An NWT legal name change runs through the Registrar General in Inuvik. The fee is $159 including one large certificate, you must be 19 or older and have lived in the NWT for three months in a row within the year before applying, and most changes are published in the NWT Gazette.
Applies in: Northwest Territories
In the Northwest Territories, a legal name change is filed with the Registrar General of Vital Statistics, whose office is in Inuvik. The GNWT Health and Social Services page for changing a name as an adult sets the entry rules: you must be at least 19 years old, a Canadian citizen, permanent resident, or otherwise legally entitled to remain or live in Canada, and a resident who has lived in the NWT for at least three months in a row within the year before you apply. The fee is $159 and it includes one large certificate. Most changes are published in the Northwest Territories Gazette.
This guide covers the process only. It gives no legal advice, and it does not decide whether you qualify. That decision sits with the Registrar General.
Written November 13, 2026
You can apply for a legal change of name for yourself if you meet all three tests:
There is one stated extension. You may also be eligible if you meet the same requirements but are less than 19 years old and are a spouse, or have been a spouse. The page directs anyone in that position to contact Vital Statistics for more information rather than assuming the adult route applies unchanged.
Note how the NWT residency test differs from a simple current-address rule. It is three consecutive months inside the one-year window before the application date, so a resident who spent part of the year outside the territory can still qualify on time already lived in the NWT. Count your three months before you file, not after.
Complete and submit the Application for Change of Name form linked from the adult service page. The department adds one practical step that is worth following exactly: to avoid processing delays, fax or email your completed form to the Registrar General, Vital Statistics, at 1-867-777-3197 or hsa@gov.nt.ca as a draft for review before the final package goes in. A draft check costs nothing and catches the errors that would otherwise surface weeks into processing.
Send the completed application, with the fee, to:
Registrar General of Vital Statistics Health Services Administration Office Bag #9 Inuvik, NT X0E 0T0
Contact for the service is 1-800-661-0830 (toll free) and hsa@gov.nt.ca, with hours of 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday to Friday, closed statutory holidays.
Changing a child's name is a related but separate service. A parent applying for a child must be at least 19 years old, meet the same citizenship and residency tests, and have lawful custody of the child. The child application also requires the Consent of Parent or Legal Guardian form, and the Consent of Child form where the child is 12 years of age or over. The fees are the same table as the adult service.
The current Health and Social Services fee table lists:
Applications must be accompanied by the required fee, in the form of a cheque or money order payable to the Government of the Northwest Territories. Payment may also be made by credit card. The fee includes one change of name certificate, which is the large certificate named in the first line of the table. If you later lose that certificate, the replacement route is the Duplicate Change of Name Certificate form, submitted with the appropriate fee to Vital Statistics, giving both your previous and new names and the approximate date of the change. Only certain people can order a change of name certificate: the person whose name was changed, someone with that person's written consent, a guardian with proof of guardianship, or an executor on proof of death and executorship.
Under the Change of Name Act, legal name changes are required to be published in the Gazette. The Registrar can choose not to publish a legal change of name in certain circumstances, including if:
Residents can reach out to the Registrar General of Vital Statistics at 1-800-661-0830 or hsa@gov.nt.ca to request an exemption under one or more of these criteria once they have submitted their application, or in the email with their completed application form. Ask at filing time. The exemption is a request the Registrar decides, not a box that removes publication on its own.
The GNWT waives the change of name fee for Indigenous residents on an ongoing basis. The waiver grew out of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's Call to Action #17, which recommended removing administrative fees so survivors and their families can reclaim names affected by the residential school system, and the Minister extended it to Indigenous residents correcting historical errors on NWT birth certificates.
Eligibility follows residence and birth registration. You must be an NWT resident to apply for the change of name fee waiver. Indigenous residents who applied for a change of name in the NWT and were also born in the NWT may also apply for a waiver of the NWT birth certificate fee. A person born in the NWT who now lives elsewhere must apply for the change of name in the province or territory where they now live; once that change is processed, they can apply in the NWT for a waiver of the fee to issue a new NWT birth certificate showing the corrected name. The Registrar General cannot waive fees for changes of name made outside the NWT. Apply by completing the Application to Waive Fees form and sending it with your change of name application to the Registrar General in Inuvik. An application to waive fees may only be submitted with an NWT change of name application once, though the new birth certificate fee waiver can be requested at the same time if you were born in the NWT.
The Health and Social Services pages opened for this guide state the eligibility rules, the $159 fee, and the Inuvik mailing address, but they do not state a processing time for a change of name application, so this guide gives none; an older GNWT news release mentioned three to four weeks for waiver applications, and that figure was not carried as a general processing time. The pages also show two figures for a certified copy of the Breakdown of Spousal Relationship Statutory Declaration, $26 in the change of name fee table and $22 on the resuming-your-surname page, so this guide reports both and does not settle on one. Older GNWT pages list the change of name fee as $125 and $134; the current service pages list $159, and only the current figure is carried as the fee.
| Change of name, including one large certificate | $159.00 |
|---|---|
| Each additional individual included on an adult application | $64.00 |
| Change of name certificate (duplicate) | $32.00 |
| Use of Common-Law Spouse's Last Name Statutory Declaration (certified copy) | $26.00 |
| Breakdown of Spousal Relationship Statutory Declaration (certified copy) | $26.00 |
Fees are paid with the application by cheque or money order payable to the Government of the Northwest Territories, or by credit card. The change of name fee is waived on an ongoing basis for Indigenous residents who are reclaiming a name or correcting a historical error.
You can apply if you are at least 19 years old, you are a Canadian citizen, permanent resident, or otherwise legally entitled to remain or live in Canada, and you are a resident of the Northwest Territories who has lived in the territory for at least three months in a row within the one year period before the application date. You may also be eligible under the same requirements if you are under 19 and are a spouse, or have been a spouse.
The Health and Social Services service pages list the change of name at $159.00, which includes one large certificate. Each additional individual included on an adult application costs $64.00, a duplicate change of name certificate costs $32.00, and a certified copy of either statutory declaration costs $26.00. Pay by cheque or money order payable to the Government of the Northwest Territories, or by credit card, and all fees must be included with the application.
To the Registrar General, Health Services Administration Office, Bag #9, Inuvik, NT X0E 0T0. Before you send the final package, the department asks you to fax or email the completed application form to the Registrar General at 1-867-777-3197 or hsa@gov.nt.ca as a draft for review, to avoid processing delays. The contact number is 1-800-661-0830, and hours are 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday to Friday.
Most changes of name are published in the Northwest Territories Gazette, as the Change of Name Act requires. The Registrar can choose not to publish in certain circumstances, including if the change is of a minor nature, if you have been commonly known under the name applied for, or if publication would cause undue hardship. You can request an exemption from the Registrar General at 1-800-661-0830 or hsa@gov.nt.ca after submitting your application, or in the email with your completed form.
No. On marriage, use your marriage certificate to change your name; you can use your spouse's last name, or a hyphenation or combination of your last names. After living together for two years, or if you have a child together and are living in a relationship of some permanence, you may use your common-law spouse's last name by signing a statutory declaration. After a divorce, your divorce certificate is proof you want to go back to the name you had before the marriage.
Yes, for Indigenous residents. The Government of the Northwest Territories waives the change of name fee on an ongoing basis for Indigenous residents who are residential school survivors or family members reclaiming a name, or who wish to correct a historical error on an NWT birth certificate, in response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's Call to Action #17. Apply with the Application to Waive Fees form sent in with your change of name application. You must be an NWT resident to be eligible for the waiver.