How to Change, Add or Remove a Middle Name

Not always. Your legal name includes every forename, and a deed poll can record any change to it. But HM Passport Office treats some adult changes as minor and accepts them with evidence that you already use the name. Adding a middle name, or moving a maiden name into your middle names, is a full change of name.

Source: HM Passport Office change of name guidance. Banks, employers and other record-holders set their own rules, and one deed poll covers every record at once. Under 16 needs the child pack and every parental-responsibility holder’s consent, because HM Passport Office treats any change to a child’s name as a change of name.

Generate a deed poll that states the old full name and the new full name exactly, print three to four copies, and sign in ink in both names in front of two independent witnesses aged 18 or over. It takes effect immediately. HM Passport Office guidance says every signature on a deed poll must be a wet signature and the deed must be dated.

The full walkthrough is in name change UK. The paper is a change of name deed. Timing: how long a deed poll takes. DVLA asks for original documents, not photocopies, so keep signed originals for each application you post.

Yes, if they fit. HM Passport Office allows up to 30 characters for all your forenames together, including spaces. If they do not fit, it can shorten names or use initials for the additional forenames, never the first forename, and add an observation showing your full name.

Source: HM Passport Office guidance on long names. Two related rules from its change of name guidance:

• If your old passport shows a middle name and you leave it off a renewal without evidence of a change, the new passport keeps the middle name.
• If a middle name was missing from your old passport by mistake, HM Passport Office can accept your birth certificate showing it.

An adult passport costs £102 online or £115.50 on a paper form (checked 24 September 2026). There is no extra charge for the name change. Full steps: changing the name on your passport.

Check your employer, banks, HMRC, driving licence, passport, GP, insurers and other records. Gather any required name-in-use evidence before a passport or DVLA application, and report benefit changes promptly. A middle-name-only change still needs to be reflected in the records you use; there is no universal application order.

For a passport, name-in-use evidence such as a bank statement, a tax letter or an official letter from your employer must be dated within the last 12 months. HM Passport Office’s evidence guidance says that when a middle name has changed, it can accept evidence that shows only the middle initial. Changing the name on a Great Britain driving licence is free with form D1. In Northern Ireland the DVA handles licences instead: nidirect says to post form DL1 with the required documents.

See the who to notify checklist.

Yes, with the agreement of everyone with parental responsibility. HM Passport Office treats any change to a child’s name, including dropping, adding or reordering a middle name, as a change of name. It needs the change-of-name document, evidence the child uses the name, and everyone’s consent.

Within 12 months of registering the birth (England and Wales). Section 13 of the Births and Deaths Registration Act 1953 lets the register office enter a name given or altered within 12 months of the birth registration, without erasing the original entry. The new forename appears in space 17 of the birth certificate. Islington register office, for example, charges £44, a fee it says is set by central government, and new certificates cost £12.50 each (checked 24 September 2026). The surname cannot be changed this way.

HM Passport Office’s birth registration guidance notes that only one parent’s consent is needed to add a forename to the register in this way. For a child’s passport in that name, it still wants the consent of everyone with parental responsibility and evidence the name is in use.

After 12 months, use a child deed poll with signed consent from everyone who holds parental responsibility. From 16, a young person can make their own adult deed poll.

An intended spelling change — Ann to Anne, Stuart to Stewart — can be recorded by deed poll. For an adult passport, HM Passport Office treats a forename spelling change as minor and accepts it with 2 pieces of evidence that you use the new spelling. If an organisation only mistyped your name, ask it to correct the record.

If the spelling on a birth certificate was registered wrongly, GOV.UK’s correction process applies only where the information was wrong at registration, and the original entry stays visible with a note in the margin. HM Passport Office tells customers they may only be able to correct it if they can show a mistake was made and the child was using, or known by, a different name at the time.

If an organisation is only questioning two historic spellings and you are not changing the name going forward, a one-and-the-same-person statutory declaration can be the quicker bridge: one and the same person (£9.99 plus a £5 witness fee). It does not replace a deed poll if you also want records updated to one spelling from now on.

You can still use a deed poll anywhere in the UK. People born or adopted in Scotland or Northern Ireland can also have a forename change recorded against their birth entry, with limits on how often.

• Scotland. National Records of Scotland allows one forename change for anyone aged 16 or over, and one for under-16s. The fee is £40, applications are by post, and NRS aims to reply within 20 days and confirm the change within 15 working days of payment (checked 24 September 2026). New certificates show the new and previous names. See our Scotland guide.
• Northern Ireland. GRONI lets adults change their forenames once, and a child’s names can be changed once before 18. The form is signed before a Justice of the Peace, lay magistrate or practising solicitor. Recording costs £35, plus £15 for a certificate showing the change (checked 24 September 2026).