Surname on documentation does not match that of passport

Alwyn

Registered User
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My wife and I had our eldest child out of wedlock in the 60's. We married three months after the birth of our son.

He held my wifes' surname for the first three months of his life and when we got married we got it changed to mine.

The other day my son happened to mention in conversation that he applied for social welfare. When he received a letter back from them it was addressed to him with my wifes' surname. He said that most corrospondence with his PPS number on it; that he has received over his life has had his mothers maiden name on it. He said he gave up trying to tell them that this was not his surname. He just laughed it off.

I on the other hand think it maybe a bit more serious as he is hoping to emigrate next year. Surely another country would ask questions.

How can this be rectified if nobody is taking it seriously?
 
For what it's worth:

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/e...ionships/changing_your_name_by_deed_poll.html

How you earn your name is by use and repute. Effectively this means for most purposes, if someone wants to be known by their married name (or any other), then they just use this name and ask people to call them by it.
However in practice your name does generally have to match official documentation when it comes to stuff like financial and other institution id checks, passports etc.

Not sure how this might impact emigration and (presumably?) the use of documentation with different names abroad.

How can this be rectified if nobody is taking it seriously?
Why are you worrying about it if nobody else is? By the sounds of it he's a grown adult so leave it to him maybe?
 
Hi Clubman, you are right but me being a worryer and watching too many television programmes, I had visions of him being detained!
 
If he does emigrate, he should investigate the rules and regs of the country he is moving to and make sure he has any documentation necessary.

But, there are plenty of people who were formally or informally adopted by a step-father and who therefore have a different surname than on their passport.

It must be very common.
 
The reason that any documentation with his PPS number is using his mother's surname rather than the surname he commonly uses is because the data recorded is taken from his birth certificate which probably only had his mother's name on it at the time.
 
Passports will normally be issued to the name on the birth cert. You can apply to have it issued to a different name or get a page inserted to state that you are commonly known by a different name to that on the passport itself.

For passport application, see this from Citizen's Information:
If the version of the name to be entered on the passport differs from the version of the name on the birth certificate, you must provide evidence of usage for at least two years, e.g. bank statement, driving licence, credit cards, etc. At least two examples of such evidence should be enclosed with your application.
Leo
 
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