Changing your name in Mississippi
Changing your name in Mississippi runs through Mississippi Driver Service Bureau. 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 Mississippi driver license or state ID you apply through Mississippi Driver Service Bureau.
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.
Mississippi does not publish a single figure for this, so we have not printed one.
Check whether your office requires an appointment before you travel.
What Mississippi Driver Service Bureau 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 | Mississippi Driver Service Bureau | Mississippi Driver Service Bureau — name change | |
| Form | CRED01b — Application for Mississippi Driver License/ID | Form CRED01b | |
| Fee | Mississippi publishes a fee schedule but no name-change line on it. Ask at the station which fee applies. | Fee schedule | |
| Deadline | Mississippi publishes no statutory deadline. | Mississippi Driver Service Bureau — name change | |
| In person? | Varies by office. | Mississippi Driver Service Bureau — name change |
What to bring to the Mississippi counter
- A marriage license, a divorce decree, an adoption order, or a court order — original only, and Mississippi accepts no other document type
- Proof of your Social Security number: your Social Security card, or official government correspondence showing all nine digits (a returned W-2 or 1099, a pay stub carrying the full number, a DD-214 or an NGB-22)
- Proof of date of birth: an original or certified birth certificate carrying a state seal and a certificate number, a Certificate of Naturalization, or a Certificate of Citizenship — photocopies are refused
- Two proofs of Mississippi residency showing your name and a street address
Source: Mississippi Driver Service Bureau · checked
The sequence that works in Mississippi
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 Mississippi Driver Service Bureau 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 Mississippi
- Mississippi publishes a short, closed list and nothing else. The Driver Service Bureau states it will accept only the four documents below — so an amended birth certificate or a passport in the new name, which several states take, will not do here.
- Only originals are accepted. The application form says so in its own header: "ALL NAME CHANGES ON LICENSE MUST BE SUPPORTED BY APPROPRIATE DOCUMENTS SUCH AS MARRIAGE LICENSE, ADOPTION PAPERS, DIVORCE DECREE, OR COURT ORDER; ONLY ORIGINALS ARE ACCEPTABLE."
- A name change is a full application, not a duplicate. The Bureau’s shorter Duplicate/Renewal form carries the sentence "Name Updates Require a New Application" beside its own name row.
- Mississippi is the one state that says your Social Security card need not already carry the new name: "The social security card does not have to contain the new name upon initial transaction, however, the applicant is strongly encouraged to update their social security card prior to renewing." Do Social Security first anyway — every other agency downstream checks against it — but a card still in your old name is not a reason to put this visit off.
- Bring two proofs of Mississippi residency. Mississippi requires them of every applicant, they must show your name and a Mississippi street address, and it will not take a P.O. box, an envelope, or anything handwritten.
- The Bureau does not publish a deadline or an office-visit rule for a name change. Ring ahead rather than assuming the general license rules apply.
Source: Mississippi Driver Service Bureau · checked
There’s an official form behind this in Mississippi, 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 Mississippi
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 Mississippi says its marriage records are maintained by state and county officials together. Records from July 1938 to December 1941 were kept only by county Circuit Court clerks, which shows how the split works in practice. | Mississippi State Department of Health Office of Vital Records, or the county Circuit Clerk | |
| Cost of a copy | $17.00 Ordering by phone or online adds a vendor fee on top of the $17 base. | Mississippi State Department of Health Office of Vital Records, or the county Circuit Clerk | |
| Decree or court order | Chancery Court, via the chancery clerk Mississippi's Chancery Courts have jurisdiction over divorce and name changes. A certified copy of a decree comes from the chancery clerk in the county where the divorce was granted. | Mississippi 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 Mississippi 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 Mississippi Driver Service Bureau.
- In Mississippi, a certified marriage certificate comes from either the state vital records office or the county that issued your marriage license — Mississippi State Department of Health Office of Vital Records, or the county Circuit Clerk.
- The Mississippi state office charges $17.00 for one certified copy.
- Mississippi says its marriage records are maintained by state and county officials together. Records from July 1938 to December 1941 were kept only by county Circuit Court clerks, which shows how the split works in practice.
Changing your name after divorce
Take your divorce decree to Mississippi Driver Service Bureau.
- 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 Mississippi Driver Service Bureau.
- 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 Mississippi page, the link goes there. Where it does not, it goes to the guide for that path, which holds in every state.
Mississippi name change questions
- Do I have to change my name at Social Security before the Mississippi 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 Mississippi name change cost?
- Mississippi does not publish a single figure we could verify, so we have not printed one. The agency's own fee page is linked above.
- 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 Mississippi 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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