To check the surname used on your birth certificate, you have to apply and pay for the birth certificate.
If you were born before 1972
Children born before 1972 were not registered with surnames. Records were updated in 1995 to assign the mother’s surname if the parents were not married, and the father’s name if they were.
Most people will not be affected, but some people may find their record is not in their preferred surname and needs to be amended.
The amendment is free of charge.
If there’s a record of your parents’ marriage
You need to write and ask for your surname to be amended.
Postal address and email details
If there’s not a record of your parents’ marriage
You need to write and ask for your surname to be amended and provide two types of evidence:
- something recent, and
- something from as early in life as possible.
Types of evidence you can use:
- Bank statements
- Baptismal record
- Community Services Card
- Educational certificate or school report
- Electoral roll record
- Inland Revenue tax number
- Lease or tenancy agreements
- Motor vehicle registration
- Rates notices
- School records
- Steps to Freedom form
- Student identity card
- Trade certificate
- Utility accounts — for example, power or phone bills.
Postal address and email details