While in the course of taking an examination, I came across an instance of another option. Noting that a name had been changed, I expected to find that it had been by royal licence; it turned out to have been by act of parliament. I expect that that cost more than a couple of guineas as well. Another possibility is a statutory declaration, though this is more otten used to provide evidence of a change that took place at some earlier time. I remember that about twenty-five years ago a mother and son publicised their change of name amongst the classified advertisements in the Hastings and St Leonards Observer. It was the subject of a news item on the front page as well. I think that this must have been because the son was a solicitor who often represented the borough council at the magistrates' court and was therefore known to reporters. Somewhere on one of my bookshelves is a run of genealogical periodicals from around a century ago relating the saga of a Welsh magistrate who executed a deed declaring that he had changed his surname. The custos rotulorum initially refused to amend the commission of the peace for want of a royal licence authorising the change. He eventually conceded, though. In passing, I wonder why deeds evidencing changes of name are almost always (correctly) described as poll, while other deeds poll manage without the suffix. Jeremy Wilkes