Changing your name in Wales

If you live in Wales, you change your name the same way as in England: sign a deed poll in front of two independent witnesses aged 18 or over, then start using the new name. No Welsh form, no court, no separate Welsh law. What is different in Wales is the admin afterwards. You can deal with every office in Welsh if you want to, the council handles two updates in one go, and a Welsh name with an accent hits a limit at the passport stage that nobody mentions until you are at the counter.

Same law as England, same document

The gov.uk deed poll guide covers England and Wales together; Scotland has its own rules. You need to be 16 or over. Your two witnesses need to be 18 or over, and some organisations will refuse a deed poll if a witness lives at your address or is a close relative, so pick two adults who know you and are not family.

A deed poll is a self-declaration: you state that you have given up your old name and taken a new one for all purposes, your witnesses sign underneath, and that paper is your evidence. HM Passport Office, DVLA, HMRC, banks and councils accept unenrolled deed polls every day. The “enrolled” version, recorded at the High Court for £53.05, is optional and rarely needed.

A deed poll does not change your birth certificate, in Wales or anywhere else. UK Deed Poll prepares unenrolled deed polls, and if any organisation refuses one we refund you in full (subject to our terms).

Who to tell, and in what order

Passport first. It is the document everyone else asks to see, and once it carries your new name the rest gets easier. Then:

• HM Passport Office (apply or renew in the new name, sending the original deed poll)
• DVLA in Swansea (driving licence and vehicle registration, free of charge)
• HMRC (online through your personal tax account or the HMRC app)
• Your county or county borough council: Council Tax and the electoral register in one contact
• Bank, building society and any lender
• Employer, pension provider and your GP surgery
• Utilities, insurers, phone and broadband
• School, college or university

The council step is where Wales saves you a letter. Each of the 22 local authorities runs both Council Tax and electoral registration. For the register you do not amend your entry, you register again at gov.uk/register-to-vote in the new name. It takes five minutes and runs in Welsh.

If you are 16 or 17 in Wales, you can already vote in Senedd and council elections, so re-register after your name change like anyone else. A 16 year old in England has no such step.

The Name Change Kit (£59.95) comes with the completed forms and letters for HM Passport Office, DVLA, HMRC, the electoral register, Council Tax, HM Land Registry and Companies House. The list above becomes a stack of envelopes.

You can do all of it in Welsh

Under the Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011, Welsh is an official language in Wales and must be treated no less favourably than English. All 22 councils operate under Welsh Language Standards, which give you the right to write to your council in Welsh and get a reply in Welsh.

The UK-wide offices have their own routes.

DVLA sits in Swansea and runs most of its online services in Welsh. The gov.uk guide to changing the name on a driving licence has a Welsh version, and the photocard licence comes in a bilingual English and Welsh edition. Post your D1 form, your current licence and the original deed poll to DVLA, Swansea, SA99 1BN. No photocopies or laminated certificates.

HM Passport Office has staff in Newport who deal with Welsh-language applications. They are told to handle your application in Welsh as far as they can, and if you phone the contact centre on a weekday you press 0 for a Welsh speaker.

HMRC runs a Welsh language helpline on 0300 200 1900 and takes Welsh correspondence at Gwasanaeth Cwsmeriaid Cymraeg CThEF, HMRC, BX9 1ST.

Your deed poll from us is written in English, which every one of these offices processes all day.

Welsh names: the to bach and the passport

Your deed poll can carry your name exactly as you spell it, circumflex and all. Siân, Rhŷs and Llŷr are fine on the document. Your passport is another matter. HM Passport Office’s guidance says its application system “does not accept names that include diacritical characters or accent marks”. The name is printed using an internationally agreed alternative spelling, which in practice means the accent goes. Siân’s passport says Sian.

Nothing about the name has changed. It is a printing limit, not a ruling, and better known now than at the passport counter.

The same guidance sets two more limits: 30 characters for forenames and 30 for the surname, spaces included, with hyphens and apostrophes the only punctuation allowed. A double-barrelled surname like Jones-Prytherch fits easily. Three surnames strung together might not. Beyond that, gov.uk asks only that a new name is pronounceable and free of numbers and symbols.

Changing a child’s name in Wales

For a child aged 15 or under, a parent applies for a child deed poll (£22.50). Everyone with parental responsibility has to agree. If one parent refuses, the only route is a specific issue order from the family court (£263), and the court expects you to have tried to agree first. At 16 or 17 the young person can make their own deed poll; if a parent applies for them, they add a letter saying they agree.

Schools in Wales follow Welsh Government guidance that is cautious on purpose: a school cannot change a child’s surname on its records without the consent of everyone with parental responsibility, and where the child is under a residence or care order that consent has to be in writing. Send the school the deed poll with a short note of the other parent’s agreement and the record is updated without fuss.

What it costs and how fast it arrives

The adult deed poll is £22.50, one payment. Tell us the old name and the new one; we write the wording, check the spelling by hand and post a document you only have to sign in front of your witnesses. Applications received before 3pm Monday to Friday are prepared the same day and posted within two working days by First Class Post. We have issued over 900,000 deed polls in 13 years.

UK Deed Poll is not a government agency, and you can write a deed poll yourself for nothing. What you pay for is wording every organisation recognises, certified copies, a signing guide and a refund if any of them says no.

Apply for your adult deed poll and you can be signing in Wales this week.

Common questions

Is a deed poll valid in Wales?

Yes. Wales and England share the same law on changing your name. A deed poll signed in Cardiff, Bangor or Merthyr is accepted by HM Passport Office, DVLA, HMRC, banks and every Welsh council, the same as one signed in London.

Can I change my name to a Welsh name with accents?

Yes. Your deed poll carries the accents exactly as you write them. Your passport will print the name without them, because HM Passport Office’s system does not accept diacritical marks. Other documents follow their own rules, so check when you apply.

Do I need a Welsh version of my name as well?

No. You have one legal name, whichever language it comes from, and there is no separate Welsh register. What you do have is the right to deal with your council, HMRC, DVLA and the Passport Office in Welsh.

Does a deed poll change my Welsh birth certificate?

No. A deed poll never alters a birth certificate, wherever you were born. The certificate shows the name you were registered with, the deed poll shows the name you use now, and together they are your proof.

How long does it take?

Your new name is yours the moment you and your two witnesses sign. Our part is same-day preparation for applications received before 3pm on a weekday, posted within two working days. Updating the passport, DVLA and the rest takes as long as each office’s own processing, the same as anywhere else in the UK.