How to change your name in the United States
The order of operations, what each step costs, and how long it takes. Works the same whether your name changed by marriage, by a decree, or by a court order you already hold.
Changing your name in the US is one legal event followed by about forty notifications.
The legal part has already happened if you hold a marriage certificate, a decree that restores a former name, or a signed court order.
Start with Social Security. It is free, it uses form SS-5, and every other agency checks your name against its record.
Then your state driver license, where the fee is set by your state.
Then your passport, then the IRS and your voter registration, then every bank, employer, insurer and utility you deal with.
Nobody tells anybody else. Each one is a separate job and the order matters more than the speed.
The order that works, and why it is not negotiable
Do Social Security first — it’s the record most agencies check against, so getting it done first is what keeps the rest in step. A few states require it outright and say so on their own page.
That single dependency is why almost every failed name change is a sequencing failure rather than a paperwork failure. Someone goes to the license counter two days after their document arrives, the clerk queries the Social Security record, and they lose the morning.
The same logic runs downstream. Most banks want photo ID in the new name, so the bank cannot be done before the license. Your employer needs the new name before the W-2 is issued, or the form that reaches the IRS will not match the return you file.
- Certified copy of your document — before anything else can start.
- Social Security, form SS-5, free. Wait a day or two for the record to propagate.
- Driver license or state ID at your state agency.
- Passport, on whichever of the three forms applies to your dates.
- Vehicle title and registration, usually at the same counter as the license.
- Voter registration, which is free in every state that registers voters.
- Banks and credit cards, once you hold ID in the new name.
- Employer, payroll and HR — usually two separate updates.
- Insurers, utilities, subscriptions, loyalty programs and your credit file.
What the whole thing costs
Social Security is free and always has been. Voter registration is free in every state that registers voters. There is no IRS name-change form for an individual, so that is free too.
The costs that are real are the certified copies, the state license fee, and the passport — and the passport is the largest single item unless you qualify for the free form.
When you need a court instead
Everything above assumes something has already authorized your new name: a marriage, a decree that restores a former name, or an order a judge has already signed.
If none of those has happened, the first step is a petition to a court in the county where you live. That is a different process, it is not one we handle, and we publish no guidance on succeeding at one.
Questions people ask
- What is the first step in changing your name?
- Getting a certified copy of the document that authorized the change, then submitting form SS-5 to Social Security. Social Security is free and every other agency checks against its record.
- How long does a name change take?
- The Social Security card usually arrives within about two weeks, and the record itself updates in a day or two. A state license is typically issued at the counter as a temporary document with the card following in one to three weeks. Passport processing takes several weeks.
- Does my Social Security number change?
- No. Your number stays the same for life and your earnings record follows the number rather than the name.
- Do I have to notify the Post Office?
- No. The Postal Service delivers to an address rather than to a name, so there is nothing to file.
Requirements by stateThe full checklistWhat it costsCertified copies
Everything above is free. Doing all of it is the work.
You can do all of this yourself with the links on this page — every underlying form is free. What we sell is the evening back: the official forms filled in from your answers, the steps in the order that works, and a written letter for every bank, employer and insurer you have to tell.
Two questions about your situation first, because there is one answer that means we can’t help — and we would rather tell you that before you pay than after.
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