITH either because that was his mothers name when he was born , or his mother married a SMITH and he felt that to all intents he was recognised as a SMITH.

The formal process :-

If you wish to legally change your name, or your children's names, you can use the Deed Poll process, which has been used by hundreds of thousands of people for over 150 years.

By Deed Poll, you can officially change any part or all of your name. For example, you can change your forenames, surname (or both), add names, remove names, change the spelling of your names or rearrange your existing names. You can change your name by Deed Poll as often as you want, at any time and for any reason provided it is not for deceptive or fraudulent purposes.
Contrary to popular belief, there is no central register of name changes in the United Kingdom. Deed Polls are not registered anywhere unless they are "enrolled" i.e. lodged for safe keeping, in the Close Rolls of the Chancery (from 1851 to 1902) and from 1903, in the Enrolment Books of the Supreme Court of Judicature, which is located within the Royal Courts of Justice in the Strand, London.

Enrolling a Deed Poll provides a public record of a person's name change and since 1914 the details of the name change are published in either the London Gazette or Belfast Gazette.

Deed Polls that have been enrolled at the Royal Courts of Justice in London remain with us for five years. After which (and going back to 1851), they can be found at the National Archives, which is located at Kew in Richmond, Surrey.

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Given the number of divorces and remarriage in modern UK - family researchers in 50 - 100 years time are going to be faced with real challenges tracing children from census to census, as it seems common place for children to "adopt" new surnames at will - even if legally they have not changed :-(

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Ἀριστοτέλης A Gloster & Hereford Boy in the Forest of Dean ><((((*>