About changing name in Ireland?

Jiay

Hi,

Is there any possibilitis to request any kind of document (lile bank details, bills, tax details, etc.) with a different name rather than my legal name or to request a name change for any kind of these before I legally change my name?

My problem is that I want to change my name but I'm not an Irish citizen, so I couldn't change my legal name in Ireland. It's also hard to go back home during Covid. My friend living in Norway changed his name from our embassy but he provided a name changed confirmation paper from somewhere about tax(like the revenue in Ireland?but the Norwegian one). I was wondering if that's possible in Ireland.

Thank you!

Hannibal_Smith

Mod Note

Hi Jiay

Thank you for your post. I'm going to move your thread over to Legal Discussion, which I think is the best place for your query.

The Forum Charter in Legal Discussion will now apply.

Best of luck

HS

Peregrinus

I assume you're living in Ireland; otherwise you wouldn't be asking this question.

In Ireland your name is a matter of fact, not law. The name you use, the name people call you; that's your name. You can have more than one name, and in fact that's quite common. (E.g. a married woman might use her husband's surname in social situations, but continue to use her maiden name professionally.)

But...

Nowadays in Ireland, because of money-landering rules and similar laws, it is difficult to get banks, etc, to open an account in a name which differs from the name on your passport/birth certificate/drivers licence, etc. While the law allows you to adopt a new name without any formality, banks etc are a bit suspicious of attempts actually to do that, and they like to see some evidence that your change of name is real, and official, and not just something you are doing for this bank account only. And sometimes other agencies like to see formal evidence of change of name.

So, you can make a formal declaration of change of name (called a "deed poll") and register it in the High Court in Dublin. (You can do this in the office - there's no court hearing involved.) The declaration says, basically, "this is my old name, this is my new name, and I am giving up my old name and using my new name instead and i would like everyone else to use it too, please".

You don't have to be an Irish citizen in order to make and register this declaration. But, if you're not an EU or EEA citizen, you do need to get the permission of the Department of Justice in order to change you name.

So, if you're a non-EU and non-EEA citizen, changing your name involves a three-step process.

1. Apply to the Department of Justice for permission to change your name.

2. When you get permission from the Department of Justice, make and register a deed poll at the High Court.

3. Show copies of the deed poll to your bank, phone company, electricity supplier, etc to get them to change the name on your accounts to your new name.

Jiay

Hannibal_Smith wrote: »

Mod Note

Hi Jiay

Thank you for your post. I'm going to move your thread over to Legal Discussion, which I think is the best place for your query.

The Forum Charter in Legal Discussion will now apply.

Best of luck

HS

Yeah thank you very much!!!

Jiay

Peregrinus wrote: »

I assume you're living in Ireland; otherwise you wouldn't be asking this question.

In Ireland your name is a matter of fact, not law. The name you use, the name people call you; that's your name. You can have more than one name, and in fact that's quite common. (E.g. a married woman might use her husband's surname in social situations, but continue to use her maiden name professionally.)

But...

Nowadays in Ireland, because of money-landering rules and similar laws, it is difficult to get banks, etc, to open an account in a name which differs from the name on your passport/birth certificate/drivers licence, etc. While the law allows you to adopt a new name without any formality, banks etc are a bit suspicious of attempts actually to do that, and they like to see some evidence that your change of name is real, and official, and not just something you are doing for this bank account only. And sometimes other agencies like to see formal evidence of change of name.

So, you can make a formal declaration of change of name (called a "deed poll") and register it in the High Court in Dublin. (You can do this in the office - there's no court hearing involved.) The declaration says, basically, "this is my old name, this is my new name, and I am giving up my old name and using my new name instead and i would like everyone else to use it too, please".

You don't have to be an Irish citizen in order to make and register this declaration. But, if you're not an EU or EEA citizen, you do need to get the permission of the Department of Justice in order to change you name.

So, if you're a non-EU and non-EEA citizen, changing your name involves a three-step process.

1. Apply to the Department of Justice for permission to change your name.

2. When you get permission from the Department of Justice, make and register a deed poll at the High Court.

3. Show copies of the deed poll to your bank, phone company, electricity supplier, etc to get them to change the name on your accounts to your new name.

Thank you very much!!!!

Graces7

So complicated. In Scotland all you have to do is "declare" vocally and that is it. The solicitor I asked was very direct. "All you have to do is say 'I wish to be called Mickey Mouse' and Mickey Mouse you are thereafter. "

Then inform all officials etc. It worked so easily.

Peregrinus

Graces7 wrote: »

So complicated. In Scotland all you have to do is "declare" vocally and that is it. The solicitor I asked was very direct. "All you have to do is say 'I wish to be called Mickey Mouse' and Mickey Mouse you are thereafter. "

Then inform all officials etc. It worked so easily.

That is in fact pretty much the strict legal position in Ireland. Your name is a matter of fact, not law. What people call you, that's your name. There are no legal procedures required to change your name; you just have to get people to call you by your new name.

And therein lies the rub. Strictly speaking, it's not you that changes your name; it's everyone else, because the important question is not "what do you want to be called?"; it's "what do people call you?" And there's no way you can actually force them to start using the new name you wish to adopt, if they don't want to.

Nowadays banks, etc, are reluctant to call you X if they are unsure that X is, in fact, your name. They're concerned about fraud, money-laundering, etc. (This didn't used to be the case; I opened my first bank account without any identification at all; the official just looked at me across the counter and asked "what name shall I put?") Similarly with public agencies that issue documents that you might use as identification - driving licences, passports, etc. These days they're kind of reluctant to accept just your word for it that "I know it says X on my birth certificate, but everybody calls me Y".

Hence the deed poll. Executing and registering a deed poll does not, legally speaking, change your name; being actually called by a new name is what changes your name. What it does do is to provide formal, and generally acceptable, evidence that your name has changed. It reassures banks, etc, that your claim that "everybody calls me Y" is not just a story that you are telling them in order to get a bank account in a name that isn't actually yours.

They don't have to accept a deed poll, and some people don't. The passport office, for example, are particularly anal; they'll want a deed poll plus evidence of actual use of your new name over the past two years (bills in your name, bank accounts, that kind of thing).

"Why don't they have this problem in Scotland?" I hear you cry. They do. Scottish banks are just as worried about money-laundering and fraud as Irish banks. So Scotland has introduced a procedure whereby, if you were born or adopted in Scotland and so already have an entry of birth/adoption in the Scottish public records, you can register a declaration of change of name with the Register General, and he will then annotate the entry to show that you have adopted a new name. If this sounds a lot like registering a deed poll in Ireland, that's because it is, except that you register with the Registrar General rather than with the courts. As in Ireland, it's is not a legal requirement to register a change of name in this way but, as in Ireland, you'll find nowadays that it is a practical necessity.

What do you do if you are living in Scotland but weren't born or adopted there? If you need evidence of your change of name to satisfy officials you execute a deed poll, just like in Ireland.

Speedsie

Peregrinus wrote: »

That is in fact pretty much the strict legal position in Ireland. Your name is a matter of fact, not law. What people call you, that's your name. There are no legal procedures required to change your name; you just have to get people to call you by your new name.

And therein lies the rub. Strictly speaking, it's not you that changes your name; it's everyone else, because the important question is not "what do you want to be called?"; it's "what do people call you?" And there's no way you can actually force them to start using the new name you wish to adopt, if they don't want to.
.

Indeed, it's what people call you that's important.
Six decades, my parents put 'Mary Catherine Jane Bloggs' on my birth cert. And immediately called me 'Jane Bloggs'. I was Jane throughout school, for some reason 'Mary' while in TCD and on my LC. I did O levels as Jane Bloggs'.

My passports (from age 4) are all 'Jane Bloggs'' as is my driving licence. Revenue know me as Jane, as do all utilities.

Hotblack Desiato

For whatever unknown headwrecking reason, my grandparents did that with my mother and all her siblings. Endless trouble over it all her life.

My wife is known to everyone as a shortened version of her official name, trouble is it starts with a different letter so airline tickets, etc must be booked in her official name. Some bills and documents are in the full name, some in the shortened name. Pain in the hoop. She's seriously considering going down the deed poll route and getting everything changed over. Not sure if that's possible at present though.

I have a middle name I really dislike, but that's easy to ditch, just stop using it on any forms etc. I was enrolled in school with it and it's probably on my LC (been a VERY long time since I clapped eyes on that), but I enrolled in college without it and just omitted it from driving licence, passport etc. application forms, no problems.

Graces7

[QUOTE=Peregrinus;116531663


What do you do if you are living in Scotland but weren't born or adopted there? If you need evidence of your change of name to satisfy officials you execute a deed poll, just like in Ireland.[/QUOTE]
#

That was my situation and there was no requirement for a deed poll. As the solicitor advised I simply informed banks. UK social welfare, and yes applied for a new passport. on my declaration that I now wished to be called by a new name.

Not one asked for any evidence. I was frankly amazed at the ease of it all. Especially the passport. In England a deed poll was absolutely de rigueur .

NB this was I think 25 years ago so it may well have changed since then of course.

Peregrinus

Graces7 wrote: »

#

That was my situation and there was no requirement for a deed poll. As the solicitor advised I simply informed banks. UK social welfare, and yes applied for a new passport. on my declaration that I now wished to be called by a new name.

Not one asked for any evidence. I was frankly amazed at the ease of it all. Especially the passport. In England a deed poll was absolutely de rigueur .

NB this was I think 25 years ago so it may well have changed since then of course.

It has. Money-laundering legislation has been a gamechanger. (Perhaps the UK will abandon it now that it's no longer in the EU? ). And the Irish passport office is a lot tougher on this than it was 25 years ago; I'd be surprised if there hadn't been a similar toughening in the UK.

I should have added in my earlier posts that there are couple of occasions in life where you can get your name change accepted without jumping through all the hoops. The most obvious one is when you marry; banks, etc, will generally register a change of name if you produce a marriage cert and tell them you are adopting your spouse's name. And you can reverse the process on divorce, if you produce a divorce decree.

Graces7

Peregrinus wrote: »

It has. Money-laundering legislation has been a gamechanger. (Perhaps the UK will abandon it now that it's no longer in the EU? ). And the Irish passport office is a lot tougher on this than it was 25 years ago; I'd be surprised if there hadn't been a similar toughening in the UK.

I should have added in my earlier posts that there are couple of occasions in life where you can get your name change accepted without jumping through all the hoops. The most obvious one is when you marry; banks, etc, will generally register a change of name if you produce a marriage cert and tell them you are adopting your spouse's name. And you can reverse the process on divorce, if you produce a divorce decree.

Being curious I checked online and it is still in Scotland as when I changed mine there. I simply used my new name and informed eg UK Social Welfare I was now called ^^^^^^^ and that was all. Even for a new passport . They advise making it more formal but not needed. Scotland being autonomous in many ways.

Deseras

Under Section 9 of the Aliens Act 1935, a non-EU national aged 18 or over must get a change of name licence from the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service (INIS) before executing a deed poll. You can obtain an application form for a change of name licence by writing to the Change of Name Section in INIS.

There is more information on change of name licences on the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service website.