French Name Change Translation
French name change translation for USCIS, a passport application, the Social Security Administration, a DMV or a bank that needs proof that the person on a French document is the person in front of them. In France a name change leaves two traces, the decision and the margin of the acte de naissance, and a US office usually wants both. We translate each with a signed certification.
- Up to 250 words per page
- $25 per page
- Standard turnaround
- From 24 hours
- Certificate of accuracy
- Signed & stamped
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Written for French change of name records
Three French procedures, three different papers
A French name is changed by a different authority depending on what changes, and the proof looks different each time.
Changement de nom: décret or the 2022 declaration
A surname is changed by décret after a request to the Ministère de la Justice showing a motif légitime, and the décret is published in the Journal officiel. Since 1 July 2022 an adult can also, once in their life, take a parent's name, add it or swap the order by a declaration at the mairie, with no decree. The first produces an extract of the Journal officiel; the second only a receipt and a new mention on the acte. We translate whichever exists and say which procedure it was, since a US officer looking for a court order needs to know why there is none.
Changement de prénom at the mairie
Since November 2016 a first name is changed by the officier d'état civil at the mairie, not a court, and the result is a décision de changement de prénom plus a mention in the margin of the acte de naissance. Before that date it was a judgment of the tribunal de grande instance, and older files still hold one. A naturalised French citizen may instead have had their name or prénom francisé in the décret de naturalisation itself. Each is a different document, and we translate the one you hold rather than describing a procedure that did not happen.
Rectification is not a name change
Much of what reaches us from Senegal, Côte d'Ivoire, Cameroon, Mali and Haiti is a jugement rectificatif or an ordonnance de rectification: a court correcting a misspelt name, a wrong birth date or a missing parent on a civil act. The person's name did not change; the record did. The translation keeps that distinction, titles the document as a rectification judgment, and quotes the before and after exactly as the court wrote them, since that before and after is what explains why older papers spell the name differently.
Who is asking for your French change of name translation?
The translation is the same. What changes is whether the recipient wants anything added to it.
USCIS
USCIS asks for a complete English translation and a signed certification from the translator. No notarization is needed.
US passports and the Department of State
The Department of State wants the translation notarized. Add notarization at checkout and we handle the rest.
Banks, DMVs and Social Security
Offices updating your record to the new name accept a certified translation of the order, read next to the original. Some DMVs want it notarized as well, so check with your office first.
Before you upload
Three things that save a day of back and forth on a French change of name.
Send the court order or the registry act
A name change is proved by the judge's order, the deed poll or the registry entry that recorded it. Upload the document that made the change, not only an ID in the new name.
Show both names in the scan
The page that lists the old name and the new one is the page every recipient wants. Include the seal, the registration number and the back of the page.
Give us the English spelling of both names
Tell us how each name appears on your passport or other documents. The translation keeps the names as the order writes them and notes the spelling you use.
Details and pricing
What is included in a French change of name translation
One price per page covers the translation and its certification. A page is up to 250 words, and the quote tells you the page count before you pay.
Everything on the change of name is translated, including stamps, seals and handwritten notes. Tell us the English spelling you use for each name when you order.
Certified Translation
Word-for-word translation with a certificate of accuracy for official use.
$25
USD / page
up to 250 words per page
Included
- Signed & stamped certification of translation accuracy
- Certified by a professional translator
- Digital delivery via PDF
- Review and approve final translation
- 100% Guaranteed Acceptance
- Standard turnaround starting at 24 hours
Optional services
- Expedited turnaround
- Priority handling when your deadline is shorter than the standard turnaround.
- By deadline
- Notarization
- A notary public signs and stamps the certification statement.
- $20 per order
- Physical copy
- A wet-ink original of your translation, mailed by express courier.
- $35 per order
- Apostille
- Authenticates the notary’s signature and seal for use in Hague Convention countries.
- $180 per document
What the certificate of accuracy states
Your translation arrives with a Certification of Translation Accuracy issued by ImmiTranslate. It is the page the receiving organization checks first.
- The translation is complete and accurate.
- The document title and the language pair.
- The translator is competent in both languages.
- A signature and the ImmiTranslate certification stamp.
- Our American Translators Association corporate membership.
Our translation process
Our goal is to make the translation process as simple as possible for you. Our service is streamlined specifically for documents of this nature.
French Change Of Name FAQ
Most questions about pricing and turnaround can be answered faster by requesting a quote.
- I took my husband's name in the US. Does France count that as a name change?
- No. In France a married name is a nom d'usage, printed on a passport or ID on request, and the acte de naissance keeps the birth name. There is no French document recording the married name beyond the acte de mariage. For a French consulate or bank, send the US marriage certificate translated into French, and keep using the birth name on anything that must match the acte. Belgium treats a married name the same way.
- A US court changed my name. How do I get France to recognise it?
- A US court order does not update a French acte on its own. A French citizen asks for the name to be recorded, through the 2022 declaration if the new name is a parent's name, or by a décret request to the Ministère de la Justice citing the foreign decision; a name acquired in another EU country has a simpler route that a US one does not. The consulate wants the court order in French, and we translate it, together with the apostille from the state secretary of state if the consulate asks for one.
- Which version of my acte de naissance shows the new name?
- The copie intégrale, because the change is written in the margin: the old name stays in the body of the act and the mention records the new one with the date and the authority that made it. An extrait sans filiation may already print the new name with no explanation. Send the copie intégrale issued after the change, and we translate the body and every mention in order, so the reader can follow the name from birth to the one on your passport.
- How much does a certified translation cost?
- Certified translation is $25 per page, with a page counted as up to 250 words. Notarization, a mailed physical copy and an apostille are optional and priced separately.
- How long does a certified translation take?
- Standard turnaround starts at 24 hours and depends on the length and language of your documents. If you have a deadline, include it in your quote request.
Other French documents we translate
Change of name translation in other languages
Each of these pages is written for that language's change of name records.
Sending it with an application? Read the USCIS translation requirements, Apostille service before you order.