Changing your child’s name

To change your child’s first name or names within 12 months of the birth registration date, there is a non-refundable fee of £44. You will need to complete a form at the register office and we will amend the original birth registration. You can then buy certified copies from this amended registration from £12.50 per certificate.

If the parents were not married to each other at the time of the birth and the father did not attend with the mother to register the baby, it is possible to re-register the birth at any time to include the father’s details in the registration. The parents fill in a form available from the register office. The easiest way for the birth to be re-registered is for both parents to attend the register office together.

Once the child has been registered with the father’s surname, only a statutory declaration or deed poll can revert the child to the mother’s surname. The original birth registration does not change. Instead, the statutory declaration or deed poll document is attached to the original birth certificate to provide evidence that the child is being brought up in a surname different to that recorded in the birth registration.

If the parents have married each other since the birth was registered, the child should be re-registered to accurately record the current legal status. The register office can provide a form to be signed by both parents. Either parent can attend the register office with the completed form and a copy of the marriage certificate. The birth will then be re-registered and the child’s surname changed, for example to the father’s surname or become double-barrelled.

You can buy a certified copy of the re-registered birth registration or a certificate of an amended entry from the registrar. There is no charge for re-registration.

There is more information on adding a father’s name to a birth certificate on GOV.UK.