Ontario's legal name change costs $137 through ServiceOntario under the Change of Name Act. You must be 16 or older and have lived in Ontario for at least 12 months.
Applies in: Ontario
In Ontario, an adult legal name change runs through ServiceOntario under the Change of Name Act, and the fee is $137. The Government of Ontario's change of name page sets the entry rules: you must be 16 years of age or older and have lived in Ontario for at least 12 months before you apply. You can start online or on a paper form, but both routes end with printed forms, supporting documents, and payment sent by mail or delivered in person.
This guide covers the process only. It does not give legal advice, and it does not decide whether you qualify — that decision sits with the Office of the Registrar General.
You qualify to change your own name if you are 16 or older, you have lived in Ontario for at least 12 months before applying, and you are not on the Ontario Sex Offender and Trafficker Registry with a reporting obligation under Christopher's Law. People who must report in person under section 3 of Christopher's Law, and people who are not currently required to report only because they are serving the custodial part of a sentence or are in custody in hospital, are not eligible.
Two extra requirements catch many applicants:
A child's name can be changed by a parent or a person with lawful custody and decision-making responsibility. The child must be 17 or under, unmarried, and have lived in Ontario for at least 12 months, or since birth if under one year old. Every parent listed on the child's birth registration must consent unless a court order or separation agreement says otherwise, and a child who is 12 or older must also consent to the change.
Ontario's check works differently from the fingerprint-first provinces. The application itself explains which criminal offences require a police record check, and the Requirements for a Police Record Check for a Change of Name sheet sets out what the police force conducting the check must do. Read that sheet before you pay for a check, because not every applicant needs the same one.
Behind the application, your identifying information is shared with the Ministry of the Solicitor General and checked against the Ontario Sex Offender and Trafficker Registry, as the Change of Name Act requires. If the Registrar General needs more, you may be asked to obtain a Certified Criminal Record Check to confirm your eligibility.
Online start, paper finish. Complete the online application and you receive pre-filled forms to print, plus a personalized checklist. Then gather signatures, identity documents, supporting documents, and any consents, notices, or police checks the checklist calls for. Sign the Statutory Declaration form in the presence of a commissioner of oaths — an Ontario Member of Provincial Parliament, a municipal clerk, deputy clerk or treasurer, a licensed lawyer or paralegal, a provincial judge or justice of the peace, or a notary public can do this. Complete the payment form, then submit everything by mail or in person.
Paper start. Download the Application to Change an Adult's Name and the Requirements for a Police Record Check for a Change of Name, or call ServiceOntario at 1-800-461-2156 (outside the Toronto area) or 416-325-8305 (Greater Toronto Area and international) to have forms mailed to you.
Where to send it. By mail: ServiceOntario, Office of the Registrar General, P.O. Box 3000, 189 Red River Road, Thunder Bay, Ontario P7B 0B3. In person: ServiceOntario, 47 Sheppard Avenue East, Unit 417, 4th Floor, Toronto, Ontario M2N 5N1, with payment by cheque, money order, or credit card.
Cost. $137 for an adult or a stand-alone child application, and $22 for a child whose application is submitted with a parent's name change application.
If any supporting document is in a language other than English or French, your application must include a complete photocopy of the document, a complete photocopy of its translation, and the translator's original written declaration that the translation is complete and correct.
Every name change registered under Ontario's Change of Name Act must be published in The Ontario Gazette, which is now published online only. Two exceptions exist:
If publication would put you at risk, raise the non-publication request with your application rather than after it is filed.
If you were born in Ontario and your application is complete and accurate, ServiceOntario says you will get a certificate of name change and your new birth certificate in 6 to 8 weeks — and it also notes that applications are currently taking up to 24 weeks to process. The certificate shows your previous name and your new name, and it is the document you use to update a health card, a driver's licence, or an Ontario Photo Card.
If you were born in another province or territory (except Quebec), a notice of the name change is sent to the vital statistics office where your birth was registered, and you contact that office about a new birth certificate. You can also ask, at no cost, to have your new legal name put on your Ontario marriage registration so future marriage certificates show it; an updated certificate or certified copy itself carries its own fee.
The Ontario page states the $137 fee, the $22 child-with-parent fee, the 12-month residency rule, and the 6-to-8-week delivery time alongside a note that processing is currently taking up to 24 weeks. It does not state a separate fee for the police record check itself — that cost is set by the police force that performs the check — so this guide gives no figure for it. The page also does not state whether the $137 fee is refunded if an application is refused, so this guide does not claim either way.
The ServiceOntario fee is $137 for an adult application. A child's name change costs $137 on its own, or $22 when it is submitted with a parent's name change application.
You qualify if you are 16 years of age or older and have lived in Ontario for at least 12 months before applying. Applicants who are 16 or 17 also need the consent of everyone who has legal custody or decision-making responsibility for them.
You may need one. The application explains which criminal offences require a police record check and sets out the requirements for getting one. Separately, your identifying information is shared with the Ministry of the Solicitor General to be checked against the Ontario Sex Offender and Trafficker Registry, and the Office of the Registrar General may ask you for a Certified Criminal Record Check if more checking is needed.
Yes, by default. All name changes registered under Ontario's Change of Name Act must be published in The Ontario Gazette, which is now published online only. There are exceptions, including for a transgender, First Nations, Inuit or Métis person who requests non-publication, and where the Attorney General certifies the change is intended to prevent significant harm.
ServiceOntario says a complete and accurate application from someone born in Ontario normally brings the certificate of name change and the new birth certificate in 6 to 8 weeks, but it also notes that applications are currently taking up to 24 weeks to process.
No. Taking a spouse's surname on marriage, or resuming a former surname after a marriage ends, is done by election under the Change of Name Act using your marriage certificate, not by a legal name change application. A legal change is for adopting a name you do not already have a right to use.