New York Name Change Laws: How to Legally Change Your Name

New York's name-change law lives in Civil Rights Law Article 6 (§§60-67), and it was substantially rewritten by the 2021 Gender Recognition Act, effective December 21, 2021. The single biggest change from older descriptions of New York law: current law has no general newspaper-publication requirement at all. That default was eliminated statewide in 2021 and replaced with a discretionary, court-ordered sealing mechanism a petitioner or the court itself can invoke on safety grounds.

Article 6 also directly answers two questions readers commonly assume New York's name-change statute is silent on. It codifies a marriage-based name-change scheme, through a cross-reference to Domestic Relations Law § 15, and it codifies divorce and annulment name restoration as a mandatory part of every decree, under Domestic Relations Law § 240-a. A separate, stricter rule persists for anyone convicted of a violent felony or a specified sex offense: their petition triggers mandatory advance notice to the district attorney and sentencing court, and the signed order gets reported to the state's Division of Criminal Justice Services. This page walks through each of those pieces.

Information last verified on 2026-08-11. This article has not yet been reviewed by a licensed lawyer.

How to Legally Change Your Name as an Adult in New York

You petition the County Court or Supreme Court in your county of residence; in New York City, you can file in Supreme Court or Civil Court in any of the five boroughs. Civil Rights Law § 60 sets out the basic petition mechanics, and current New York law states no minimum durational residency period within those sections, only that you must be a New York State resident.

Filing fees and statewide UCS form numbers could not be independently confirmed for this page. Nycourts.gov, which would list the current fee schedule and standardized forms, returned a blocked response on every attempt made while researching this article. Confirm the current fee and any applicable fee-waiver process with your county clerk or the court where you plan to file before you file.

New York Civil Rights Law § 61 requires every petition to state whether the petitioner has been convicted of a crime or adjudicated a bankrupt, plus disclosure of any pending judgments, liens, or litigation and any child- or spousal-support obligations or arrearages. A petitioner convicted of a violent felony offense or a specified sex or abuse offense must detail each conviction, including dates and the convicting court.

Publication Is Gone: The 2021 Gender Recognition Act

This is the fact most likely to trip up a New York petitioner relying on an outdated source. New York's former mandatory newspaper-publication requirement was eliminated statewide by the Gender Recognition Act (Chapter 158 of 2021), effective December 21, 2021. The current text of Civil Rights Law §§ 60, 61, 62, and 63 contains no publication step anywhere in it.

If a source, including a general "how it works" guide describing name-change procedure in other states, tells a New York reader to expect newspaper publication or to budget for its cost, it is describing pre-2021 New York law. Anyone changing their name in New York today does not need to publish notice in a newspaper as part of the standard process.

Sealing Under Section 64-a

In place of publication, New York's 2021 reform added Civil Rights Law § 64-a, a discretionary safety-sealing mechanism. A petitioner can ask the court to seal the case, or the court can seal it on its own initiative, for safety reasons. This is not automatic; it requires a request or the court's own action.

As with every state's sealing or confidentiality mechanism, a sealed New York court record protects the state court file itself. It does not, by itself, make the name change confidential with the Social Security Administration, the State Department's passport office, or other federal agencies. A domestic violence or stalking survivor changing their name in New York should treat state-court sealing and federal-agency confidentiality as two separate questions, not one automatic package.

Changing a Minor's Name in New York

A petition to change an "infant's" name, meaning anyone under 18 under § 60's own definition, may be made by the infant's next friend, by either parent, by the infant's general guardian, or by an attorney. Under § 62(1), notice must be served on the non-petitioning parent and any guardian; registered mail is permitted for an out-of-state recipient, and the court may waive notice if a party cannot be located despite diligent efforts. A related application is also possible in Family Court as part of a pending proceeding, but only with the consent of all parties.

No codified "best interest of the child" standard was found in the sections governing this process (§§60-62); that language, if it applies in practice, may come from case law rather than the statute's own text.

Restrictions: Violent Felonies and Specified Sex Offenses

New York's ordinary petitioner faces no criminal-history bar, only the disclosure duty described above. A separate, stricter track applies to anyone currently confined or under supervision for a violent felony offense or a specified sex offense. Under § 62(2), that petitioner must give notice to the district attorney of every county where they were convicted, and to the sentencing court, at least 60 days before the hearing. After the court grants the order, § 64(2) requires the clerk to mail a certified copy to the state's Division of Criminal Justice Services, so the name change is on record with the state's criminal-justice system even though it was lawfully granted.

The same 2021 reform package added an immigration-safety provision: § 62(3) affirmatively bars the court from requiring notice to ICE, CBP, USCIS, "or any successor agencies" about a name-change petition.

Name Change After Marriage in New York

New York codifies this directly, and more fully than a simple "use your marriage certificate" default. Civil Rights Law § 65 authorizes a marriage-based surname election, cross-referencing Domestic Relations Law § 15(1)(b): a marriage-license applicant may elect to adopt the other spouse's surname, any former surname of either spouse, a combined surname drawn from both parties' premarriage or former surnames, or a hyphenated or spaced combination, with parallel options for a middle name.

Domestic Relations Law § 15 is explicit that a person's surname does not automatically change upon marriage, and neither spouse is required to change it; the marriage certificate itself is proof the chosen name is lawful. Civil Rights Law § 65 also bars the state from charging any fee "solely to change the surname or middle name" on identity documents tied to a marital-status name change.

Name Change After Divorce in New York

New York also codifies divorce name restoration outright. Domestic Relations Law § 240-a requires that every divorce or annulment judgment include, as part of the decree itself, "a provision that each party may resume the use of his or her premarriage surname or any other former surname." Civil Rights Law § 65 separately preserves this as an alternate pathway outside the general §§60-64 petition process entirely, meaning you do not need to file a standard name-change petition if you are restoring a former name through a divorce or annulment.

Related New York Records

See New York marriage and divorce records for documenting a name restored in a divorce decree, New York court records for how a name-change case fits into the state's broader court records, and New York divorce laws for the dissolution process itself.

For the national picture, see how to legally change your name, how much does it cost to change your name, and the name change checklist. For every state side by side, see name change laws by state.

Disclaimer

This article provides general information about New York name-change law. It is not legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship. Fees, forms, and court procedures change; nycourts.gov was not reachable while researching this page, so verify current fee and form details directly with your county clerk, the court where you plan to file, or a licensed New York attorney before relying on anything here for a specific filing.

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Last updated: 2026-08-11. Fees and forms reflect their published status as of August 2026.