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Professional names

Stage names and pen names

You can perform, write or create under any name you like without changing your legal name. But your passport, bank account and contracts stay in your real name, so you end up juggling two. If your stage name or pen name has become the name you live by, a deed poll makes it your legal name for £14.95.

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Use any name for your work
“Also known as” on your passport
Make it legal with a deed poll
Stage names, pen names and the law

Checked against HM Passport Office’s caseworker guidance, Spotlight’s performer name guidelines and HMRC. Sources are listed at the end.

Updated: 30 October 2026
On this pageQuick answerWithout a deed pollOn your passportLiving with two namesMaking it legalFAQs

The quick answer

You don’t need a deed poll to use a stage name or pen name. Performers, writers and creators work under names that aren’t their legal ones all the time, and Spotlight, the casting directory, says your stage name can be different from your legal name.

The catch is that everything official stays in your legal name: your passport, bank account, payslips and contracts. HM Passport Office can add an “also known as” note to your passport if you send evidence, but it still issues the passport in your real name. If the stage name is the name you live by, a deed poll makes it your legal name. Ours is £14.95, posted free.

The easy option

Using a stage name or pen name without a deed poll

Nothing stops you working under another name, as long as you’re not using it to deceive anyone. Actors, musicians, writers, drag artists, wrestlers and influencers do it every day.

Spotlight says it’s very important to have a unique professional name, and that neither Spotlight nor Equity will accept a name that’s similar to an existing one, even if it isn’t identical. That’s a big reason actors pick a stage name in the first place. Spotlight: performer name guidelines

Our pages on famous pen names and one-name celebrities show how common it is.

Your passport

Putting your stage name on your passport

HM Passport Office can add an observation to your passport saying you’re also known by your stage, professional or religious name, if you send relevant evidence such as an employment contract. The passport itself is still issued in your real name. HM Passport Office: how to show uncommon names in passports

That helps when you travel for work, but your tickets still have to be booked in the name on your passport, which is your legal one.

Want your stage name as the main name on your passport? It has to become your legal name first, and that’s what a deed poll does.

In practice

Where two names get awkward

Money

Getting paid

Your bank account is in your legal name, so clients, venues and publishers need that name to pay you.

Tax

Tax and payroll

HMRC tells employers to use your first full forename, not nicknames or familiar names, so payslips stay in your legal name. HMRC: RTI data item guide

Contracts

Contracts

Agents, labels and publishers put your legal name on the contract, even when the work goes out under your stage name or pen name.

Travel

Travel and ID

Tickets, visas and hotel check-ins all work from your passport, which shows your legal name.

Make your stage name official

Get paid, sign and travel in the name you’re known by. Same-day processing when you order by 6pm, Monday to Friday, and free tracked delivery.

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Your questions answered

Frequently asked questions

No. You can perform or work under any name without changing your legal name. You only need a deed poll if you want the stage name on your passport, bank account and other official records.

Yes. Writers publish under pen names all the time. Your publisher will still need your legal name for the contract and to pay you.

HM Passport Office can add an observation that you’re also known by your stage or professional name, if you send evidence such as an employment contract. The passport stays in your legal name.

Your bank account and tax records are in your legal name, so clients and employers need that name to pay you. A deed poll lets you use one name for both.

You can perform under one word, but a single legal name is awkward, and our deed poll needs a first name and a surname. Most performers keep two names on paper.

No. Work you did under your old name stays yours. Keep your deed poll so you can show the link between your names if anyone asks.

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

Can I have just one name?

How one-name passports work.

Celebrities who legally changed their names

Performers who made it official.

What names are allowed?

The rules for a new name in the UK.

Ready when you are

One name, on stage and on paper.

A deed poll for your professional name, prepared from your details, checked by a person and posted free. £14.95, all in.

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