Question about changing one's name by deed poll

DareGod

Lets say my name was originally Jonathan Murphy.

But then I legally changed my name by deed poll to Jonathan Murphy-Ryan.

So my name is now legally Jonathan Murphy-Ryan. Can I call myself Jon Murphy on legal documents such as my passport, driving licence, and other official documents? Or must I put down Murphy-Ryan as my surname on those documents?



i.e.:
My legal name is Jonathan Murphy-Ryan.
Can I call myself Jon Murphy on legal documents such as passports, etc. ?

Peregrinus

In general you can call yourself anything you like, and there is no requirement that you should only have one name. It's not unusual for a married woman to continue to use her maiden name professionally, while using her married name socially. Or lots of people use an English-language name in some contexts, and an Irish-language name in others. There is no general requirement to make a deed poll when you change your name or adopt a new name; people do it because they find it convenient or practically necessary to have formal evidence of the change, but if you don't find you need it then you don't need it.

The passport office is a little bit sticky. They do look for formal evidence, and if you wanted a passport in your new name then you probably would have difficulty getting it without producing a deed poll (except if you changed it on marriage, in which case all you need is your marriage certificate). But if you want to obtain (or renew) a passport in your old name, if you can produce documents showing that you are in fact using that name - payslips, P60s, bank statements, utility bills, that kind of thing - there should be no difficulty. The only thing that bothers them is you attempting to obtain a passport in a name that you don't use in any other context.

(If your payslips, etc are in the name "Jonathan Murphy" then that is what will appear on your passport. If you want "Jon" you'll need formal documentary evidence that that's the name you are using. Generally the passport people prefer full, formal names to informal abbreviations, so there might be a bit of an issue there.)
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Edgarfrndly

I think you can have a second "Also known as" name on your passport?

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

DareGod

Edgarfrndly wrote: »

I think you can have a second "Also known as" name on your passport?

Fred Swanson wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

Incidentally, the passport office put an Also Known As on my last passport. I didn't even ask them to do it.

Basically it was the equivalent of this: if my full legal name was Jonathan Murphy, the passport office put Jonathan Murphy as my name on the passport and they put "Also known as: Jon Murphy" on the page next to it.

I found it a bit strange. Maybe I filled something out and/or ticked something on the application form and just forgot about it.

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

PLL

My daughter has a double barrell surname. When we registered her (2011) I asked the registrar what difference the hypen made. Basically with a hypen you are creating ONE new name, she couldn't use either independently. If she wanted to she would have to completely change her name to either or.

However he said without the hypen she would have two surnames and could easily drop one if she wished.

Hope that helps a little.

DareGod

PLL wrote: »

My daughter has a double barrell surname. When we registered her (2011) I asked the registrar what difference the hypen made. Basically with a hypen you are creating ONE new name, she couldn't use either independently. If she wanted to she would have to completely change her name to either or.

However he said without the hypen she would have two surnames and could easily drop one if she wished.

Hope that helps a little.

Thank you!