#deedpoll — Public Fediverse posts

A #scammer who runs a data-harvesting operation under the veneer of pretending to be a free #deedPoll service saw that I'd blogged/vlogged on the topic and asked if I'd link to/endorse them.

Even though I run an actual (ethical, free and open source) deed poll service.

I noticed that the domain name in their email signature wasn't actually registered... so I bought it.

So now... they're linking to and endorsing ME... 🤣 specifically to a blog post I've written about their #scam.

Wanna see?

🔗 https://www.changenames.co.uk

Sometimes I feel like I'm resting on my laurels.

The most-important thing that I've given to the world is almost-certainly Three Rings. Three Rings facilitates several volunteer-years of volunteer work every day. Over the last 23 years it's become so essential a service that several major charities - and innumerable smaller grassroots groups - can't conceive of how they functioned without it.

A distant second is probably FreeDeedPoll.org.uk, through which I've helped tens of thousands of people to change their name for free. Plus, through this I've learned enough about the law that I've been able to support people fighting discriminatory behaviour by high street banks, and trans kids whose parents don't support their identity, and dual-citizens standing up against illiberal laws in their 'other' countries, and divorcees whose estranged exes won't let them share their name with their children.

Everything else is a far-distant third. All the voluntary work, all the open-source, all the... everything... will probably never leave a mark so significant as, y'know, those two. (If any of this sounds like a humblebrag, I'm sorry: that's truly not my intention.)

What if I waste the second half of my adult life producing... nothing? At least: nothing of even remotely-comparable value? Have I "peaked"? Have I already done the most-good for the world that I ever will? Where will that leave me in five, ten, or twenty years?

Ultimately, the problem is that I might never be "enough" for my own standards. Possibly what I need isn't to "make more things", it's to "have more therapy"!

But for now: this is what weighs on me from time to time.

#note #threeRings #deedPoll #openSource #volunteering #depression

Via: 🔗 https://danq.me/2026/01/21/laurels/

As somebody with an unusual #name (which I changed by #deedPoll), I'll occasionally hear people ask loaded questions like "Yeah, but what's your REAL name? The one on your #birthCertificate?" 😡

Well #FuckTheHaters. As of today, my birth certificate's been retroactively updated to show my "real" name.

Here's how I took advantage of the #law of #Scotland to do it:

🔗 https://danq.me/actually-yes

Since I relaunched freedeedpoll.org.uk three months ago (with new features) and made an explanatory demo video, the volume and kinds of questions I've been emailed has... become larger and more diverse.

I still get questions about childrens' names and citizenship and gender recognition certificates and things.

But now I also get questions like "how do I print multiple copies of the PDF?" and "why does my homemade deed poll not have a serial number?" 😂

#note #deedPoll #email #printers

Via: 🔗 https://danq.me/2025/12/08/fdp-question-diversity/

By a convenience of dates, I can today count in exact months how long I've spent in each of three phases of my life:

1. A child, with my birth name: 216 months
2. An adult, still with my birth name: 98 month
3. An adult, now with my assumed name: 222 months

(I drew a pretty pie chart but a crash ate it.)

Or in other numbers: I've now spent ~70% of my adult life, or ~41% of my entire life, living by a name I chose for myself.

I used a deed poll to change my name. And nowadays - with several iterations of my personal documentation issued over the 18½ years I've been using my name - it doesn't even come up any more, except when somebody observes "hey, that's an unusual name you've got there!" I haven't even looked at my deed poll in over a decade, for example. My name today is more well-established as the one I was given at birth was by the time I reached adulthood.

----

And so it occurred to me this weekend, while I was reimplementing FreeDeedPoll.org.uk: because I was born in Scotland, there's no reason I can't also get my name changed on the one remaining bit of documentation that still has my birth name: my birth certificate! Scottish law allows me to have this retroactively changed for a modest fee, which would result in a re-issued birth certificate that showed "Dan Q" (with my birth name included as an "also known as").

I'm flip-flopping on whether I should. Want to see my pros/cons lists?

Pros:
- It's the one last (changeable) thing that could reflect my actual name
- It feels a little weird nowadays when I bump into my old name (e.g. on my first degree certificate, which I had to dig out earlier this year for a job application)
- It'd be nice to understand the Scottish process, as (via FreeDeedPoll.org.uk) I end up helping lots of people to change their name

Cons:
- I don't need it; I've got all the documentation I could ever need and much, much more in my name; it'll probably make no material difference to my life
- It seems symbolically like a rejection of the past, or of my family, or of an attempt to rewrite history, all of which feel icky
- It's not free!

----

I don't know which way I'll eventually fall on this. Considering how... inconsequential it'd be, either way, to my day-to-day life... it's surprising how much of an itch it is, at the back of my brain!

#note #q #names #deedPoll #scotland #laws #identity

Via: 🔗 https://danq.me/2025/09/08/retroactive-name-changes/

I'm looking into changing my name though deedpoll and the forms and shit. It seems simple enough just write a declaration, fill the (3) forms... but it says I need to provide evidence of who I am which can be a passport or birth certificate.

I only have a birth certificate.... am I litrally supposed to put my actual -only- birth certificate in the post???

What if it gets lost? Like the fuck am I supposed to do then???

Maybe I'm just over-thinking. Am I just overthinking?

#trans #deedpoll

I've just enumerated my personal domain names. There's a lot fewer of them than there used to be! (Maybe I've finally shaken off my habit of buying a domain name for EVERYTHING. Or maybe it's just that I've embraced subdomains for more stuff. Probably the latter.)

Anyway: here's the list -

- https://danq.me and a variety of aliases (https://danq.uk, https://danq.dev, https://danq.link, https://danq.blog, https://scatmania.org); there's also like a billion subdomains in use of course, like https://things.danq.me, https://find.danq.me
- https://freedeedpoll.org.uk, which I really ought to update at some point but which still clearly helps many people
- https://dndle.app, a D&D-inspired Wordle-clone which I still get bug reports and pull requests for so clearly somebody's using it
- https://geohashing.site, the central hub of Geohashing activity worldwide
- https://egxchange.org, which hosts the most environmentally-friendly cryptocurrency wallet you'll ever see
- https://abnib.co.uk, a community of friends (also with about a billion subdomains)
- https://q-t-a.uk, my family website, which exists mostly to facilitate addressing for a stack of internal/selfhosted services
- https://rockmonkey.org.uk, which doesn't do much nowadays
- https://fleeblewidget.co.uk, my partner @fleeblewidget's blog, but I look after the domain registration
- https://textplain.blog, my plain-text blog
- https://levellers.blog, the blog of my D&D group
- https://theimprobable.blog, which I look after on behalf of my partner's brother after using it to GPS-track his adventures

I think that's all of them, but it's hard to be sure...

#note #domainNames #web #hosting #dns #dungeonsAndDragons #cryptocurrencies #blogging #geohashing #deedPoll

Via: 🔗 https://danq.me/2024/11/11/enumerating-domains/

GPs will often provide a form for you to fill in when you request to change your name, title and/or gender on their records. You do not need a deed poll in order to change your name with them.

Read more at https://www.transactual.org.uk/gp-support

(ID: Teal background with the above text mentioned, form icon with a pencil to the right).

#Transgender #Trans #GP #Deedpoll #NameChange #Nonbinary #KnowYourRights #UKLaw #LGBT #LGBTQIA #LGBTQA

Legal opinion is pretty clear: "in general, children of any age can make their own decision about the change of [...] name."

If anyone tells you otherwise, show them this: https://buff.ly/472Nzdk

Alt text: Legal opinion is pretty clear: "in general, children of any age can make their own decision about the change of [...] name. Illustration is of a written document.

#Deedpoll #Trans #Transgender #NonBinary #TransRightsAreHumanRights #TransRights #Equality #LGBTQI #LGBTQ #LGBTI #LGBT

There are a lot of urban myths about changing names...

Did you know you do not actually NEED a deed poll to change name?

Check out the new section just published by TransActual for everything you'll ever need to know on name change (including why some organisations insist on seeing an enrolled deed poll before they update your records). https://buff.ly/44yPdC3

#Trans #Deedpoll #TransRights

Leaked snippets from the trans schools guidance suggests it's not just the Equality Act the government does not understand. They do not understand the most basic bits of the law about names.

Legal opinion is pretty clear: "in general, children of any age can make their own decision about the change of [...] name."

If anyone tells you otherwise, show them this: https://www.transactual.org.uk/names-cyp-legal

#Trans #Deedpoll #TransRights

There are a lot of urban myths about changing names...

Did you know you do not actually NEED a deed poll to change name?

Check out the new section just published by TransActual for everything you'll ever need to know on name change: https://buff.ly/44yPdC3

Alt text: In the UK you don't need a deed poll to change your name. Illustration is of a written document

#Trans #Deedpoll #TransRights

Leaked snippets from the trans schools guidance suggests it's not just the
Equality Act the government does not understand. They do not understand the most
basic bits of the law about names.

Legal opinion is pretty clear: "in general, children of any age can make their
own decision about the change of [...] name."

If anyone tells you otherwise, show them this:
https://www.transactual.org.uk/names-cyp-legal

#Trans #Deedpoll #Transition

There are a lot of urban myths about changing names...

Did you know you do not actually NEED a deed poll to change name?

Check out the new section just published by TransActual for everything you'll ever need to know on name change (including why some organisations insist on seeing an enrolled deed poll before they update your records).

For more info, visit: www.transactual.org.uk/names

#Trans #Deedpoll #TransRights

Leaked snippets from the trans schools guidance suggests it's not just the Equality Act the government does not understand. They do not understand the most basic bits of the law about names.

Legal opinion is pretty clear: "in general, children of any age can make their own decision about the change of [...] name."

If anyone tells you otherwise, show them this: https://www.transactual.org.uk/names-cyp-legal

#Trans #Deedpoll #TransRights

Leaked snippets from the trans schools guidance suggests it's not just the Equality Act the government does not understand. They do not understand the most basic bits of the law about names.

Legal opinion is pretty clear: "in general, children of any age can make their own decision about the change of [...] name."

If anyone tells you otherwise, show them this:
https://www.transactual.org.uk/names-cyp-legal

#Trans #Deedpoll #TransRights

There are a lot of urban myths about changing names...

Did you know you do not actually NEED a deed poll to change name?

Check out the new section just published by TransActual for everything you'll ever need to know on name change (including why some organisations insist on seeing an enrolled deed poll before they update your records).

https://www.transactual.org.uk/names

#Trans #Deedpoll #TransRights

There are a lot of urban myths about changing names...

Did you know you do not actually need a deed poll to change name?

Check out the new section just published by TransActual for everything you'll ever need to know on name change (including why some organisations insist on seeing an enrolled deed poll before they update your records).

https://www.transactual.org.uk/names

#Trans #Nonbinary #Deedpoll

Leaked snippets from the trans schools guidance suggests it's not just the Equality Act the government does not understand. They do not understand the most basic bits of the law about names.

Legal opinion is pretty clear: "in general, children of any age can make their own decision about the change of [...] name."

If anyone tells you otherwise, show them this:
https://www.transactual.org.uk/names-cyp-legal

#Trans #TransRights #Deedpoll

In 1989, Michael Howard of Leeds changed his name by deed poll to 'Michael Howard MP’, dropped his Yorkshire accent, and had a Tory seat in Parliament for almost 20 years before anyone realised he’d never been elected.

#MichaelHoward #deedpoll #names #QI #notQI