Sharp surge in trans children changing names in UK

 

The UK Deed Poll Service has seen a sharp rise in the number of parent paying £35 to alter their child’s title from “Miss to Master” or “Master to Miss” in the past five years, with at least one child under-16-year-old making the change every day.

These changes are followed by the renouncing of the child’s birth name and the adoption of a new first name from the opposite sex.

“We used to issue a couple of these deed polls every couple of months – but now it’s seven to ten a week. The majority are teenagers -14 or 15 – but they go down to the age of 10” said Louise Bower.

 

Some children modified their first birth names transitioning from “Joe to Jo” for example, other sought for entirely new name.

 

According to Bowers “ majority of applications previously came from children born male and wishing to adopt a girl’s name and the “Miss” prefix , this had now reversed. There are more Misses to Masters than Masters to Misses now.”

 

The change reflects a wider trend in 2017-2018, more than twice as many biologically female children were referred to the Tavistock clinic’s specialist gender identity development service. Parental approval is needed to change the name of the child under 16. Parents can also pay £8 to replace words such as “son”, “daughter” , “he” and “she” so that the deed poll will not reveal the child’s sex at birth.

However, couple of children had also requested to return to their original name and original gendered title after they passed their 16^th birthday.