Name Change Notification Services

No. Our smart automation will populate your personalised letters, forms and instructions ready for download. It’s then over to you to sign & send on to the companies, in whichever order makes sense to you. The time it takes to process a name change request depends on the individual company and sometimes the season – i.e passports will take longer during the summer months.

You can only request the change once you have your marriage certificate/decree absolute/deed poll. Having 3-4 original copies of your legal document will enable multiple name change requests to be sent off in parallel.

In general, if you are taking a partner’s name after marriage or reverting to a maiden-name after divorce, it is not necessary to change your name officially by deed poll.

Check out our Deed Poll Guide to help you determine if a deed poll is required in your particular situation.

Our system has been built to uniquely complete multiple forms and letters into one same format: PDF. Currently it is not possible to provide editable versions or word documents however those with PDF writers may be able to add (but not remove) copy on the PDF forms and letters provided.

Please note that the forms and letters have been populated based on extensive knowledge and liaison with the companies and government bodies in question to ensure that name change requests will be accepted and processed. Any edits or additions to the form or letter made by customers may not be accepted and should only be done at the risk of the requester.

As a safety measure to protect the level of sensitive information included, we always send packages recorded (via Royal Mail, Signed for) to our customers registered home address. If not delivered they are held in the Royal Mail postal system and a redelivery or collection can be arranged for a time that is more convenient to you.

We are unable to send recorded post to a workplace where the risk of being misplaced is regrettably increased.

With over 700 companies and government bodies mapped onto our systems we have all the key life categories and companies covered.

Whilst we continuously research and add new companies, we would never cover every company in the UK. For example, we don’t cover store/loyalty cards as there are literally thousands of them, but we do offer advice on this guide: “A Guide to Changing your Name on Loyalty Cards”

Every NameSwitch profile includes a generic cover letter with your old and new details that you can print off and send to any additional companies that are not on our system. There’s also a handy personalised email copy provided in your accompanying instructions document that you can use for companies who accept a name change request electronically.

How long it takes depends on each company’s policies and peak seasons. It also depends on how many original copies you need to send in parallel. On average, with 2-4 original copies, a full name switch (i.e. banks cards, driving licence, passports returned) can take 4-6 weeks. We recommend that requests are planned in batches.

You may find this order guidance helpful.

There is no UK law or list which specifically says what names you are or aren’t allowed to call yourself. However, some names may be illegal, due to other laws. ** Names which will likely be deemed illegal: **

• Any name which promotes racist or religious hatred
• Any name which promotes other criminal activities (e.g. murder)
• Any name which could be blasphemous (e.g. “God”) may be illegal. Note that Jesus or Mohammad are commonly used first names and are legal
• Any name which is also a trademark would not be illegal in itself. However, depending on your actions, you may end up infringing that trademark. E.g. if you called yourself “Burger King” and started selling fast food, you would infringe Burger King’s trademark
• You cannot change your name for any criminal purpose (e.g. fraud)—no matter what the name.

Names which are not illegal, but you may have difficulty using:

• Any name which contains punctuation (other than apostrophes and hyphens or diacritical marks) is not deemed to be illegal, but you will have difficulties getting people to enter your name in their computer systems. HM Passport Office will only allow apostrophes and hyphens on your passport, for example
• A first name such as “Lord” or “Sir”, which gives the impression that you have a title, is not illegal. However, you cannot really change your title by Deed Poll—your “title” would not be officially or widely recognised, and you would actually be “Mr Lord Doe” (for example)
• Any name which is vulgar or offensive may not be illegal (unless it promotes crime or racist / religious hatred), however it is unlikely to be widely accepted, e.g. on your passport
• There is no legal requirement to have two (or more) names, and some people do legally have one name only (Madonna). However, you may find that your name is entered into computer systems as “X Doe” or “No Name Doe”, which may not be what you wanted
• Any name which is unpronounceable, excessively long, or difficult to spell is not illegal, but may be impractical in everyday use.

You can change your title (i.e. Mr, Mrs, Miss, Ms, Mx etc.) at any time, and you do not need a Deed Poll.

If you do change your title as well as a first/middle/surname, it will be noted and included in your Deed Poll, generated by NameSwitch and in the accompanying letters to ensure that any company you notify of your name change will address you with the correct name and title moving forward.

Note, you cannot use a Deed Poll to change your title to “Lord” or any other such title. A title will only be officially recognised if you’re granted the title via official means (i.e. from the Queen).

In line with our Privacy Policy, NameSwitch will automatically delete all personal details associated with your profile including any generated Deed Polls 6 months after checkout. We will only store former and new names, payment date and amount for accountancy and auditing purposes.

We strongly encourage that you keep at least one of your original Deed Polls safe to avoid any need to, and the cost of, reapplying in the future. It is also advisable to download your documents and save them on a local device/computer so you have access in the future should you need.