How to Change a Name on a Social Security Application

There could be many reasons to change the name on a social security card. A person who has been adopted may wish to assume the name of their new parents. A lady who has just married may wish to take on her husbands name for social security purposes as well as his family name. It is not difficult to do and just requires some proof of identity and paperwork.

As a quick example of a name change due to marriage this is what you would have to do. The information for all other reasons can be found at http://www.ssa.gov/online/ss-5fs.pdf.

• Complete an application for a social security card.


• Provide documents that prove:
  
  
  1. Your marriage. You will need your original marriage certificate or a certified copy of same to prove your name change.
  
  
  2. Your identity. Should the marriage document not provide enough information to identify you, you must provide additional information. This information would be such as name and date of birth, age, or parent’s names. This is also true if you were married over two years ago.
  
  
  3. They may accept your U.S. driver’s license, a state issued non-driver identification card or a U.S. passport that shows your name as listed in their records.
  
  
  4. Your U.S. citizenship. Proof needed would be a U.S. birth certificate, a U.S. Consular report of Birth, U.S. passport or Naturalization certificate or certificate of Citizenship.
  
  

You must take all these documents to the local Social Security office or card center. These documents must all be originals or copies certified by the agency that has issued them. They will not accept photocopies or notarized copies of any documents.