According to the UK Deed Poll Service (UKDPS), 50,000 people a year change their names by deed poll — usually because of relationship breakdowns or a dislike of their birth moniker, although a growing number do so simply to reinvent themselves.

So popular has the service become that the UKDPS is introducing a text service. Applicants who text a message ordering their desired name will be sent the documents to complete the change for a £39 fee.

In addition to applying by phone, online or post, people can visit the Essex headquarters of the UKDPS and change their name in one hour. Mike Barratt, chief executive of the UKDPS, says anyone can choose to be called something different by friends, work colleagues and family, but a legal change must be made by deed poll and can be executed only by someone aged 18 and over (parents can apply on behalf of children). People can change forenames, surnames, add or remove an existing name or rearrange their names. “Some of the changes are wacky,” Barratt says. “But some people just add a run-of-the mill name probably to change how they feel about themselves.”

Spike Knowles, 46, from Bedfordshire, recently changed his forename from Peter to his nickname: “I had been called Spike since college when I had a spikey hairstyle. I am having a civil partnership next year and wanted to change the official documents to be in the name of Spike.”

In Knowles’ case, few people were surprised by his new identity: “My immediate family still call me Peter but most others, including my partner, have always known me as Spike.”

For some people, changing their name is part of an effort to change their self-image or identity. Elf McGnome, formerly Greg Smyth, from Middlesex changed his name last summer and found it carthartic: “I was 40 when I changed my name and although it wasn’t my intention to erase parts of my past, I found myself doing so. It was quite refreshing.” So why the new name?

“I chose it for spiritual reasons,” says McGnome, who works in the blood transfusion laboratory at Harefield Hospital. “I am a Virgo which is an earth sign and elves and gnomes are earth spirits. A lot of people laugh when I first tell them, but I feel comfortable with my name. And most people I know now call me Elf.”

PETA BEE

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