The process of changing your legal name in Alberta is a lengthy and expensive one

It costs $250 to legally change your name in Alberta. Well, for some people it’s less and it depends on why you’re changing it. And how much you’re changing. And what forms you fill out. And if the employee you get that day likes you.

There are a number of forms to fill out. That number also changes — once again, it depends. 

People legally change their names for many reasons. Probably the most common reason is that a person gets married and takes the surname of their new spouse. Some people just don’t like their name. Whatever the reason, that change is your right to make, as long as you’re willing to go through the circus.

——————————————————

Kelsie Johnston on getting married

When I got married this summer, there was no question in my mind of whether or not I was going to take my husband’s last name. In fact, I had been planning on changing my last name for years before I ever even got engaged. 

Now, in Alberta, you have three options when it comes to changing your last name after marriage. You can keep your last name, you and your partner could hyphenate your last names, or you can assume your partner’s last name. 

Each of the three options are different in the process, but by far the easiest, at least from what I can tell, is to assume the last name, which is what I have opted to do. But just because it’s the easiest, doesn’t mean that it’s easy or cheap. 

There are a lot of hidden costs to getting married that no one prepares you for. Sure, everyone knows that planning and paying for a wedding is going to be expensive, but the cost of legally getting married was a shock to me. You first have to apply and pay for a marriage license, which will set you back roughly $105. Then after you get married you have to apply and order a marriage certificate to prove that you’re married, which will cost you another $47. 

“For now though, as I wait patiently for my marriage certificate that is almost certainly lost in the mail, I will operate and go about my life with my new name. Because, I don’t, for one second, regret my decision.”

It’s only after you receive your marriage certificate, can you then begin to start the name change process.  

You first have to take your marriage certificate to a registry and get a new photo ID to reflect your new name. In the case of changing my driver’s license, it’ll cost me roughly $98. Without a valid marriage certificate and government issued photo ID, you really can’t do anything else. 

You also want to renew your passport. Depending on how many years you want to renew for, you’re then looking at another $160. 

After that you have to take a look at every single service you’ve ever given your name to. You’ll have to change your name on your SIN. You’ll have to give your new name to your bank, your phone bill provider, your utility providers, your property manager, and your employers. I’ll have to change my name at the public library, at MacEwan so that I can have my new last name printed on my degree when I graduate, and with every single service I have ever signed up for in my life. The list is endless, and I am sure I have forgotten a whole slew of things just now. 

So all in all, I’m looking at months of work and roughly $410 just to assume my husband’s last name, and that doesn’t even cover any other hidden costs that I am sure I will come across as I progress further into the process. 

For now though, as I wait patiently for my marriage certificate that is almost certainly lost in the mail, I will operate and go about my life with my new name. Because, I don’t, for one second, regret my decision. 

——————————————————

Evan Watt on transitioning

When I ask my mom about what she remembers about the process of changing my name, the conversations are different every time. Neither of us can quite remember the order of places we had to go to, or quite how long every individual thing took. 

We remember that we first had to go to AMA to actually get the forms we needed. Pretty soon after that, we had to go to the RCMP data centre so they could take my fingerprints. My fingerprints had to be registered with the federal government because soon I would be getting a new social insurance number, and in the three-ish month processing period required to obtain that, I would technically cease to legally exist. 

“You’re a real boy because finally Parliament says so.”

I had to go to Service Canada in that big pink building downtown to get my new SIN, and that’s when I was told to just make sure I didn’t leave the country or commit a felony. All of this was because, along with my name, I was changing my gender marker. 

This is, for many transgender people such as myself, a quintessential part of the transitioning process. This is what you need to do so that your ID says your name and your gender on it. This is what you need to do so that you don’t have to pray that every doctor, therapist, and dentist you go to actually takes the time to read the “preferred name” section of the forms you filled out. Being yourself and being known as your true self to your friends, family, and loved ones is one thing, but this process is what affirms you in the eyes of the government. You aren’t the only one insisting on your identity; now you have legal verification. You’re a real boy because Parliament finally says so.

The trick is that you think it’s over. You get the name change certificate, the SIN, maybe the new birth certificate if you’re really special, and it’s finally done. Except no, it isn’t. It’s never over, not really. This is the part where you realize just how many people you’ve given your old name to. Your job and your school are just the obvious things. You have to get a new license, a new bank card, and a new health card. Every time you think it’s over, you get another phone call that uses the wrong name, and it starts all over again.