Deed polls and royals or lords

Was Battenberg changed into Mountbatten by deed poll ? Are there
examples of the use of deed polls among English royals ?

Don Aitken...

A deed poll does not effect a change of name; it merely gives public
notice of it. I doubt that any royals have ever found the need to use

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Does this mean that you sign the deed poll with your new name?The
notion of changing name just through a signed document every day you
feel like it has always fascinated me, as I come from a country where
all name changes must be officially approved. And the most fasinating

Hovite...

It is well established under English law that anyone can use any name
he fancies. As J Horace Round (Peerage and Pedigree) observed, a change
of name is a common tactic for immigrants who wish to obfuscate their
origin, such as Robert Maxwell, who was born J=E1n Ludv=EDk Hoch. Often
surnames associated with ancient and distinguished families adopted, as
when Bernard Hecht became a Howard. It extreme cases, a name is
sometimes chosen to give a false impression of nobility, as when David
Edward Sutch changed his name to Screaming Lord Sutch, 3rd Earl of

Frank R.A.J. Maloney...

Is there anything in British law to prevent someone from adopting a royal
title as a name, Prince or Queen, for example?

Graham Truesdale...

ISTR reading that when Clan McGregor was outlawed in 1603, some
of its members adopted the surname King.

Tom Wilding / Stephen Stillwell...

I remember about 20 years ago reading that there was a lawsuit over this.
Someone in Yorkshire, IIRC, filed the birth registration papers naming their
daughter, Princess, and was denied the right to do so. They were told that
the use of Princess was legally defined. They said that they could use it
as a nickname, but it could not be officially listed as the child's name.

sionevar...

I used to work with a British woman whose forename was Queen, although she
preferred to be called Queenie.

Hovite...

Queen or Queenie can be short for Cwenburg, an Anglo-Saxon name that
has survived in the form Quenburga, but it is not common.

Rex, Regina, Roy, and Reine are also used as forenames.

The was a film director called King Wallis Vidor.

Michael Joseph Pasternak used the name Emperor Rosko (among others)

Harrow.

aspect to me has been "What name do you sign a deed poll of name change
with? The new one or the old one?"

Jan B=F6hme

one, since adequate notice is given in other ways. The change from
Battenberg to Mountbatten, like the others made in 1917, was done in
pursuance of a Royal Proclamation which received considerable
publicity; I think a Royal Licence may have been issued as well.

François R. Velde...

The proclamation itself said nothing about the Battenbergs, but when it was
announced (Times, June 20, 1917) it was also said that they would change their
names, and the name Mountbatten was announced on June 27.

François R. Velde...

The royal licenses, backdated to July 14, were sent to the College of Arms on
Nov. 6 and gazetted on Nov. 9.

Many thanks to our learned friends for their prompt answers to "Landed
Gentry : de Premorel Higgins".

Dag T. Hoelseth...

For those of you who are not familiar with the expression "deed pool",
you can find information here:

Dag T. Hoelseth