Changing Your Legal Name

You must file a formal request with your county’s probate court to change your name in Alabama.

Procedures, forms to be filed, supporting documentation, and fees vary by court.

If the court approves your name change, you will receive a court order that can be used to update the name on your ID documents.

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RESOURCE

Request for Name Change (PDF) </strong

Submit a request to Alabama’s Center for Health Statistics to amend your birth certificate.

To change the name on your Alabama birth certificate, you will need to provide:

  • completed application form (PDF)
  • copy of acceptable ID (listed here)
  • certified copy of name-change court order
  • payment of applicable fee(s)

Note: You must update your birth certificate with the state where you were born.

You must update your name with the Social Security Administration before you can change your name on a Alabama-issued ID.

Visit an ALEA Driver License Office or other ID-issuing office to update your Alabama driver’s license or state ID.

You will need to provide a certified copy of your name-change court order (or other legal document demonstrating your legal name change) and proof that your name is changed with the Social Security Administration.


Updating Gender Markers

Alabama’s Center for Health Statistics will amend the gender marker on your birth certificate if you submit a certified court order directing it to do so.

This court order must indicate that you have legally changed your name and that you have undergone gender affirmation surgery.

Note: You must update your birth certificate with the state where you were born.

Alabama’s policy for changing the gender marker on a driver’s license or state ID is currently subject to a court challenge.