Closed petition Allow over-11s to change their name by deed poll without parental consent

Closed on 21 December 2022

The Government should allow young people over 11 years old to change their name by deed poll, to ensure schools are required to use students’ chosen names on their registers. Allowing this to happen without parental consent should help children with unsupportive parents to still feel welcome.

Many teenagers are discovering and exploring their identity and discover that the name they were given at birth no longer truly represents them. How can it be fair that these students must be constantly called their "dead" name, just because their parents may be homophobic or unsupportive of them? Doing this would help all students to feel welcome by making it so they can freely change their name.