Dropping 1st name..... legalities

funnymonkey

Good morning.
I'm after a little advice.
My Son being age 17, half Thai/English has a Thai and English name on his passport and birth certificate but wishes to drop his Thai name.
Can he just not use it anymore?
How would this work for I.D purposes, bank account, driving license etc?
Thank you

Flugelhorn

Just don't use it any longer - may have to put it on formal things but most of the time you get known by what name you tell people. My mother had two middle names and I think she managed to disown one of them by the time she was in her 20s, the initial for her second eventually disappeared from her signature but was on the odd official document eg driving licence & passport - the one she disowned was never heard of again, it was only when I found her initials on something she was given by her mother that I found out 

Archergirl

As long as he books holidays in the name on his passport and things like that, it's not an issue and may not be worth the hassle and expense.

sheramber

He can use just the one name in everyday use by for a driving licence and passport he needs to use his burth certificate so will be issued in  his birth name.

To change that needs a Deed Poll    https://www.gov.uk/change-name-deed-poll

RAS

Yes, he can just use his middle name for everyday purposes, but if he ever needs to do a CRB check or vetting, he will need evidence of his birth name and the name change. So don't bin all the evidence.

For what it's worth, I use a short form of my birth name IRL and have had to revert to using my full name for banking etc. Otherwise do a deed-poll. 

Mojisola

sheramber said:

To change that needs a Deed Poll    https://www.gov.uk/change-name-deed-poll

When he's 18, he can do this.  (Amended - the age is 16).

It's free and easy to do and provides a record of the name change.

lincroft1710

I have known so many people who prefer to use their second (or even third!) name rather than their first including a former mother in law, my grandfather and an uncle, and there have been at least 3 Prime Ministers. No one bothered  changing their name legally.


Oddly my grandfather's death certificate had the names in a different order to those on his birth certificate.

RAS

There is no legal need for Alexander to change his name legally; "known as" is fine for day to day use. As I did happily for 30 years.

However my passport and driving licence have always had to be in my formal name. As a result, I now have to use that name for financial accounts given the modern ID checks.

And having been involved in ID checks for DBS purposes, I've seen the muddle some people get into using variants for certificates and documents; Robert John, John Robert, John and Robert combined with different surnames? At minimum, all aliases have to be evidenced and checked.

Nothing to say this lad cannot informally change his name now, but if his educational certificates are in his current name and his ID is different, he needs an explanation, so it's better to do an enrolled deed-poll even if it costs £45.

NBLondon

RAS said:

Nothing to say this lad cannot informally change his name now, but if his educational certificates are in his current name and his ID is different, he needs an explanation, so it's better to do an enrolled deed-poll even if it costs £45.

That's a key point - names on qualifications.  When I worked in apprenticeships, we had a young lad who changed both given name and family name at 18 so his GCSE certs didn't match his current name at all.  He ended up retaking Maths and English exams to meet the requirements.

lincroft1710 said:

I have known so many people who prefer to use their second (or even third!) name rather than their first including a relative and there have been at least 3 Prime Ministers. No one bothered legal changing.

For those who are puzzled - the other two are Leonard James Callaghan and James Gordon Brown. 

sheramber

lincroft1710 said:

I have known so many people who prefer to use their second (or even third!) name rather than their first including a relative and there have been at least 3 Prime Ministers. No one bothered legal changing.

As long as you accept that official documents will be in the birth name not the name you are known by.

sammyjammy

It seems to be common amongst men who are named after their father, I know a Howard whose given name is Michael and an Ian whose given name is also Michael, both Dads were Michael.  I knew both of them for a number of years before i even knew their given name