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Practical UK name-change guide

Changing your name on a professional register

If you’re a nurse, doctor, teacher, solicitor or another registered professional, your regulator’s register is one of the most important records to get right. Employers and the public check it, and some regulators expect you to use your registered name on official paperwork.

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Checked against each regulator
Practical next steps
Sources linked below
Clear answers, with the source behind them

Practical guidance for your next name-change step. References are linked throughout and collected at the end.

Updated: 28 October 2026
On this pageQuick answerRegulator by regulatorTiming at workStep by stepKeeping a professional nameGender and privacyFAQs

The quick answer

Each regulator has its own process, and most run it through your online account: MyNMC, the GMC’s electronic change of name form, the HCPC’s online portal, mySRA, and the Department for Education’s Access your teaching qualifications service. You’ll usually upload a copy of your deed poll or marriage certificate rather than post an original. Update the register before, or at the same time as, you start using your new name at work, so checks against the register keep matching.

The practical details

How each regulator handles a change of name

RegulatorHow to change your nameEvidence it mentions
NMC: nurses, midwives and nursing associatesYour MyNMC account. Give your new name and title and upload a copy of an official document. You may be asked for a referee who is also on the register.A copy of your deed poll, marriage or civil partnership certificate, or other official documents. It must be readable.
GMC: doctors, physician associates and anaesthesia associatesThe electronic change of name form, sent back with scanned evidence from your registered email address.The form says what to send. The GMC gives a marriage certificate or old and new passports as examples.
HCPC: paramedics, physiotherapists and other HCPC professionsYour online account: My Details, Update Personal Details, then Name. It doesn’t accept name changes by email.Upload evidence such as a marriage certificate or deed poll.
GDC: dentists and dental care professionalsThe GDC’s Notification of change of name form.Check the current form for what to include.
SRA: solicitorsmySRA: edit your profile, update your name and upload a supporting document.A supporting document such as a marriage certificate, decree nisi or deed poll documentation.
Teachers in EnglandAccess your teaching qualifications, where you can change the name on your certificates.You submit proof of the change, which staff review before it’s approved.

Processes change, so follow the regulator’s live instructions. The links are collected at the end of this guide.

Your next step

Get the timing right at work

The register is what employers, patients and clients check, so a mismatch causes problems quickly. The GMC is a good example: doctors must use their full registered name when signing statutory documents, including prescriptions, and give their registered name and GMC reference number to anyone who asks. GMC: using your registered name and number

So update your regulator first, or at the same time as you tell HR. The HCPC asks that the name you submit is the same as your practising name, which is a useful rule of thumb everywhere. Our guide to changing your name with your employer covers payroll, ID badges and system accounts.

Step by step

A simple order to do it in

Sign your deed poll first.

It takes effect once it’s signed and witnessed, so that’s the date to give your regulator.

Scan or photograph it clearly.

Regulators want a readable copy. The NMC accepts PDF, GIF, PNG and JPG files.

Update the register through your regulator’s own route.

Use your online account or the regulator’s form, not a general email.

Check the public register.

Once it’s confirmed, search for yourself and check the spelling.

Tell everyone who relies on it.

Your employer, any agency you work through, your indemnity or insurance provider and your professional body or union. A membership body such as a royal college or a union is separate from your regulator and keeps its own records.

A new name doesn’t change an existing DBS certificate. Our guide to name changes on DBS checks explains what happens at your next check.

Ready to upload

Start with a prepared deed poll, scan it, and use the same document for your regulator, employer and everyone else.

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The practical details

If you want to keep your old name for work

Plenty of people keep the name they built their career under, especially after marriage. Regulators focus on the name you practise under: the HCPC asks that the name you submit matches your practising name, and the NMC says being registered under the name you practise in helps patients, the public and employers find the right record.

If you plan to keep a professional name while changing your name everywhere else, ask your regulator how it wants that recorded before you change anything. It’s much easier to agree it up front than to untangle a mismatch later.

The practical details

Changing your name and gender

Some regulators have a separate, more private route. The GMC, for example, asks doctors changing their name and gender status to email its registration team, who send a form saying what evidence to provide for the name change. It says you don’t need to provide any evidence of your change of gender status. GMC: updating your details

If you’re with another regulator, ask how it handles previous names and who can see them before you submit. Our trans name change guide covers the deed poll and everything else.

Your questions answered

Frequently asked questions

Not always. The NMC accepts a copy of a deed poll, a marriage or civil partnership certificate, or other official documents. If you’re not changing your name because of marriage or a civil partnership, a deed poll is the usual document.

No. Keeping your registration up to date is your job, through your regulator’s own process. Tell your employer as well.

Most of the regulators we checked ask you to upload a copy or a scan. Check the form, and don’t post your only original unless you’re asked to.

Most regulators don’t publish a fixed time, and the NMC gives a referee 28 days to confirm. Don’t leave it until the week you start using your new name.

This guide covers teachers in England. Teachers in Scotland register with the General Teaching Council for Scotland, in Wales with the Education Workforce Council and in Northern Ireland with the General Teaching Council for Northern Ireland, each with its own process.

Check the detail

Sources for this guide

Guidance and reference pages

Use the relevant organisation’s instructions when submitting your documents.

Continue your name change

Related guides

Changing your name with your employer and payroll

What HR needs, when payslips change and how to time it.

Name changes on DBS checks

Previous names on DBS checks, and when the confidential route applies.

Your complete name-change checklist

Every organisation to tell, in a sensible order.

Prepared for your next step

Your new name. Your deed poll, taken care of.

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