Whilst many of us keep our own names, others want to share the last name of their partner. How you go about doing this will depend upon whether you are married, civil partnered, or not.

If you marry or register a civil partnership taking your partner's surname is straightforward with few formalities needed. Marriage and civil partnership certificates are legal documents and should enable you to take your partner’s name on official documents like your driver’s licence or passport, for example.

When it comes to changing the name of a child (a person under the age of 18) it is only possible to change the child's birth certificate in certain circumstances. However, even if the circumstances do not apply and it is not possible to change the birth certificate, it is possible to change the name by which the child is known on a day-to-day basis (this is known as 'change of name by usage').

If you are changing your child's first name(s) within 12 months of birth registration, the new full birth certificate will show both the original and the new first name(s). The short birth certificate will only show the new first name(s).

Changing your child's surname could be more complicated.

Further information:

		Changing your name
		Changing your child's name

	www.marriedornot.org.uk

Married or not is part of LivingTogether - a campaign led by Advicenow.org.uk to inform cohabiting couples of their legal rights. The Nuffield Foundation and the Department for Constitutional Affairs supported One Plus One's development of material for Married or Not. The legal information on this site was checked by Sarah Forster.