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Combined and blended surnames

Combining surnames when you marry

Joining your surnames is a lovely way to start married life, and the rules depend on how you do it. A straightforward double-barrel works with your marriage certificate for a passport. Merge the names into one word or blend them into something new, and you’ll each need a deed poll.

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Double-barrelled, merged or blended
From the Passport Office’s own rules
One deed poll each, £14.95
Straight from the Passport Office’s own rules

Checked against GOV.UK and HM Passport Office’s change of name guidance. Sources are listed at the end.

Updated: 30 October 2026
On this pageQuick answerWhich names workBlended namesTimingBanks and workChildrenFAQs

The quick answer

If you join your two surnames with a hyphen or a space and keep both spellings, such as Taylor-Moss or Taylor Moss, GOV.UK says your marriage or civil partnership certificate covers it for your passport. Merge them into one word, such as Taylormoss, or blend them into a new name, such as Tayloss, and HM Passport Office won’t accept the certificate. It asks for a change of name deed instead.

Each person changing their name needs their own deed poll, so a couple both taking a blended name needs two. Ours are £14.95 each, prepared, checked and posted free.

Your options

Which combined surnames your certificate covers

GOV.UK says to send your marriage or civil partnership certificate when you apply for a passport in your new name, and that this includes double-barrelled names. HM Passport Office’s guidance defines a double-barrelled surname as 2 existing surnames joined with a space or a hyphen, with the spelling unchanged. GOV.UK: passport name change after marriage

Your new surnameExampleWhat you need
Your spouse’s surnameTaylor becomes MossYour marriage or civil partnership certificate
Double-barrelled with a hyphenTaylor-MossYour certificate, for your passport
Double-barrelled with a spaceTaylor MossYour certificate, for your passport
Part of your spouse’s surnameTaylor marries a Moss Garcia and becomes MossYour certificate
Both names merged into one wordTaylormossA deed poll
A blend of both namesTaylossA deed poll
A brand new surnameRiversA deed poll

For a merged name, HM Passport Office says it can’t accept the change without more evidence, such as a change of name deed, plus proof that you use the name. A deed poll is a change of name deed. HM Passport Office: change of name applications

Meshed and blended names

Blended and merged names need a deed poll

A blended name, sometimes called a meshed name, takes letters from both surnames to make a new one. It isn’t a double-barrel, so your marriage certificate doesn’t explain it. A deed poll does: it records your old name, your new name and your declaration that you’ve adopted the new one for all purposes.

Each person changing their name needs their own deed poll. If you’re both becoming Tayloss, that’s two deed polls, each signed in front of two witnesses. You can sign them on the same day with the same two witnesses, as long as neither of you witnesses the other’s.

When to do it

Before or after the wedding?

A double-barrel that relies on your marriage certificate starts after the ceremony, though the Passport Office can issue a passport in your new name up to 3 months before it. Our guide to your passport before the wedding explains how.

With a deed poll, you choose the date. Sign it the week after the wedding, on the day itself, or before if you’d like to be in your new name sooner. Whatever you do, book travel in the name on the passport you’ll travel with, because GOV.UK says the two must match. GOV.UK: passport name change after marriage

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Beyond the passport

Banks, work and everyone else

The Passport Office’s rules don’t bind anyone else. Many organisations follow its lead on a double-barrel, but banks and others set their own rules. If one won’t accept your certificate, a deed poll settles it, because it states your new name in full.

For a blended or merged name, your deed poll is the document you’ll send everyone. Extra copies, each signed and witnessed like the original, let you update your passport, licence, bank and employer at the same time. Our guide to how many copies you need helps you choose, and our bank by bank guide shows what each bank asks for.

Your family

Giving your children the new surname

Your new surname doesn’t change your children’s names automatically. To change a child’s surname, everyone with parental responsibility needs to agree, and it’s usually done with a child’s deed poll. Our child name change guide explains how.

Having a baby after the wedding? You choose the surname when you register the birth.

Your questions answered

Frequently asked questions

Not for your passport. GOV.UK says your marriage or civil partnership certificate covers a double-barrelled name that joins both existing surnames with a hyphen or a space. Other organisations set their own rules, and a deed poll settles it if one won’t accept your certificate.

Yes, with a deed poll. HM Passport Office says a surname merged into one word isn’t a double-barrel, so it won’t accept your marriage certificate for it and asks for a change of name deed instead.

Yes, if you’re both changing to a blended or merged name. Each person changing their name needs their own deed poll.

It’s best not to. GOV.UK warns that some organisations won’t accept a witness who lives at your address or is a close relative. Ask two friends, neighbours or colleagues to witness both.

Not legally, so either can go first. Choose carefully, because the order you use on your passport application or deed poll is the one you’ll use everywhere.

Yes. HM Passport Office applies the same approach to either partner, so a husband can take a double-barrelled name with the marriage certificate, or a blended one with a deed poll.

Check the detail

Sources for this guide

Guidance and reference pages

The official rules this guide is based on, checked in October 2026.

Continue your name change

Related guides

Double-barrelled surnames

Hyphens, order and what to tell everyone.

Keeping your maiden name as a middle name

Why it needs a deed poll, and how to do it.

Can a husband take his wife’s surname?

Yes, and here’s how it works.

Ready when you are

Two surnames. One new name.

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