Name change in Alaska
These are the steps most people follow for a name change in Alaska, in order. Each links to its official source and the date we last checked it. When you're ready, build a personalized checklist that covers every document at once.
This is general information, not legal advice. Requirements change, so always confirm with the official source linked on each step, and talk to a lawyer or legal-aid organization about your specific situation.
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Step 1: Get a court order for your name change
- To legally change your name as an adult in Alaska, you file a Petition for Change of Name (form CIV-700) in the superior court, and a judge decides whether to grant it. The court normally posts notice of your petition on the Alaska Court System's public legal-notice website for four consecutive weeks before your hearing.
Needs reverification, so we don't show it as current.
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- If you have personal safety concerns about that public posting, you can ask the judge to waive it, and you can also ask the court to keep your case confidential or to withhold your name from the public CourtView index — using the Request to Waive Posting form (CIV-708). Your hearing must be scheduled at least 40 days after the court's scheduling order, and your new name isn't official until at least 30 days after the judgment is distributed. In some situations the court can also order additional notice, including publication in a print newspaper — for example, if you are incarcerated, on probation or parole, or must register on the sex offender or child kidnapper registry. Alaska's own instructions for this process do not state a minimum residency period.
📝 Get the official form: Form CIV-700 — Petition for Change of Name
Sources
- Alaska Court System — Instructions for Adult Change of Name (Form CIV-699) — We cannot check this source automatically for changes. Check it yourself before you file.
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Step 2: Update your Social Security record
- Social Security still changes the legal name on your Social Security record. A valid court order for a name change is one of the events Social Security recognizes as changing your legal name, and you apply with Form SS-5, the Application for a Social Security Card.
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- Social Security's policy manual defines your legal name as your first name and last name — the name you use to sign legal documents. For a person born in the United States, that is generally the name shown on the birth certificate, unless the name changed through an event such as a marriage or a valid court order for a name change. The sex marker on your record is handled separately and under a different rule — see the Social Security sex marker step.
📝 Get the official form: Form SS-5 — Application for a Social Security Card
Sources
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Step 3: Update your driver's license or state ID
- To change the name on your Alaska driver's license or ID card, submit an Application for Driver License, Permit or State Identification Card (Form D1) in person, provide an original certified document proving the name change — such as a court order, marriage certificate, or divorce decree — pass a vision test, and pay the current license fee.
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- Photocopies and faxed copies are not accepted; the DMV needs an original or a certified copy. If you have had more than one name change, you may need extra documents together (for example, a marriage certificate and a divorce decree) to show the link between an older name and your current one. Alaska law requires you to notify the DMV of a name change within 30 days (AS 28.05.071); not doing so can lead to a citation or fine.
Sources
- Alaska Division of Motor Vehicles — Changing Identification Details — We cannot check this source automatically for changes. Check it yourself before you file.
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Step 4: Update your U.S. passport
- To update the name on your U.S. passport, submit a passport application with an original or certified copy of the document that legally changed your name, such as a court order.
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- If your name changed within 1 year of your most recent passport being issued, mail Form DS-5504 with the name-change document — you will not have to submit any fees for this service. If it has been more than a year, renew by mail with Form DS-82 and a certified name-change document, or apply in person with Form DS-11. If you have no legal documentation of the change, you apply in person with Form DS-11 plus Form DS-60, Affidavit Regarding a Change of Name.
📝 Get the official form: Form DS-82 — U.S. Passport Renewal
Sources
- U.S. Department of State — Change or Correct a Passport — We cannot check this source automatically for changes. Check it yourself before you file.
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Where to get help
- Alaska Legal Services Corporation — Alaska's statewide civil legal aid provider, which can help income-eligible residents with name-change filings and other civil legal needs.
- ACLU of Alaska — LGBTQIA2S+ Rights — The ACLU of Alaska publishes information and advocacy updates on LGBTQIA2S+ rights in Alaska, including issues affecting transgender residents.
- Advocates for Trans Equality (A4TE) — Alaska identity documents guide — Advocates for Trans Equality (A4TE) keeps a plain-language guide to changing your name and gender marker on Alaska documents. Their staff write and update it. Read it alongside this checklist.
- Advocates for Trans Equality (A4TE) — National advocacy organization (formerly the National Center for Transgender Equality) with plain-language guides to updating federal identity documents (Social Security, passport) after a name or gender-marker change.
- Lambda Legal Help Desk — National LGBTQ+ legal organization offering a free legal help desk for questions about discrimination and legal name/gender-marker changes.