Changing Your Name

Changing your name once you’re married is one of the more contentious wedding/marriage-related topics out there. Personally I say do whatever works best for you though I will admit that I do cringe at hyphenated names that are twenty-odd characters long.

While many brides do choose to keep their maiden names (I’ll be keeping mine for work purposes though going with Shawn’s for social purposes because I think it’s just easier that way) there are still plenty of women (and some men) out there who do change them.

If you’re one of those women, you need to first decide if you want to elect to change your name or if you just want to assume your partner’s name. According to the Ontario government, most people go with the later action. It’s free, requires no forms and allows you to easily revert to your maiden name.

If you want to change your name on your identification, credit cards, etc., to match your partner’s, you then need to apply to update the cards in question and use your marriage license as proof of your new name. More details on assuming a name can be found here.

Electing to change your name is more extensive process that does involve forms and takes about six-eight weeks. It’s free if done in the first 90 days following a wedding, and then after that it costs $25. Details on this type of change live here.

There’s also the formal name change, where you actually change your name on your birth certificate. It costs $137, takes six-eight weeks and will involve contacting whatever province/territory you were born in. if you want to go this route, you’ll want to read this page.

If you want to change your name on your driver’s license and health care card, you’re going to need to pay a visit to Service Ontario. You can use this page here to find the one closest to you.

Info on changing your name on your passport can be found here (guess what, you get to re-apply and re-pay) while Revenue Canada has some name change info over here.

Make sure to also contact your bank as well as your work’s HR department if you’re changing your name on your driver’s license. The only thing that sucks more than being denied a Visa transaction because you don’t have matching photo ID is to miss a pay deposit because of some weird name mix up.