Name change (General)

by Celia61, Tuesday, February 09, 2010, 16:11 (5481 days ago) @ brianpowell

Hello Brian
In England and Wales a persons name is that by which they are known; if they are registered with the name James JONES, for example, there is no reason why they could not, at a later date, call themselves James BOND without any legal documentation, but it could make life difficult without some supporting documentary evidence. The birth register entry remains as at the time of registration and a Deed Poll or declaration of name change should be kept and produced along with the birth certificate when needed. If a change of forename is decided upon, this can be entered in the birth register within 12 months of the original registration (in space 17 of current entries).

In the case of a child born outside of marriage, if the biological parents marry each other later, they are required by law to re-register the child to show this, and they have the opportunity at that time to change the child’s surname to that of his/her father if it was not used in the original registration. The original registration is annotated so that any further certificates are copied from the new registration.

Cheers, Celia