Genealogy Chat

Can anybody help please?
Does anyone know if there are any records of legal name changes (by deed poll)?

I think the courts hold records, they do now but not sure how long you can go back.

If you know the local county court where they changed thier name you can contact them

hope this helps

Found by googling...

Is a Deed Poll registered anywhere?
Contrary to popular belief, there is no central register of name changes in the United Kingdom. Deed Polls are not registered anywhere unless they are "enrolled" i.e. lodged for safe keeping, in the Close Rolls of the Chancery (from 1851 to 1902) and from 1903, in the Enrolment Books of the Supreme Court of Judicature, which is located within the Royal Courts of Justice in the Strand, London.

Enrolling a Deed Poll provides a public record of a person's name change and since 1914 the details of the name change are published in either the London or Belfast Gazette [What is the London Gazette]. Unnervingly, the person's name change details and home address are also published on the London Gazette's website for all to see. Fortunately, it is not a requirement to enrol a Deed Poll. Furthermore, because enrolling significantly adds to the cost and the time taken to change a person's name and because most people who change their name only wish to inform those who have a reason to know, only one in every two hundred Deed Polls is enrolled. All other Deed Polls are unenrolled, which is the type we issue.

Deed Polls that have been enrolled at the Royal Courts of Justice in London remain there for about five years. After which (and going back to 1851), they can be found at the National Archives, which is located at Kew in Richmond, Surrey.

However it is, & always has been, perfectly legal to change your name with no official paperwork at all.

Ozi.

Thanks all, that's helpful.

I managed to find the details of a name change at the National Archives at Kew. The name change turned out to be in 1933 and was not easy to find as they are only indexed within years so it took some time to find it (in series J18). If you know the year it would be easier.

It turned out to be really just one page with legal statement and a witness statement to say he was a good chap!

They are certainly not all at Kew and there appears to be no real requirement to register the change. This guy did it because he was having a hard time in the merchant navy with the name of Bastard.

David