What is my name?

[MargeB]

What is my name? What is one's name, legally in the UK. Ignoring marriages, is it the name you were born with, put on your birth certificate? Or is it the name you go by. Mine are different.

[jenstar]

In theory, the former. In practice, the latter.

[MargeB]

So if I start writing the first one down everywhere, am I doing ok?

[pixieee]

well, the one on your birth certificate is the official one, but you can change it legally.

[Solarjunkie]

I always understood that your name was the one you are known by.You certainly don't need a "Deed Poll" as they are always saying in the papers, if you want to make things unambiguous you can use a "statutory declaration" to show you choose to be known by another name. For example, Cliff Richard's real name is Cliff Richard - just because he was formerly known as Harry Webb, that does not mean it is his "true" name.

[landie]

Perhaps it's the one on your bank account or your passport.

[lodekka]

My father is known by his middle name, presumably because his first name is the same as his father's.

My mother on the other hand has gone by a completely different name ever since childhood, and even after moving 6000 miles forty years ago after she married, is known by that name to everybody except those in officialdom who just see a name on a form. She's never seen the need to change her first name officially.