West Virginia Name Change Laws: How to Legally Change Your Name

West Virginia handles adult and minor name changes together in a single, detailed chapter of the code, Article 25 of Chapter 48, filed in circuit or family court, with mandatory newspaper publication as the default notice method.

What makes West Virginia distinctive is how it writes its felony and sex-offender restriction. Overlapping bars appear in two separate sections of the code, written from different angles and with slightly different scope, and one of those sections goes further by independently criminalizing an application made in violation of it as a standalone misdemeanor offense.

Information last verified on 2026-08-11. This article has not yet been reviewed by a licensed lawyer.

How to Legally Change Your Name in West Virginia

An adult or a parent on behalf of a minor petitions in circuit court or family court in the county of residence, under W. Va. Code 48-25-101. The petitioner must show bona fide residency in the county for at least one year immediately before filing, or, for a nonresident, specific prior connections to that county.

The circuit-court filing fee is $200, confirmed under W. Va. Code §59-1-11(a)(1), the general civil-action filing fee that applies because Article 25 does not carve out a separate name-change fee category. A lower fee has been reported for the family-court track, but that figure could not be independently confirmed against an official fee schedule for this article; confirm the current family-court fee with your family court clerk. West Virginia's Judiciary does publish statewide Fee Waiver Forms usable in Magistrate, Circuit, or Family Court for petitioners who cannot afford the cost.

The petition itself must affirm ten separate elements, including that the change is not sought to avoid debt or creditors, evade an identity requirement, evade detection or arrest, or serve any other improper purpose, and that the petitioner is not a registered sex offender or a person barred by a disqualifying felony conviction. If the clerk has no form for your court and you write the petition yourself, it still has to affirm all ten; PDFelement can turn a Word draft into a PDF and edit its text, but the court decides whether the petition is sufficient.

Changing a Minor's Name

West Virginia does not maintain a separate minor-specific procedure. The same statute, 48-25-101, covers a person changing «his or her own name, or that of his or her child» in one unified provision. The standard applied is the same as for an adult petition: reasonable and proper cause, with no injury to others.

Restoring Your Name After Divorce

Divorce-based restoration is cleanly integrated rather than routed through a separate filing. Under W. Va. Code 48-5-613, the divorce court restores a party's former name at that party's request without requiring a separate Article 25 petition. The court issues a one-page divorce-name-change certificate the party can use directly at the DMV to update a driver's license or state ID.

Publication Requirements

West Virginia requires a Class I legal advertisement to run at least 10 days before the hearing (48-25-101(b)). Publication cannot be waived. There is no general good-cause exception that excuses a petitioner from publishing.

What the statute allows instead is narrower. A petitioner who shows in the petition that the name change is requested because he or she desires to protect his or her identity for personal-safety reasons may keep the new name out of the published notice. The notice still runs; only the new name is withheld.

Separately, and not limited to personal-safety cases, the statute provides that upon good cause shown there may be a closed hearing. That is a different remedy from the notice: it closes the courtroom, not the newspaper. The published notice must also state that the hearing may be rescheduled without further notice or publication.

Restrictions: A Bar Written Into the Code Twice

This is the feature that most distinguishes West Virginia: its felony, murder, kidnapping and sex-offender restrictions are stated in two separate sections that overlap but are not identical.

Section 103 is addressed to the court. It provides that the court may not grant a change of name for a person convicted of any felony during the time that person is incarcerated (48-25-103(b)), for a person required to register with the State Police under the sex or violent offender registry article during the registration period (48-25-103(c)), for a person convicted of first-degree murder for 10 years after discharge from imprisonment or parole, whichever occurs later (48-25-103(d)), and for a person convicted of violating any provision of West Virginia's kidnapping statute, W. Va. Code 61-2-14a, for that same 10-year period (48-25-103(e)).

Section 107 is addressed to the petitioner. It makes it unlawful to apply for a change of name in substantially the same circumstances, including during incarceration on a felony conviction (48-25-107(c)), and it adds an independent criminal consequence: a violation is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of $250 to $10,000, up to one year in jail, or both.

The two sections are not word-for-word equivalents, and the difference is exactly what a reader comparing them needs to know. Section 103(e) bars the court from granting a change to any person convicted of violating any provision of 61-2-14a, with no further qualifier. Section 107(a) attaches the phrase «for which a sentence of life imprisonment is imposed» to its 61-2-14a branch, so the offense of applying is written more narrowly than the bar on granting. Read together, the court's power to grant is the broader limit: a 61-2-14a conviction that did not carry a life sentence still blocks a grant under 103(e). In 107(a) that life-sentence phrase attaches only to the kidnapping branch, not to the first-degree murder branch.

The registry bar is worth stating plainly on its own. Under 48-25-103(c), a person required to register with the West Virginia State Police under the sex or violent offender registry article cannot obtain a name change while the registration period is still active. Across the felony, murder, kidnapping and registry rules together, West Virginia runs one of the stricter restriction regimes among the states, and a reader with any of these predicate convictions is better served by the plain rule than by softened «restrictions may apply» language.

Name Change After Marriage

West Virginia has no statute dedicated to marriage-based name changes. A spouse who wants to adopt a new name at marriage does so administratively, presenting the marriage certificate to the Social Security Administration and the DMV rather than filing a court petition. For the federal-level steps involved, see name change after marriage.

Related West Virginia Records

For the marriage certificate or divorce decree that may support a filing, see West Virginia marriage and divorce records. For how the state's court system handles filings and case access generally, see West Virginia court records. For the broader dissolution process a name restoration is part of, see West Virginia divorce laws. For the full agency-by-agency update process once a change is granted, see the name change checklist and how to legally change your name.

Disclaimer

This article provides general information about West Virginia name-change law. It is not legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship. Fees, forms, and publication requirements change; verify current details with your circuit or family court clerk or a licensed West Virginia attorney before relying on anything here for a specific situation.

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Last updated: 2026-08-11. Fees and forms reflect their published status as of August 2026.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can a felon change their name in West Virginia?

Not while incarcerated. Beyond that, a conviction for first-degree murder or for kidnapping under W. Va. Code 61-2-14a blocks a name change for 10 years after discharge from imprisonment or parole, whichever occurs later, under W. Va. Code 48-25-103. Applying anyway is a separate misdemeanor offense under W. Va. Code 48-25-107.

Does West Virginia require newspaper publication for a name change?

Yes, and publication cannot be waived. A Class I legal advertisement must run at least 10 days before the hearing. A petitioner who shows that the change is sought to protect his or her identity for personal-safety reasons may keep the new name out of the notice, and the court may separately hold a closed hearing upon good cause shown.

Can a registered sex offender change their name in West Virginia?

No, not while their registration period is active. Under W. Va. Code 48-25-103(c), the court may not grant a name change to a person required to register with the State Police under the sex or violent offender registry article during that period.

How do I get my maiden name back after a West Virginia divorce?

The divorce court restores your former name at your request as part of the case itself, under W. Va. Code 48-5-613, with no separate Article 25 petition required.

How much does a West Virginia name change cost?

The circuit-court filing fee is $200, confirmed under W. Va. Code §59-1-11(a)(1). A lower fee has been reported for the family-court track, but it could not be independently confirmed for this article; confirm with your family court clerk.