CHOOSING YOUR NAME

When someone knew your name in earlier times that knowledge gave them authority over you; in many ways it still does. What do you do if someone calls your name in a busy street?

A new name reflects one’s personality to some extent. It is worth taking care to choose one that was in use at the time one was born. Some names in use now were not used in the past. A look through the birth columns of newspapers in the public library for the year you were born will suggest names appropriate to your age group. It is also worth looking in a dictionary of given or Christian, names to see if you identify with any of them.

IF YOU HAVE CHILDREN

If you have children the original title (Mum or Dad) cannot be used for yourself any more although the opposite title can: many children have two mums and/or dads. Mummy 1 and 2 or Daddy 1 and 2 are names sometimes used by children whose parents have remarried and have no connection with ts. The same idea has been used successfully in the ts situation, initiated by children themselves.

Parental titles signify status, authority, protection and love and are children’s terms of reference when talking to their peers. Changing your sex may shake all that to the core, which needs to be considered deeply. Younger children are generally more easily able to cope; the younger someone is, the less they have been brainwashed by society into bigotry.

It is often customary for children to call parents by their first names, which can help solve the problem. You might discuss the matter of names with your children if a good relationship has been retained; they may have some helpful suggestions.

HAVING CHOSEN A NAME

Ideally, decide a day for legally changing your name about a month ahead of when you intend to change your social (public) presentation because the legal side of things will take time as accounts, cheque books, bills and so on have to be altered. Do arrange to have a matching name, appearance, and account before you actually go into a bank to draw money.

THE STATUTORY DECLARATION

A typed statutory declaration form to the standard pattern needs to be prepared. A suitable form can be downloaded from our links below in various formats for different word processors. The form must be completed exactly as suggested without adding punctuation or altering anything else. Being a legal document, the wording is precise.

Right click on any of the following links to save to a directory (folder) on your hard disk a Statutory Declaration form for use in your word processor. The form includes easy to follow instructions on how to complete it:

statdec.rtf - can be read by many word processors
statdec.doc - for use with Microsoft Word (contains no macros)
statdec.wps - for use with Works word processor
statdec.wri - for use with Windows Write

Book an appointment with a solicitor, saying you wish to swear an affidavit. It costs about £3 to £10 depending upon where you live. If your first choice of solicitor is too expensive (always ask first), 'phone around.

At the solicitor’s office you will be asked swear to the truth of the document, then to sign in the appropriate space your old name (there are variations of this requirement), and sign your new name and any appropriate title. The solicitor will also sign the document and s/he will add the address of the location where the affidavit was sworn. From that moment on, the new name applies and the old one does not.

A number of photocopies of the completed document must next be made. It is not usually necessary for these to be any more than straightforward copies of the original, although a minority of official bodies require them to be stamped by a solicitor for further verification (assume they will not, unless they specifically request it).

It is also possible to swear a change of name at a county court, sessions usually being set aside when a JP handles small items such as this.

LETTER OF MEDICAL EVIDENCE

Ideally you should not need to prepare this yourself but if your doctor asks what is required, you can show the draft below. Your psychiatrist might already have pre printed forms available; if not, the final needs to be on the doctor’s headed paper or include their rubber-stamped surgery address. To avoid confusion and unnecessary hurt and embarrassment the following draft is deliberately worded to omit any use of the words he, she, him, or her.

COVERING LETTER TO ACCOMPANY DOCUMENTS

Again, ordinary photocopies of this letter will be needed. It is polite to sign the copies individually after photocopying, rather than signing the original before photocopying it. Note: contrary to popular myth, it is NOT necessary to have any witness to the above letter, except in a minority of circumstances as detailed below.

ADDITIONAL ADVICE

Nothing more is necessary than informing people, by post, of your name change. It can be good idea to tell friends by letter too, giving them time to think (see the companion book, I AM TS). It is a mistake to tell anyone who doesn’t need to know of one’s situation. Unless there is a good political reason for telling them about your reassignment there is no obligation to tell anyone who didn’t know you before your change. Official bodies neither need, nor want, to know "all about ts" nor about your trials and tribulations; save that for the doctor or counsellor. People change their names for a variety of reasons most of which are of more interest to themselves than to everyone else.

Importantly, remember always that transsexualism is a problem to be overcome, not a harp to go on playing. After reassignment, success is measured by one’s ability to become just another woman or man. The word transsexual refers to a condition, not a person. You are not ‘a’ transsexual, you are a person who happened to have the condition. To consider, or let anyone else consider, oneself to be ‘a’ transsexual is to set oneself apart - a grave mistake. Another common mistake is to become almost hypochondriac, boring people by discussing the condition too much. Having bottled up one’s feelings for years it can be very tempting - and a relief - to discuss them openly with close confidants, but is all too easy to over do that. People have their own problems. It is polite to show genuine interest in their troubles too, else why should they show concern for yours?

DSS (Department of Social Security)

Even if you have never claimed any DSS benefits and hope never to, the Department must still be informed of your name change. This is easily done by way of the doctor’s covering letter plus a photocopy of your Statutory Declaration plus one’s own covering letter all sent in one envelope to:

Department of Social Security
National Insurance Contributions Branch
Central Office
Longbenton
Newcastle On Tyne
NE98 1YX

Remember to quote your National Insurance (NI) number on all correspondence with the DSS; it will not (usually) change. They will reply with a standard form letter stating that your liability to pay NI contributions, and your (original) entitlement to benefits, will not alter. This is currently the same for all transsexual and sex reassigned people in the UK. It means, for example, that your retirement age will not alter.

Informing one’s local DSS office in the same way will prevent delay in amendments there. It is helpful to add a brief post script to your covering letter to the local office, saying that you have sent copies to DSS Newcastle.

(In 1999) the DSS will amend your name and title, but on their database your sex remains unaltered, being geared to what is shown on your birth certificate. Thus, a fully sex reassigned woman might be listed as, for example, Ms Sally Green, Male whilst a fully sex reassigned male would be listed as, e.g., Mr John Brown, Female. However, your computer file is thenceforth specially coded, denying access to anyone below supervisory rank. This security measure does work. The same restricted access coding is used to prevent junior clerks accessing their superiors’ files or those of people of high social standing or authority.

If you are registered unemployed, take or send the photocopied documentation (name deed plus your covering letter plus photocopied doctor’s letter) to your local Job Centre, asking to see, or addressing it to, the manager. If your Job Centre and Unemployment Benefit office are in separate locations, inform both. If attending the Dept. of Employment or the DSS in person, you have the right to request a private interview.

DVLA

If you have one, return your current driving licence to the DVLA; instructions for doing so are printed on the licence. Quoting your current driver number at the top of your covering letter will speed up the processing of a new licence in your new name. The number can simply be added in ink to your standard, photocopied covering letter.

Note that the second digit in the driver number is used to indicate gender and can be 0 or 1 for a male and 5 or 6 for a female. This can be changed to match your identity. It is therefore best to specify in your covering letter to the DVLA, in a written post script: ‘Please would you amend the gender indicator in the reference number’. The DVLA will return a new licence showing the new details without the old ones.

It is worth realising that these and many other authorities process scores of ts name changes in the course of each year. Yours, like everybody else’s, will be just another piece of mundane paperwork.

OTHER PEOPLE TO INFORM

(These are typical examples. There will obviously be variations depending on who you deal with.) The following organisations do not usually require any official documentation before changing one's name on their files. Merely completing the name and address change in the appropriate place on the payment slip (if there is one) and / or sending your covering letter suffices. Obviously one does not need to inform them of anything unless one is their customer.

Gas Board
Electricity company
British Telecom
Water company (if billed by, or rates paid directly to, them)
Dentist
Garage (if you have a regular account or contract)
Clubs and Societies
Subscriptions (book clubs, catalogues, support group, etc.)

The following each need photocopies of the completed statutory declaration plus your covering letter.

Insurance broker
Credit card companies
Library (if a member)

The following each require photocopies of: the completed statutory declaration, and your covering letter, plus the doctor's letter. Obviously those organisations or bodies which do not apply to oneself can be omitted.

Car insurance company
Building Society (if it is not a bank)
DSS Newcastle (who usually issue a new NI card)
DSS locally
DVLA (if you drive. This is for licence and car document purposes)
Electoral Registrar (usually at Town Hall) - must, by law, be informed.
GP & GIC (see footnote below)
Employer or paying authority
House insurance company
Hospital(s) (if a patient in the previous 10 years. Inform the Medical Records department)
Family Health Services Authority (FHSA or equivalent. See your medical card)
Inland Revenue (Tax office) - (not necessary if unemployed)
Passport Office (who may request confirmation from doctor that treatment is irreversible)
Academic qualifications (C&G, Uni, CNAA, RSA, or whatever board holds your qualifications. Will usually replace your certificates on submission of the old ones, for a fee)
Solicitor
Trade Union

The following each require photocopies of: the completed statutory declaration and your covering letter, plus the doctor's letter. They will almost certainly also want written confirmation from your solicitor, and / or sight of the original (not a photocopy of your) completed name deed/affidavit. It is wise to enclose a stamped S.A.E. with a request for prompt return of the document if the original is sent.

Bank
Shares

Footnote: With regard to one's GP and / or GIC, obviously they do not need to see their own letter if they were who provided the doctor's letter AND are personally attending to the change of name in your medical records. However, administrative tasks may be left to a receptionist or clerk and some of these can be officious. The doctor's letter will clarify the situation for them. It will also ensure continuity in the event of changing doctors, or being referred to another one, in the future.

Don’t think the above list is all there will be. As an individual you will almost certainly have other people to add to the list and some to remove from it.

OTHER USEFUL INFORMATION

Provided your name change has been attended to legally as described in this book, the following facts apply.

Once you have sworn the affidavit (stautory delaration), your former name(s) no longer apply to you for any purpose other than historically. Were you to continue to use your old name(s) except with reference to the period prior to the date of the affidavit, you could be guilty of fraud.

Nobody can lawfully refuse to acknowledge your change of name. Nobody can lawfully attempt to hinder the process, nor try to make any ‘conditions’ for you to agree to before amending their records (except that some bodies may require the additional confirmation as indicated in the above lists). Any authority trying to compromise you by saying, e.g., "We will change your records if you first agree to … (anything)", is operating outside the law. In the event of such difficulties a wealth of useful legal advice can be found at http://www.pfc.org.uk

Published by CHANGE. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reprinted or reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, optical, mechanical or yet to be invented, including, but not restricted to, photocopying, recording or scanning, without the full prior written permission of the publisher.

COPYRIGHT © CHANGE 1992 - 1999
This revised edition published 1999
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED


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From the 'BluBoox' series

Reproduced by kind permission of CHANGE

Between 1992 and 1999 CHANGE published 'Change of Name' within a series of booklets each focusing on a specific topic.

Excepting TearS and Transsexual Syndrome, they formed a series called the 'BluBoox', named after the colour of their covers.

Contributors include Tanith, Christine, Corinne, Jemma, Michelle, Ann, and Kathleen (Editor).

After much illegal and sometimes blatant copying of the booklets throughout the support sector, CHANGE was deprived of enough income to severely dent it's operation and continuation would have meant higher membership charges which couldn't be tolerated.

All the information in these web versions of the booklets remains copyrighted by CHANGE, with all world wide rights reserved.