Changing your name in Connecticut
Changing your name in Connecticut runs through Connecticut DMV. The table below is what the agency itself publishes — what it charges, what it wants to see, and whether you have to turn up in person — with the date we last checked each one. Social Security comes first, before any of it — it is the record most licensing agencies check your new name against, so doing it first is what keeps the counter visit to one trip.
To change your name on a Connecticut driver license or state ID you apply through Connecticut DMV.
Update Social Security first — it is the record most licensing agencies check your new name against, and several states require the update before they will issue.
Connecticut charges $30.00.
You have to go in person — the counter takes a new photograph.
What Connecticut DMV requires
Read off the agency’s own pages. The date beside each row is the day we last checked it — a government fee with no date on it is worth very little.
| What | Value | Source | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|
| Agency | Connecticut DMV | Connecticut DMV — name change | |
| Form | E-78 — Change of Name or Name Correction Request | Form E-78 | |
| Fee | $30.00 Name change on a driver license or non-driver ID card $30. A DMV Express location — AAA offices and some credit unions — may add a convenience fee of up to $8 on top. | Connecticut DMV — name change | |
| Deadline | Connecticut publishes no statutory deadline. | Connecticut DMV — name change | |
| In person? | Required | Connecticut DMV — name change |
What to bring to the Connecticut counter
- A completed Change of Name Request (form E-78)
- Your current driver’s license or non-driver ID card
- Certified documentation of the change — marriage license, civil union certificate, divorce decree, or probate court documents
Source: Connecticut DMV · checked
The sequence that works in Connecticut
Almost every failed name change is a sequencing failure — somebody at the counter before the records caught up.
- 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.
- Apply at Connecticut DMV once Social Security has updated, which usually takes a day or two.
- Update your passport. Which form applies depends on when yours was issued.
- Update your vehicle title and registration, usually at the same counter.
- Update your voter registration, then your bank, employer, insurers and utilities.
What catches people out in Connecticut
- Book an appointment. Connecticut’s own words: name updates to your driver’s license or non-driver ID are provided by appointment only, at a DMV hub office or a DMV Express office. There is no walk-in route.
- You hand your current license or ID over at the counter and leave with a Temporary Paper Card; the new card follows by mail.
- Social Security first, and allow up to 48 hours — Connecticut will not process the change until the SSA record has updated.
- Order matters for a second reason here: E-78 states that the name must be changed on the license or ID before it can be changed on your vehicle registration. Doing the registration first is not possible.
- Photocopies are refused, and so are religious marriage certificates — Connecticut names them specifically.
- E-78 is a sworn statement. You are certifying under CGS §§14-110 and 53a-157b that the change is not for a fraudulent or wrongful purpose, so read what you sign.
Source: Connecticut DMV · checked
There’s an official form behind this in Connecticut, and it’s one of the ones our kit fills in from your answers rather than handing you blank.
Where your document comes from in Connecticut
Every agency in the sequence wants the original or a certified copy. Where you get one depends on which document you hold, and it is one of the few things that genuinely differs from state to state.
| What | Value | Source | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|
| Marriage certificate | From either the state vital records office or the county that issued your marriage license A Connecticut marriage license is filed with the vital records office of the town where the marriage took place. A certified copy can be obtained from that town or from the state office, at the same price. | Connecticut Department of Public Health, State Vital Records Office, or your town vital records office | |
| Cost of a copy | $20.00 The same $20 fee applies whether you order from the town where the marriage happened or from the state office. | Connecticut Department of Public Health, State Vital Records Office, or your town vital records office | |
| Decree or court order | Superior Court, via the clerk of the superior court Connecticut's Superior Court is the state's only trial court and it handles family matters. A certified copy of a dissolution judgment comes from the clerk's office of the judicial district where the case was filed. | Connecticut courts |
If you married or divorced in a different state, order from that state rather than this one. The record sits where the event was filed, not where you live now.
Whichever way your name changed
The Connecticut paperwork is the same three steps whatever authorized the change. What differs is which document you take to the counter.
Changing your name after marriage
Take your marriage certificate to Connecticut DMV.
- In Connecticut, a certified marriage certificate comes from either the state vital records office or the county that issued your marriage license — Connecticut Department of Public Health, State Vital Records Office, or your town vital records office.
- The Connecticut state office charges $20.00 for one certified copy.
- A Connecticut marriage license is filed with the vital records office of the town where the marriage took place. A certified copy can be obtained from that town or from the state office, at the same price.
Changing your name after divorce
Take your divorce decree to Connecticut DMV.
- A divorce decree only changes your name if it contains a clause naming a former name and restoring it to you. Ending the marriage does not do it on its own.
- If your decree has no restoration clause, a counter clerk will refuse it, and the route back to a former name is a court petition instead.
- Agencies usually want the complete decree rather than the page carrying the clause, because the caption and the judge’s signature are on other pages.
Changing your name with a court order
Take your signed court order to Connecticut DMV.
- The copy that agencies accept is the one signed by the judge and stamped or sealed by the clerk. An unsigned conformed copy is refused.
- Agencies accept a signed court order on its own — none of them asks for a marriage or divorce document alongside it.
- The reason a court granted the order does not change the paperwork that follows it. Every agency downstream asks only to see the order.
Where a path has its own Connecticut page, the link goes there. Where it does not, it goes to the guide for that path, which holds in every state.
Updating your Connecticut voter registration
Free, and the one people assume happens automatically at the DMV.
| What | Value | Source | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|
| Change it online? | Connecticut does not say. | Connecticut Secretary of the State | |
| Does the DMV do it for you? | Connecticut does not say. Check rather than assume. | Connecticut Secretary of the State | |
| Registration closes | 18 days before That figure applies by mail or online; same-day registration is separately available during early voting and on election day. | Connecticut Secretary of the State |
Connecticut's mail-in and online registration cut-off is 18 days before an election or primary. Same-day registration is separately available during early voting and on election day.
Connecticut name change questions
- Do I have to change my name at Social Security before the Connecticut DMV?
- 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.
- How much does a Connecticut name change cost?
- Connecticut charges $30.00. Name change on a driver license or non-driver ID card $30. A DMV Express location — AAA offices and some credit unions — may add a convenience fee of up to $8 on top.
- Is a photocopy of my document enough?
- No. Every agency wants the original or a certified copy, and several refuse a certified copy that has been laminated.
Everything above is free. The rest of the list 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 Connecticut 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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