Name change in real life!

That firm I linked to goes on to say that they have only a couple of clients who bothered to register the deed poll with the Court.

"In England and Wales, a Deed Poll may voluntarily be registered in the Central Office of the High Court. This means that the name change would also be advertised in the London Gazette. Registration of Deed Poll paperwork is regulated by the Enrolment of Deeds (Change of Name) Regulations 1994, Statutory Instrument 1994 No. 604.

However, it is absolutely not a legal requirement. We have only ever had a couple of clients who have opted to enrol their Deed Poll."

It sounds as though it is best to get some extra copies of the deed poll for sending to passport office, banks etc. Unless you want to risk sending the original one

I changed back to my maiden name in 1991, I did it using a solicitor while getting a divorce, it wasn't deed poll I just had it witnessed, I have never had any problems or any regrets

I felt so much freedom when I changed my name. It was like I'd stopped being his property or an extension of him and become a person in my own right again.

I did the same when I left my first husband. I didn't want him and I didn't want his name either!

I had a wondrous time when applying for New Zealand residency which depended on a close family link. At birth absentdaughter was registered as GB, while I still had double identities as LD and LB. When she was about ten I divorced her father and reverted to LD all the time. She went off to New Zealand and got married, becoming GK. Later she divorced her husband and legally changed her first name to EK. Then she married again to become ER (not royal). To convince the immigration authorities that we had a close family tie –from LD to EK – took quite a lot of bits of paper.