Changed Your Name Years Ago, But No Deed Poll?
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HM Passport Office asks for evidence dated from the time of the change. Our pack puts that change on paper the way they expect, posted free by Royal Mail Tracked 24.
Signed in Both Names, Before Two Witnesses
One question decides which document you need
Did you stop using one name and start using another? The two documents swear opposite things, so the wrong one cannot be honestly signed.
“Yes, I switched to a new name”
Perhaps on moving to the UK, on marriage, or simply through years of use: you stopped being one name and became another, and no paperwork was made at the time.
Retrospective Deed Poll · £24.99
The organisations that ask for proof of a past name change
Four Steps to Evidence of a Change You Made Years Ago
Tell Us Your Name History
The name on your birth certificate, the name you use now, and roughly when you started using it. This pack records a single change. If you used another name in between, contact us instead and we will prepare your full name history by hand.
We Post Your Documents
The deed, the statutory declaration and the evidence checklist, printed and posted to you by Royal Mail Tracked 24 at no extra cost.
Sign It & Swear It
Sign the deed in both names in front of two witnesses. Then take the declaration to any solicitor or commissioner for oaths, who administers the oath for the £5 statutory fee.
Send It In
Send both documents to the Passport Office, together with the evidence of use listed on your checklist, so the whole name history arrives in one go.
Why a Deed Signed Today Isn't Enough on Its Own
HM Passport Office accepts an unenrolled deed only where it is a contemporaneous document, one made at the time the name actually changed. A deed you sign this month cannot, by itself, evidence a change you made in 2011. That is the wall people hit, and no better-worded deed can get round it.
Their guidance gives the remedy: "If the customer does not have contemporaneous evidence showing every link between their old and new names (including multiple changes), they must provide a statutory declaration."
HM Passport Office · Names: evidence to change a name · version 28.0 · 10 August 2026So the statutory declaration is not a workaround: it is the document HM Passport Office asks for. We explain the statutory declaration of name history in full, and what HM Passport Office actually accepts as evidence when the change was never written down. See also the general GOV.UK guidance on changing your name.
One check before you order: if your name never actually changed and it is simply recorded differently from place to place, there is no change to evidence and you need a name discrepancy declaration instead, the document often called "one and the same person". Not sure which describes you? Ask us before ordering either.
Does This Sound Like You?
Common ways people end up here: a name that changed in practice years ago, but never on paper. £24.99, one original of each document, posted free.
Married? Check your certificate first
If you took your spouse's surname, HM Passport Office normally needs only your marriage or civil partnership certificate. This pack is for what the certificate cannot cover: a surname that is not your spouse's, a previous surname moved to a middle name, or a certificate that does not show the link. See maiden name on one document, married name on another.
You anglicised your name after moving to the UK
You adopted a shorter or anglicised form after arriving and have used it here ever since. If the difference is on your foreign passport or birth certificate, that needs evidence from the issuing authority, not a declaration. Ask us before ordering.
You have been known by another name for years
No ceremony, no document, no particular day it happened. You simply started using it, and everyone from your employer to your GP has known you by it since.
A parent changed your name as a child
The change was made for you, decades ago. Whatever paperwork existed was never kept, or is with someone you are no longer in touch with.
Your name has changed more than once
HM Passport Office asks for evidence of every link between your old and new names, and a sworn history with a missing link is what gets applications returned. This pack covers a single change: if you used a further name in between, tell us and we will prepare your full history by hand.
You have been asked for "evidence from the time"
A passport application has stalled because there is nothing from when the change was made. That phrase is the reason this pack exists, and our guide sets out what counts as evidence from the time.
Lost Your Deed Poll? This Is the Replacement
An unenrolled deed poll has no central copy: nobody holds an original for you, and a photocopy or scan is not accepted as one. A replacement deed poll is simply a new deed poll confirming the same change, and every organisation accepts it. Which one you need depends on when the change happened.
Order a fresh deed poll today: £14.49
Enter your former name as the current name and your current name as the new name. Printed and posted the same working day, and accepted by HM Passport Office, the DVLA, HMRC and UK banks exactly as the original was.
Order a replacement deed pollYou need the declaration too: £24.99
The contemporaneous-document rule above applies just the same, so this pack is the answer: the deed, a sworn statutory declaration of your name history, and the evidence checklist - posted free.
Copies, replacements and what's acceptedRetrospective Deed Poll: Frequently Asked Questions
The questions people ask us before deciding whether this is the right document.
Because of the contemporaneous-document rule. HM Passport Office accepts an unenrolled deed only where it is a contemporaneous document, one made at the time the change happened. A deed signed now cannot, on its own, evidence a change you made years ago. Their guidance then says that if you do not have contemporaneous evidence showing every link between your old and new names, including multiple changes, you must provide a statutory declaration. Our guide covers what HM Passport Office accepts when you changed your name years ago.
Three documents. A change of name deed, to be signed in both your old and your new name in front of two witnesses. A statutory declaration of your name history, carrying the Statutory Declarations Act 1835 formula and signed in your new name only. And a checklist of the evidence of use HM Passport Office asks to see alongside it. You get one original of each, posted free by Royal Mail Tracked 24.
The statutory fee is £5 for each declaration taken, inclusive of VAT where payable (SI 1993/2297). Your documents are described in the declaration rather than produced with it, so there is nothing for the officer to mark and no further statutory fee arises. Some firms add their own admin charge, which is the firm's own and not part of the statutory fee. You pay the solicitor or commissioner for oaths directly, not us. We break the numbers down in what a statutory declaration costs in the UK.
Within England and Wales, any solicitor or commissioner for oaths can administer the oath. You only need a notary if the document is going overseas. We cannot administer the oath ourselves: it is a reserved legal activity and we are a document service, not a person authorised to carry it out, which is why we post the document to you to swear locally.
They do different jobs. A deed of change of name records the change itself, so it is signed in both your old and your new name in front of two witnesses. A statutory declaration is a sworn statement of fact made by you as you are now, so it is signed in your new name only, in front of the person administering the oath.
No. This pack is for names on UK documents. Where a name is spelled differently on a foreign passport or a foreign birth certificate, HM Passport Office requires evidence from the authority that issued that document, and a declaration sworn in England or Wales will not resolve it. Please contact us before ordering if that is your situation, so you do not pay for something that cannot help.
No, not by this pack. It records a single change of name: the order form asks for the name you were given and the name you use now, and the declaration of name history swears that two-name chain and the year the second name came into use. Tell the form you used a further name in between and it will stop the order rather than produce a sworn history with a link missing, because a missing link is what HM Passport Office returns applications for. Contact us instead and we will prepare your full name history by hand.
Probably not. If there was never a change, and the name is simply recorded differently in different places (a spelling variant, a missing middle name, or a forename and surname the wrong way round), then there is no change to evidence. What you need is a name discrepancy declaration, which states that both versions refer to the same person. Our guide explains when a name is simply spelled differently on different documents. Ask us if you are unsure which one describes you.
Some do name both. Nationwide's name change form, for example, states that to record a change to any forename you must produce a deed poll or a statutory declaration. Every organisation sets its own requirements, though, so it is worth checking what yours asks for before you send anything. If your change is happening now rather than years ago, a standard adult deed poll is all you need, or a child deed poll if it is your child's name that is changing.
A replacement deed poll is a new deed poll confirming the same change, and every organisation accepts it. If the change was recent, order a standard deed poll for £14.49 with your former name as the current name and your current name as the new name. If the change was years ago and HM Passport Office has asked for evidence from the time, order this pack instead: the deed plus a sworn statutory declaration of your name history.
Usually not. An unenrolled deed poll has no central register, so no official copy exists, and a photocopy or scan is not accepted as an original. The exception is a deed poll enrolled at the Royal Courts of Justice, where you can apply to the court for an official copy. If you ordered from UK Name Change, a digital copy is kept in your account for reference, but organisations still need a wet-ink signed document, which is what a replacement provides.
Not yet — online ordering opens shortly. It will be £24.99 including VAT, with free Royal Mail Tracked 24 delivery. If you need the pack before then, contact us with the names you have used and roughly when, and we will arrange it.
Not Sure If This Is What You Need?
Tell us the names you have used and roughly when, and we will tell you whether this is the right document.
- £24.99 including VAT
- One original of each document
- FREE Royal Mail Tracked 24