Names: How to show uncommon names in passports: caseworker guidancepassports
Tells HM Passport Office staff how to show uncommon names in passports.
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Details
This guidance tells HM Passport Office staff how to show uncommon names in passports, including:
- when there is a naming convention (for example, cultural traditions that say how a name must be shown)
- Welsh names that have ‘ap surname’ (son of)
- Irish and Gaelic names that customers have translated into English
- names that include ‘Junior’ prefixes or suffixes
- stage, professional and religious names
- when the customer only has 1 name
- names that include titles as part of the actual name (for example, ‘Sir David Jones’ where ‘Sir’ is the customer’s forename’)
Updates to this page
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This guidance has been updated in the section When the customer only has one name, to tell examiners to send a letter to the customer when they issue a British passport and the customer only has one name.
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Updated the section on Roman numerals, to tell examiners how to correctly format a name with Roman numerals.
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Updated the names: how to show uncommon names in passports guidance. A full list of changes can be found in the guide.
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This guidance has been updated to remove instructions telling HM Passport Office staff to refuse an application which has a name subject to trademark or copyright laws.
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First published.
Update history
2026-08-28 12:38
This guidance has been updated in the section When the customer only has one name, to tell examiners to send a letter to the customer when they issue a British passport and the customer only has one name.
2026-06-08 11:12
Updated the section on Roman numerals, to tell examiners how to correctly format a name with Roman numerals.
2025-11-21 15:31
Updated the names: how to show uncommon names in passports guidance. A full list of changes can be found in the guide.
2025-04-09 13:26
This guidance has been updated to remove instructions telling HM Passport Office staff to refuse an application which has a name subject to trademark or copyright laws.
2023-06-23 09:54
First published.