Guidance for parents wishing to change a child’s name on a school application
A deed poll is a legal document that proves a change of name. You can change any part of your name, add or remove names and hyphens, or change spelling.
To change the name of a child under 18 you can either:
- make an unenrolled deed poll by using a specialist deed poll agency or a solicitor
- apply for an enrolled deed poll from the Royal Courts of Justice (putting your new name on public record)
If you choose an enrolled deed poll, this means your child’s new name will usually appear on public record in The Gazette.
If you’re 16 or 17 you can choose to make your own unenrolled deed poll but not an enrolled deed poll as you must be 18 and over.
Before we will change a child’s legal name who is under 16, we will check:
- who has parental responsibility for the child
- that everyone with parental responsibility has given their consent to the change of name
- you have a court order allowing the change
Deed poll agencies usually have a disclaimer on their website like:
It is the responsibility of the adult who is making the application with us for a Deed Poll for a child to ensure that they have the consent of all people and/or bodies with Parental Responsibility before they make the application.
Parental responsibility
A mother automatically has parental responsibility for her child from birth.
A father usually has parental responsibility if he’s either:
- married to the child’s mother
- listed on the birth certificate (after a certain date, depending on which part of the UK the child was born in)
You can apply for parental responsibility if you do not automatically have it.
Births registered in England and Wales
If the parents of a child are married when the child is born, or if they’ve jointly adopted a child, both have parental responsibility.
They both keep parental responsibility if they later divorce.
Unmarried parents
An unmarried father can get parental responsibility for his child in 1 of 3 ways:
- jointly registering the birth of the child with the mother (from 1 December 2003)
- getting a parental responsibility agreement with the mother
- getting a parental responsibility order from a court
Births registered in Scotland
A father has parental responsibility if he’s married to the mother when the child is conceived or marries her at any point afterwards.
An unmarried father has parental responsibility if he’s named on the child’s birth certificate (from 4 May 2006).
Births registered in Northern Ireland
A father has parental responsibility if he’s married to the mother at the time of the child’s birth.
If a father marries the mother after the child’s birth, he has parental responsibility if he lives in Northern Ireland at the time of the marriage.
An unmarried father has parental responsibility if he’s named, or becomes named, on the child’s birth certificate (from 15 April 2002).
Births registered outside the UK
If a child is born overseas and comes to live in the UK, parental responsibility depends on the UK country they’re now living in.
Same-sex parents
Civil partners
Same-sex partners will both have parental responsibility if they were civil partners at the time of the treatment, e.g. donor insemination or fertility treatment.
Non-civil partners
For same-sex partners who are not civil partners, the 2nd parent can get parental responsibility by either:
- applying for parental responsibility if a parental agreement was made
- becoming a civil partner of the other parent and making a parental responsibility agreement or jointly registering the birth
If you need a court order
To get a court order:
- read the guidance on making an application to the court
- fill in form C100 for a ‘specific issue order’
Children who are 16 or above can change their name without first obtaining anyone’s consent, unless there is a court order/residence order in place that overrides this.