Change of heart on keeping maiden name 6 July 2019 at 10:05PM edited 18 July 2019 at 9:04AM in Marriage, Relationships & Families 22 replies 9.1K views

Ford123

I got married 6 years ago and decided to keep my maiden name, but now that we've had a baby I'm having a change of heart about it but don't know if it's too late to take my husband's name.

I've updated myself to Mrs 'Maiden name' on my mortgage, as well most areas of life showing my marriage certificate where necessary.

Does anyone happen to know if I can still change my name? I need to register the baby soon but don't have any ID in my married name, or know if I'd be allowed to change it at this point anyway (& even if I need ID in my married name to register the birth). Any advice would be appreciated

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JReacher1

I believe you can change your name whenever you wish.

suki1964

You can use your married name whenever you wish, just show your marriage certificate when asked

When I married, took me about 5 years to change everything over, in fact I have only just recently let my pension provider know of my name change and Ive been married 15 years. I still have online accounts in maiden name, its not a problem at all

trailingspouse

You can be known as whatever you want to be known as - so for example you could keep your maiden name at work/professionally, but use your married name when registering your child at school.

74jax

As said previously, you can change it when you like. I've been married 7 years, some banks are married name, some maiden. My passport is married and drivers licence maiden. Bills tend to be maiden unless I change them to new supplier.

olgadapolga

I did the same thing, kept my maiden name for a few years and then changed to my married name.

As far as I can remember, you don't need ID to register your baby's birth. Just give them your married name. It may confuse them slightly if the midiwfe used your maiden name to notify the register office of the birth but I expect that the register office is used to things like that.

Flugelhorn

You could take the marriage cert along to register the baby - though I don't think you actually need ID

I took my marriage cert along to prove that I was married and so could then put OH on the birth cert without him being there ( I kept my maiden name). But they weren't bothered about it and just took my word for it "... and are you married to the father of the baby?"


I am pondering on changing now - I kept my maiden name for the last 30 + years for professional reasons but on retirement maybe it is time for a change!

Ford123

Yes I'm married to the father of the baby.

My concern was that I wouldn't be able to take my married name as I've already declared my marriage and stated that I'm keeping my maiden name. Hopefully all should be okay then and I'll be able to change it without any issues Thanks

8ofspades

Ford123 wrote: »

Yes I'm married to the father of the baby.

My concern was that I wouldn't be able to take my married name as I've already declared my marriage and stated that I'm keeping my maiden name. Hopefully all should be okay then and I'll be able to change it without any issues Thanks

They're both valid names for you now so you can use either! It's only if the name was changed to something not on your marriage certificate that you'd have to involve changing it officially.
https://deedpolloffice.com/advice/woman-getting-married

In regards to ID - official ID in your maiden and your marriage certificate should be enough.

bouicca21

I kept my maiden name. The children were registered by my husband, who was determined that no one would think they were illegitimate and used my married name on the certificate.

Bearothebear

There is no official change of name if you marry. You don’t sign anything to declare a change of name. It’s just a (fairly recent) custom, so you can do what you like. It used to be common for eg Mary Smith to become Mary Smith aka Mrs John Brown when Mary married John. But places like banks don’t approve of too many changes, so it makes life difficult if name changing becomes a hobby.