There are many reasons to why people would want a change of name, this includes marriage, divorce, correction, adoption, personal preference and also for professional reasons.
The requirements for a name change differs from country to country and I’m going to take you on a walkthrough on how you can legally change your name in Nigeria.
Requirements For Change Of Name In Nigeria
Age
A person under the age of 18 cannot change their name in Nigeria without the consent of their parents or legal guardian while a person who is up to 18 can change their name without the consent of an adult.
Financial And Debt Status
Before you’ll be eligible to change your name, you must make sure that you are not owning any loan or you mustn’t be going through a financial trial. Changing your name because you want to escape from debt is not allowed and your application will be declined.
Citizenship
To be eligible for a change of name, you must be a citizen of Nigeria.
Foreigners cannot change their name in Nigeria unless they get a Nigerian citizenship. This can be gotten through naturalization.
New Name
Your new name must not be discriminatory to a particular people, race, tribe and ethnicity.
Your name must not support a type of crime and should be a name with good meaning.
Reasons For Change Of Name
Your reasons for change of name must be legal. These are the reasons usually acceptable for a name change.
- Adoption; if a child is adopted, the last name of the child can be changed to that of his/her new parents.
- Marriage; a married person can decide to change their name to that of their spouse, this is to proof that they are in unison.
- Divorce; after getting a name change because of marriage, when a disagreement arise that led to divorce, you can legally change to your former name.
- Religious reasons; you can change your name if you forfeited an old religion and want to be identified by your new found faith.
- Personal preferences; you can change your name because of preferences. For example, an American rapper Kanye West changed his name to “Ye” in 2021 due to personal preference.
Before getting a name change approval, a background check must be made to make sure you are not changing the name to runaway from the authority or an organization.
Procedures For Change Of Name In Nigeria
There are different documents that you should bring with you while coming to the court for a change of name. I’ll be listing them out and explaining them to you subsequently.
Court Affidavit
The first document you need for this is an affidavit form.
The affidavit is a legal document where you will state your purpose for changing your name.
A photocopy of this document must always be with you because you need to be attaching it to every document that has your old name. This is to notify any organization that would be handling your documents that you have a name other than what is in the submitted document. To get an affidavit, go to any court close to you and request for it.
Announce Your New Name Publicly
For your name to be legally changed, you need to make an announcement after your affidavit is approved.
There are diverse way you can make this announcement but the one usually done in Nigeria is through a newspaper. You can do this by submitting your affidavit form to any Nigerian newspaper like Guardian, Punch or The nation’s newspaper.
Get Your Name Printed In Nigeria’s Official Gazette
A gazette is an authorized publication that is responsible for publishing public or legal notices (change of name in this case) in a particular country.
After announcing your change of name, you’ll need a gazette to help you publish it in a Nigerian newspaper.
This can be done by sending your application, affidavit and other documents to the Department of Publication, Civil registry, asking them to publish the newspaper advertisement you made to your change of Name.
This process costs 5,000 naira or more in some cases.
Apply For New Government IDs With Your New Name
This point is optional but it’s advisable you do it.
After getting change of name approval and your new name have been announced by a newspaper, you can start applying for a change of name to your new name in your IDs and documents.
You can request for a change of name in your driver’s license, you can also request for a change of name at your workplace or your educational certificates.
Frequently Asked Questions On Change Of Name In Nigeria
Below are some of the questions people who want a change of name usually ask.
Can I Change My Name Online?
No, every process for this is done offline and in court. This is to make sure that the change of name is not abused and the reasons for the change are credible before gett approval.
How Much Does It Cost To Get A Change Of Name?
To change your name is completely free, the only thing you need money for is to publish your name on Nigerian newspaper.
How much is a newspaper name change publication?
To announce your change of name in a Nigerian newspaper like Punch, Guardian, Dailypost or The nation’s costs between 5,000 to 10,000 naira depending on the newspaper.
What are the requirements for a change of name at the bank in Nigeria?
To change your name in your BVN or bank account you need to go to any bank you have an account with the following documents;
- Your affidavit to prove your change of name was approved.
- The newspaper page where your change of name was published.
- An ID card that has your new name on it.
- Utility bill like electricity bill or water bill.
Conclusion
As you can see, getting a name change isn’t as difficult as it seems. You just need the required documents and that’s it!
After reading this guide, you can now take a step in changing your name. Do not hesitate to ask questions in the comment box below if you need more clarity.
This is dummy text. It is not meant to be read. Accordingly, it is difficult to figure out when to end it. But then, this is dummy text. It is not meant to be read. Period.
ConversionConversion EmoticonEmoticon