DandNHill

My cousin changed her first name from Suzanne to Elizabeth.... None of us could get used to calling her Elizabeth and eventually she went back to Suzanne! lol

bats

Elvis; it was tricky being called that at a girl's school as you can imagine.

It was never any bother in the UK, you can just change your name by usage but it's a pain in the arse here, all my credit cards and govt docs are in one name and personal stuff in another. it seems to create no end of problems.

Gozit

Yeah you got it. But on the UK side you don't need to "go official" unless a specific organisation requires it. With the UK side you just make your own deed poll and its free of charge (and works with UK passport applications)

See the gov.uk site I quoted before

DandNHill

I paid 50GBP to change my last name by deed poll so that my unborn child wouldn't have my ex husbands name on his birth certificate... then discovered I didn't need to and could have given him any name I wanted!!!

sunshinedust

I just sorted out my deed poll, cost me £10, with each additional copy an extra £1. I'm getting married in 5 weeks (!!!) but decided to get a deed poll as I want to get a passport in my new name quickly, without having to wait for my official marriage certificate to arrive.

If you want to have the deed poll enrolled at the Royal Courts of Justice its about £100 more.

Gozit

Weird innit how you could be Jane Cauchi but name your child Bob Jones, a name totally unrelated to you or your family.

Dashie

I did a legal name change, along with a deed poll change of my first name whilst my citizenship was in process. I'm not sure about the time scales in Alberta, but the name change here took a few months. You'll need to complete your citizenship in your current name, then send for a Proof of Citizenship and send the required documents and fees. My new certificate took several months. So if you wanted the Canadian passport for travel, you'd have to get it then apply for a new one later. If it were me, I'd just use the UK one until your citizenship was updated.

As for why someone would change their first name, why not?

Photoplex

Excellent advice - thanks Dashie. My UK passport expires next year which is screwing the timing up a bit. I could potentially be without any passport for a while!