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There are differences in departments and systems that use your lived name and those that need your legal name. Please look at the following chart for more information about these differences and how your name is used by the College. Please note: College staff will do their best to use your lived and legal names in the places described below, but the College cannot guarantee that your lived name won't be used external to campus.

Please email registrar@bowdoin.edu for more details about completing this process.

Student must submit one of:

• Court order
• Divorce documents
• Birth certificate
• Marriage certificate
• Naturalization documents

 And one of:

• Social Security Administration documentation
• Passport
• Driver’s license
• US State-issued ID card (not a driver’s license)

A new social security card will need to be presented at the Registrar’s Office, as employment and taxes will be impacted if social security information does not match.

The College reserves the right to contact you if your lived name could be interpreted as disrespectful or offensive, or used for the purpose of misrepresentation.

Changes to your lived name will occur within 24 hours in most systems; others may take additional time based on the system’s configurations.

ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø±¬ÍøÕ¾ endeavors to ensure consistency across systems in displaying lived name. In the unlikely event that your lived name is not displaying accurately, please contact the Registrar’s Office.

Your updated lived name will appear in the OneCard system after 24 hours. At that time, you may hand in your existing card to get a new OneCard at no cost. The lost card policy remains the same.

By default, your legal name is used on your official ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø±¬ÍøÕ¾ transcript, but you have the option to use your lived name instead. Using your lived name on your official ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø±¬ÍøÕ¾ transcript has the potential to cause name matching issues in the future with outside agencies that require the use of legal name. You may request that your lived name become the name on your official transcript by completing the online Student Biographical Change Form.

Some offices such as the Development and Alumni Relations Office have some contact with parent(s)/guardian(s) of current students. Your legal name will be used in communications to your parent(s)/guardian(s). In a second phase of the Lived Name Initiative, students will be able to choose a name to be used for external communications, including communication with parent(s)/guardian(s).

The College is permitted to release “directory information” about students, including lived and legal name. This "directory information" is different from what is in ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø±¬ÍøÕ¾'s online directory; more information is available in the Code of Community Standards.

The Office of Communications and Public Affairs handles all publicity for ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø±¬ÍøÕ¾, including information about students’ academic, athletic, and other achievements. The College may distribute your name if you gave permission on the student release form when you enrolled at ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø±¬ÍøÕ¾. If you wish to update your preferences, please contact the Office of Communications and Public Affairs.

When you update your lived name, the email display name will change. However, the NetID on the email address and your username will not change if you update your lived name.

If your name change relates to gender identity and/or a health or safety risk, you may request with the Registrar's Office that the NetID part of your email address and your username be changed.