Tennessee Name Change Laws: How to Legally Change Your Name

Tennessee lets circuit, probate, and county courts each handle a name-change petition, and in practice many counties, including Nashville and Davidson County, route the filing through the Chancery Court Clerk & Master as a matter of local custom. There is no statewide newspaper-publication requirement anywhere in the process.

What sets Tennessee apart in this batch is the severity of its criminal-history restriction. A person convicted of first- or second-degree murder, or required to register as a sex offender, is permanently barred from legally changing their name, not merely subject to extra scrutiny. Every other felon faces a real but rebuttable presumption of bad faith they must personally overcome in court.

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

How to Legally Change Your Name in Tennessee

Circuit court, probate court, and county court all have concurrent jurisdiction over a name-change petition under TCA 29-8-101(a). Many counties administer the filing through their Chancery Court, including Nashville and Davidson County's Chancery Court Clerk & Master, though this reflects local practice rather than a single statewide venue rule.

The statute text itself states only that a petitioner must be «a resident of the county» where the petition is filed, without spelling out a specific residency duration. A six-month figure is commonly cited by self-help and secondary sources, but it could not be confirmed as written into the statute text itself, so treat it as a common but unconfirmed convention rather than a fixed requirement.

TCA 29-8-102 is the section that says what the filing itself must contain. The application «shall be by petition, in writing, signed by the applicant and verified by affidavit, stating that the applicant is a resident of the county, and giving the applicant's reasons for desiring the change or correction.» Three things follow from that: the petition must be written and signed, it must be verified by affidavit rather than simply filled out, and it must state your reasons for wanting the change. Under TCA 29-8-104 the court may then order the name changed «by entry of record reciting the petition and its reasons therefor,» and TCA 29-8-105 provides that a person whose name is changed may afterward be known and designated by, sue, and be sued under the new name.

Tennessee does not post a single statewide filing fee. TCA 29-8-103, the chapter's clerk's-fee section, sets the fee for a name-change proceeding at «the same as for like services in other cases, to be paid by the party petitioning,» which means the county clerk's fee schedule controls the actual cost. Confirm the exact figure with your county court clerk before filing.

Changing a Minor's Name

Tennessee's general name-change statute is written around a resident of the county and does not spell out a dedicated procedure or standard for a minor's petition. In practice, a parent files as petitioner on the child's behalf. Chapter 29-8 itself sets out no separate consent, notice, or best-interest framework the way many other states' statutes do, but Tennessee appellate law supplies the missing standard.

In Barabas v. Rogers, 868 S.W.2d 283 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1993), the Court of Appeals held that courts «should not change a child's surname unless the change promotes the child's best interests,» and that the parent asking for the change carries the burden of proving it. The opinion sets out five criteria: the child's preference; the change's potential effect on the child's relationship with each parent; how long the child has had the present surname; the degree of community respect associated with the present and the proposed surname; and the difficulty, harassment, or embarrassment the child may face from bearing either name. Later Tennessee Court of Appeals decisions have applied that same test. Anyone pursuing a contested minor's name change, particularly where a non-petitioning parent objects, should still talk with a family law attorney, because the standard is judge-made and fact-driven rather than laid out step by step in the statute.

Restoring Your Name After Divorce

Tennessee has no dedicated divorce-restoration statute. TCA 29-8-101(b)(4) only exempts a name change that results from marriage, divorce, or adoption from the felony bad-faith presumption described below; it does not create a separate, streamlined restoration mechanism. A divorced person appears to use the same general chapter 29-8 petition process as anyone else petitioning for a name change.

Publication Requirements

Tennessee has no newspaper-publication or public-notice-by-publication requirement anywhere in chapter 29-8. That distinguishes it from several neighboring states in this batch, such as South Dakota and Wyoming, where publication is a mandatory step.

Restrictions: Felony and Sex-Offender Rules

This is Tennessee's defining feature among the states in this batch. A person convicted of first- or second-degree murder, or required to register under the Tennessee Sexual Offender and Violent Sexual Offender Registration Act, «shall not have the right to legally change their names.» That bar is permanent, with no stated expiration date and no path back once it applies.

Every other felony conviction triggers a rebuttable presumption that the petition is made in bad faith. The petitioner carries the burden of proving, by clear and convincing evidence, that the change is not fraudulent, is made in good faith, will not injure anyone, and will not compromise public safety. This presumption does not apply, however, if the name change is the result of a lawful marriage, marital dissolution, or adoption. Separately, no public funds may be spent changing the name of a person incarcerated in a Department of Correction facility.

This is worth stating plainly rather than softening it: Tennessee's murder and sex-offender-registrant bar is an absolute, permanent prohibition, not a heightened-scrutiny standard a petitioner might eventually overcome.

Tennessee's official code is hosted through a state-designated LexisNexis portal that renders as an inaccessible page for many readers trying to view it directly. The chapter 29-8 text quoted throughout this article was confirmed against a full published text of Title 29, and the murder and sex-offender bar in TCA 29-8-101 is separately confirmed current through an official Tennessee Bureau of Investigation reference document.

Name Change After Marriage

Tennessee has no statute dedicated to marriage-based name changes. A spouse who wants to adopt a new name at marriage does so by custom, presenting a marriage certificate to agencies like the Social Security Administration and the DMV rather than filing a court petition. For the federal-level steps involved, see name change after marriage.

Related Tennessee Records

For the marriage certificate or divorce decree that may support a name-change filing, see Tennessee marriage and divorce records. For how the state's court system handles filings and case access generally, see Tennessee court records. For the broader dissolution process, see Tennessee divorce laws. For the full agency-by-agency update process once a name change is granted, see the name change checklist and how to legally change your name.

Disclaimer

This article provides general information about Tennessee name-change law. It is not legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship. Fees, forms, and residency practices vary by county and change over time; verify current details with your county court clerk or a licensed Tennessee attorney before relying on anything here for a specific situation.

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