It’s one of the most popular ways to keep your own name after the wedding. Your marriage certificate won’t cover it, because the Passport Office treats a new middle name as a change of name. A deed poll does, and one deed poll can add the middle name and take your spouse’s surname at the same time.
You need a deed poll. HM Passport Office won’t accept a marriage or civil partnership certificate for moving your previous surname into your forenames, because it treats adding a forename, which includes a middle name, as a change of name. It asks for a change of name document such as a deed poll, plus evidence that you use the name.
One deed poll covers the whole change, so you can add your maiden name as a middle name and take your spouse’s surname in the same document. Ours is £14.95, prepared, checked and posted free.
The rule
Why your marriage certificate isn’t enough
HM Passport Office’s guidance says people who marry may use their previous surname as a new forename, but that it can’t accept the marriage or civil partnership certificate as evidence, because it treats adding a forename as a change of name. On a passport, middle names are part of your forenames, so adding one counts. HM Passport Office: change of name applications
A marriage certificate shows your surname before the wedding. It doesn’t show you adding a name, so it can’t explain a new middle name. A deed poll records your full old name and your full new name, which is exactly the link organisations need to see.
How you keep your maiden name
Example
What you need
As a middle name, with your spouse’s surname
Emma Louise Clark Price
A deed poll
As your only middle name
Emma Clark Price
A deed poll
Double-barrelled with your spouse’s surname
Emma Louise Clark-Price
Your marriage certificate, for your passport
Keep it as your surname
Emma Louise Clark
Nothing. You don’t have to change your name when you marry
Step by step
How to add your maiden name as a middle name
Choose your full new name
Decide on the order of your forenames, such as Emma Louise Clark, and the surname you’ll use.
Order one deed poll
Your old name is the name you use now, and your new name is the full name you want. If you haven’t changed anything since the wedding, your current name is still your maiden name.
Sign it in front of two witnesses
Sign in your old name and your new name, with two adult witnesses who aren’t close relatives and don’t live with you.
Update your licence and passport
Send your deed poll to the DVLA, then to the Passport Office with evidence that you use your new name. Your deed poll covers the whole change.
Examples
What goes on your deed poll
Where you are now
Old name on the deed poll
New name on the deed poll
Just married, nothing changed yet
Emma Louise Clark
Emma Louise Clark Price
Already using your married name
Emma Louise Price
Emma Louise Clark Price
Swapping your middle name for your maiden name
Emma Louise Price
Emma Clark Price
Your deed poll always runs from the name you use now to the name you want. If you’ve already updated your passport to your married name, that’s your old name.
Keep your name and take theirs
One deed poll for your whole new name. Order by 6pm, Monday to Friday, and we process it the same day.
Passport. Send your deed poll with evidence that you use your new name, such as a payslip or a letter from your council. A driving licence issued after your deed poll counts too. GOV.UK: other name changes on a passport
Long names. A passport fits 30 characters, including spaces, for all your forenames. If adding your maiden name takes you over, the Passport Office may shorten extra forenames to initials and note your full name in the passport. Our guide to the rules on new names explains. HM Passport Office: names that cannot be used in passports
Worth knowing
Good to know
Husbands can do it too. HM Passport Office takes the same approach for husbands, wives and civil partners. Our guide to a husband taking his wife’s surname has more.
Your name at work. With your maiden name in your full legal name, it stays on your passport and your records. Our guide to professional registers covers what to tell your regulator.
Everyone else updates from your deed poll too. Extra copies, each signed and witnessed like the original, let you send them out at the same time. See how many copies you need.
Your questions answered
Frequently asked questions
Yes. HM Passport Office won’t accept a marriage certificate for it, because it treats adding a forename, including a middle name, as a change of name. A deed poll covers it.
Yes. One deed poll can do both, going from your current name to your full new name.
The name you use now. If you haven’t changed anything since the wedding, that’s still your maiden name. If you’ve already updated your passport to your married name, use that.
Yes. A deed poll can change, add or remove middle names, so you can swap your current middle name for your maiden name.
A double-barrelled surname, such as Clark-Price, keeps both names, and GOV.UK says your marriage certificate covers that for your passport. Keeping your maiden name as a middle name needs a deed poll.
Yes. The same rules apply to husbands, wives and civil partners.
Check the detail
Sources for this guide
Guidance and reference pages
The official rules this guide is based on, checked in October 2026.