How Much Does It Cost to Change Your Name?

Whether you're getting married, getting divorced, transitioning or just never liked the name on your birth certificate, the first question is usually the same: how much does it cost to change your name?

The answer ranges from free to several hundred dollars, depending on where you live and why you're doing it. Taking a spouse's last name after marriage is often free. A full legal name change through a court or a government registry usually isn't. And the official fee is only part of the cost to change your name, because updating your ID afterwards adds up too.

Here's what it costs in Canada, the US, the UK and Australia.

Changing Your Name After Marriage Is Often Free

Most places treat taking a spouse's surname as a special case. Instead of a formal application, you use your marriage certificate as proof when you update your records.

In the UK, you don't need a deed poll to take your spouse's or civil partner's surname. Sending a copy of the certificate to your bank, the DVLA and others is usually enough, and most will update you for free. In Australia, if you married in Australia and are taking your spouse's surname, the official marriage certificate from the registry is generally all you need. In the US, the marriage certificate is typically what you use to update Social Security, your licence and your passport. In Canada, the rules vary by province, and Ontario has its own simpler process for formally taking a spouse's surname.

The exceptions are where people get caught. A hyphenated or blended surname, a new first or middle name, or a marriage that took place overseas often needs the full process and the full fee.

Cost to Change Your Name in Canada

Name changes are handled provincially. In Ontario, an adult name change application through ServiceOntario costs $137. If you were born in Ontario, you'll get a new birth certificate in your new name.

Most Ontario name changes are published in the online Ontario Gazette. There are exceptions, including for transgender, First Nations, Inuit and Métis applicants who ask not to be published, and for people the Attorney General agrees could be harmed by publication. Ontario also doesn't charge residential school survivors and their families who are reclaiming a traditional Indigenous name.

Other provinces set their own fees and rules, so check with your provincial vital statistics office.

Cost to Change Your Name in the US

In the US, most adult name changes go through a state court, and the filing fee is usually the biggest single cost. It varies by state and sometimes by county.

California sits at the expensive end. The filing fee for an adult name change petition is $435, and in most cases you also have to publish a notice in a local newspaper once a week for four weeks in a row, which you pay the newspaper for separately. You can apply for a fee waiver if you can't afford the court fee, but it doesn't cover the newspaper.

Many states charge less, and some don't require publication at all. Your county court's website will list the current fee.

Name Change Costs in the UK

The UK can be the cheapest of the four. In England and Wales, you change your name with a deed poll, and you've got options.

An unenrolled deed poll is free. You write your own using set wording and have it witnessed, though some organisations may be fussier about accepting it. An enrolled deed poll costs £42.44 and puts your new name on public record through the Royal Courts of Justice. Private deed poll services charge their own fees, often similar to or lower than enrolling.

Scotland has a different system, so the steps and costs there aren't the same.

Name Change Costs in Australia

In Australia, you apply to the Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages in the state or territory where your birth was registered. In New South Wales, the fee was $195 in 2025, covering registration and one standard certificate. Other states set their own fees, which usually change every July.

NSW also asks for a written reason for the change and consent to a police check, and limits how often you can do it: once in any 12-month period, and three times in your lifetime.

The Hidden Costs Nobody Mentions

The application fee is just the beginning. Once your name is legally changed, you'll need to update everything else, and some of that costs money:

• Passport: you'll generally need a new one at the standard passport fee.
• Driver's licence: some places charge for a replacement card.
• Birth certificate: a new or amended certificate can cost extra in some places.
• Newspaper notices, in US states that still require publication.
• Certified copies of your certificate or court order, since banks and agencies often want an official copy.
• A lawyer, if you choose to use one. Most straightforward adult name changes don't need one.

On the bright side, banks, employers and utilities normally update your name for free, and so do many government records.

How to Keep Costs Down

Check whether you qualify for the marriage route before paying for a full legal change. If money is tight, ask about fee waivers, which most US courts offer. Use official government forms instead of a paid service unless you genuinely need the help. Order a few certified copies at once, which is usually cheaper than going back later. And if your passport is due for renewal soon anyway, time your name change around it.

Add it all up and the total cost to change your name can be close to nothing or several hundred dollars. The biggest factors are where you live, why you're changing it, and how many documents you need to update afterwards.

This article is for general information only and isn't legal advice. Fees change regularly, so confirm current costs with your provincial, state or national registry, or your local court, before you apply.