Question For Those Who've Changed Their First Name

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  • swaydogswaydog Posts: 5,653
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    pjw1985 wrote: »
    How do you go about changing your name anyway? Also can you change both your first and second names?

    Yes you can change both names.

    Changing your name by deed poll is easy.
    The problem is letting everyone know you have.
    There is no central data base of names of citizens.
    You don't even have to go to a government department to get it done, or get a lawyer.
    You just need to make a declaration, legally worded( you can download and print off a template.

    Then you need to sign it and get a witness to sign it
    Now for the hard part.
    You have to inform every who might need to know and send them the document as proof.
    That includes , any government depts. you deal with, your banks, the DVLA, employer, passport office etc.
    It's down to you to inform all the relevant depts/ businesses
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 12,982
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    Dolls wrote: »
    hi, maybe you've got a point.

    My new and now name was a very different type of name to my original one. It is a public forum, so enough to say the original was a very religious Christian one which sort of seemed to scream, (judging by the reactions I got), "Oh great, here's one of us", to any Christian religious obsessives around. It was also a magnet to a couple of Moslems. It was traditional as well.

    My now name is sort of what you might call one of those poetic hippy names I grew up admiring, such as Seamists-Veiling-The_Ocean - though it's not that - but I use a short version of it, let's say Ocean, which obviously it's not, which just sounds pretty and a bit New Age. As I have kind of a New Age profession, and am not extremely conventional, it "describes" me better I feel, which was the purpose of it; not being assumed to be what you're not all the time, and hinting at what you are, I hoped would make life easier.

    I think people do judge you on your name. Intelligent people think, "that person called Seamists-Veiling-The-Ocean" has parents who were Rainbow people or something". The less intelligent think, "that is a Rainbow person!". But having said that I suppose it's more experience than intelligence because you have to be familiar with people who grow up very different to their parents, ie kids given wacky names and brought up in communes who just want to fit in and make lots of money, etc - who are the opposite of what their parents were like, when they felt uncomfortable with the grandparents lifestyle, etc.

    Thanks so much for taking time out to reply to me. :)
  • Sara WebbSara Webb Posts: 7,885
    Forum Member
    swaydog wrote: »
    Yes you can change both names.

    Changing your name by deed poll is easy.
    The problem is letting everyone know you have.
    There is no central data base of names of citizens.
    You don't even have to go to a government department to get it done, or get a lawyer.
    You just need to make a declaration, legally worded( you can download and print off a template.

    Then you need to sign it and get a witness to sign it
    Now for the hard part.
    You have to inform every who might need to know and send them the document as proof.
    That includes , any government depts. you deal with, your banks, the DVLA, employer, passport office etc.
    It's down to you to inform all the relevant depts/ businesses

    I got mine done at a solicitors for a minimal fee and they supplied several certified copies. I had no problems with changing it on my passport, bank accounts, academic record, medical records, etc. I did my passport first. From there on it really was a very simple process.
  • swaydogswaydog Posts: 5,653
    Forum Member
    Sara Webb wrote: »
    I got mine done at a solicitors for a minimal fee and they supplied several certified copies. I had no problems with changing it on my passport, bank accounts, academic record, medical records, etc. I did my passport first. From there on it really was a very simple process.

    I didn't really mean it was hard to get done, just that it was up to you to inform everyone who needs to know and it's possible to forget 1 or 2 without realising.
    Also you dont have to pay anyone. Your solicitors were just charging you for printing off the documents and signing them, both of which you (and a friend) can do yourself for free.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 4,764
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    I dropped my first name as it was very un-Brazilian sounding and use my middle name instead. Nobody treats me any differently but I no longer have to go through the boredom of explaining my name when I meet new people.
  • DrFlowDemandDrFlowDemand Posts: 2,121
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    I've recently changed my name from something "different" and "interesting" to something normal and traditional. I haven't done it officially yet, unless facbook counts? There are some people who are just refusing to let my old name drop. I will be ignoring them as it's my choice, so...

    I did it so people would stop commenting on my name when they meet me, asking how to spell it, nd then saying and spelling it wrong anyway. Also, I think it improves my CV.
  • Sara WebbSara Webb Posts: 7,885
    Forum Member
    swaydog wrote: »
    I didn't really mean it was hard to get done, just that it was up to you to inform everyone who needs to know and it's possible to forget 1 or 2 without realising.
    Also you dont have to pay anyone. Your solicitors were just charging you for printing off the documents and signing them, both of which you (and a friend) can do yourself for free.

    I know that. I wasn't aware how to do it myself at the time (this was 1996) so I got them to draw up the document for me and certify the whole thing with their company stamp and an accompanying letter.
  • PandakooPandakoo Posts: 5,428
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    OP i'm really intrigued.. What was your original name?
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 3,234
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    Tyyleer wrote: »
    OP i'm really intrigued.. What was your original name?

    Submit Unto The Lord
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 3,234
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    no not really, I was just in giggle mode before (sorry)

    Kind of a boring parents version of something like that ...
  • rikstan87rikstan87 Posts: 2,359
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    Dolls wrote: »
    Submit Unto The Lord

    What that supposed to mean to a person who knows nothing about Christianity?
  • Safi74Safi74 Posts: 5,580
    Forum Member
    I went to school with a Rupert. Apparently he changed his name to Keith. I have never understood that!!!
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 3,234
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    rikstan87 wrote: »
    What that supposed to mean to a person who knows nothing about Christianity?

    I read it in a novel as a teenager - I would assume the Lord is Jesus or possibly God, whose will good Christians are supposed to submit to, as in the popular Christian saying, "Not my will, thy will, Lord".
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