Let us get the useful part out of the way first, because a lot of sites will happily let you read to the bottom before telling you.
| What you want | What you need |
|---|---|
| Add your married name alongside your own | Your marriage certificate. No deed poll. |
| Replace your name with your married name | A deed poll. |
If the first row is what you had in mind, you can stop reading and go to ICA. You do not need us. If you are not sure which row you are in, the rest of this page is worth six minutes, because the two are not as similar as they sound.
A married name is an alias, not a replacement
When you include a married name on your Singapore identity documents, it does not overwrite the name you already have. It is added as an alias, and it appears in parentheses below your principal name. It cannot replace the principal name.
Singapore's High Commission in London puts the boundary plainly: applicants who wish to omit or replace their principal name with their married name must execute a change of name deed poll. Everyone else simply submits a copy of their marriage certificate.
So the marriage certificate route gives you a document that shows both names. Your original name stays as your principal name, and your married name sits beneath it.
There is no legal requirement in Singapore to change your name when you marry. Keeping your name is a complete and ordinary choice, and it is the simplest one, because it involves doing nothing at all.
Why the difference matters: CPF and everything downstream
Here is the part that catches people out, and it is the reason this page exists.
Government agencies identify you by your principal name. CPF is the clearest example: it uses the principal name registered on your NRIC. An alias is not that.
So if you add your married name as an alias, your identity card will show it, but CPF will still hold you under your original name. So, in most cases, will other agencies that draw from the national registry. People are often surprised years later when a statement, a policy, or a government letter arrives in a name they thought they had stopped using.
That is not a fault in the system. An alias is doing exactly what an alias is meant to do. But if your expectation was "everyone will now call me by my married name", the alias route will not deliver it.
When you do need a deed poll
You need one where the married name is meant to become your actual legal name. In practice that covers:
- Fully adopting your spouse's surname in place of your own
- Creating a double-barrelled surname from both names
- Dropping part of your existing name as part of the change
- Any other change to what appears as your principal name
In each of those, the marriage certificate is not enough, because none of them is "including" a married name. They are all changes to the principal name, and a deed poll is the instrument for that.
Reverting to your maiden name after divorce
The marriage certificate route does not run in reverse. There is no equivalent process where you hand over a divorce decree and your name goes back to what it was.
If your married name is only an alias, ask ICA first what is needed to remove it, because your circumstances may be simpler than you expect. If your principal name was changed by deed poll when you married, then changing it back is another change of principal name, which means another deed poll.
Divorce cases vary more than marriage cases, particularly where children share the surname or where a court order is involved. Message us before you commit to anything. We would rather spend five minutes telling you what you need than sell you a document that does not fit.
Your passport
Your passport follows the same logic. A married name can be included on the basis of your marriage certificate. Replacing your principal name means a deed poll first, and then a new passport carrying the new name.
Either way the passport is not amended, you apply for a new one. It is S$70 online or S$80 over the counter, and where the application involves a change to your principal name or surname you should allow up to four weeks rather than the usual one to two.
Your air ticket has to match the passport you travel on. If your flights are booked in your current name, do not change your passport before the trip. Travel first, change afterwards. Airlines are under no obligation to amend a name on a ticket, and some will not do it at all.
What it costs
| Route | Cost |
|---|---|
| Including a married name | No deed poll fee. You pay ICA's own charges for replacing your identity card and passport. |
| Deed poll, in-person signing | S$50, plus ICA's charges |
| Deed poll, virtual signing by video call | S$100, plus ICA's charges |
Replacing your identity card with ICA is S$60 and takes about seven working days. Once that is done, the rest of your records follow a set order, and some of them update themselves.
So what should you do
- Happy for both names to show, and untroubled that CPF keeps your original? Marriage certificate, straight to ICA, no lawyer needed.
- Want your married name to be your legal name everywhere? That is a deed poll, then ICA.
- Not sure? Ask us. It is a two-minute answer and we will give it to you whether or not it leads to a sale.
Need the deed poll after all?
If you want your married name to become your principal name, we prepare the deed poll and a practising lawyer at JCP Law LLC witnesses it. Sign in person or by video call. The online application takes about five minutes.
Fees and processing times quoted above are ICA's published figures at the date of last update. Agencies change them from time to time, so check ICA's own site before you apply. This guide is general information about the process, not legal advice on your circumstances.