Name change in District of Columbia
These are the steps most people follow for a name change in District of Columbia, 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
- In the District of Columbia, you file an Application for Change of Name of an Adult with the Civil Actions Branch of the DC Superior Court. You must currently live in DC, no matter where you were born, and a judge holds a final hearing before granting it.
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- The application must be filed with proof of current DC residency, valid photo identification, and your reasons for the name change. Before the final hearing you must notify creditors and other interested parties, by personal service or by registered or certified mail, and file proof that you did. If the court grants your application, you are given at least five certified copies of the order for name change.
📝 Get the official form: Application for Change of Name of an Adult (DC Superior Court)
Sources
- DC Superior Court — Application for Change of Name of an Adult (Instructions) — 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 update the name on a DC driver's license or ID card after a legal name change, bring your original court order along with DC DMV's other required identity documents to a service center.
Needs reverification, so we don't show it as current.
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- DC DMV's proof-of-identity rules say that if you have a name change due to marriage, divorce, or a court order (which includes adoption), you must also bring that document in addition to the identity documents DC DMV otherwise requires. Documents that are altered, counterfeit, torn, laminated, or erased are not accepted.
Sources
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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
- Whitman-Walker Health — A DC-based LGBTQ+ health center whose Legal Services program helps clients with name-change and gender-marker document updates.
- DC Bar Foundation — Builds and funds the District of Columbia's civil legal aid network, which can help low-income DC residents with legal filings such as a name-change petition.
- 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.