Legal Change of Name After Marriage (I'm UK, she is Polish)

Hello!

I was wondering if anybody knows much about name changes after marriage.

I am about to get married and my lovely future wife has not yet decided whether to change her name.

If she chooses to take my name how long before she has to change her Polish documents Id card, Passport ect?

I am British and she is Polish.

That'll do for now, any help would be appreciated!

As it is a bureaucratic matter, let her deal with that. Just let her use a computer.

Merged: How to change wife's name to female version in the UK

Hi everyone,

This is my first post and hopefully someone can help. I have researched this for some time but have not found any clear information.

I recently got married and my wife would like to change her name to use mine (Witkowski). Although we were both born in the UK and married in the UK we would like to change her name to use the female version of the surname (Witkowska).

When you marry in the UK the marriage certificate can act as proof of a change of name. The problem is that this only means her name has changed to Witkowski.

Has anyone experienced this and is there a way of registering her with the feminine version without using a change of name deed poll?
Also - if we have a daughter will we have to change their names by deed poll too?

Thank you for your help in advance, it is appreciated.

Al

You might be able to get the bank to change it to the female version with just a marriage certificate as bank staff are easily intimidated, but not sure about passports etc.

However, unless you're Polish and living in Poland, I don't get why this is something you need to do.

Why do you want it this way ?

You do need to do the deed poll thing, its really simple these days though.
But,again, really,nice idea,but,this is England,not Poland,you will just be causing needless confusion. But, if you are happy dealing with people being confused,crack on :)

Thanks for your advice and I'm all for intimidating bank staff where necessary!

It is looking like it will be a bit of a headache and is slightly annoying.
I realise it isn't necessary in the UK but it is important to her that she doesn;t use the male version (just a personal choice).

Then she should keep her maiden name if she doesn't want your name.

Sorry, I'm a bit "when in Rome" about this kind of thing. You're not in Poland.

That's an interesting point Mister H. Is that the consensus among other forum members?

Not that I am keen to speak on her behalf but I would say she does want my name but given that it is a Polish Male name she would like to use the female version.

I know we are not in Poland but wherever I am in the world I have a polish name so why would you not stick with the tradition?

I know it is a subjective matter but it would be interesting to hear other people's thoughts on this.

I can only give you my point of view and I appreciate what you say about wanting to "stick with tradition" but it's not traditional here and that's the point.

It's traditional in India for people to have their surname and first names the other way around on official things like bank cards. Should Indians / British Asians have the option to "stick with tradition" too ?

Where do we draw the line ?

Here, it's traditional for the woman to take her husband's surname after marriage and spell it the way he does. If you want to follow Polish traditions, then you will find it easier to do that in Poland.

I'm not trying to be nasty by the way :)

Go for it if you and she want to.
People sometimes have problems spelling both my surname and first name,one is irish one is Scandi, Id never consider changing the spelling just to be more helpfull but I do understand that some people will need telling twice,fair enough,should be no different swapping an *i* for an *a* really.

The post war *refugees* did so much to fit in that I cringe at the way some of their grandchildren now pronounce their names,these days ,with all the far more *exotic* names in the UK why shouldnt a Polish Lady stick to traditions and adapt her husbands name to suit her?

Well, some of us have had enough of "exotic" names here. It's not traditional in Poland for a married woman to change the spelling of her husband's name. Keeping her maiden name is one thing, even add a hyphen between the two if she really has too, but this business of "oh but in Poland it's TRADITION to spell it this way" just serves to wind people up and essentially say that UK traditions aren't good enough for them.

Spell your name what ever way you want that's what you do in a free country.

Her name