River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1899-07-20
CHANGING NAME IN ENGLAND.
Applications Are Granted by the
Crown Only for the Best
of Reasons.

Now, the crown has the absolute
right to grant or withhold at its pleas
ure its license and authority for
change of name, and il all one hears be
correct almost as many applications
are refused as are granted. Needless
TO say, the refusals are not the personal
refusals of her majesty, but emanate
from the home office, through which
all petitions pass, and the home office
has assumed to itself the decision as TO
whether or not case shall be put for
ward for the personal consideration of
her majesty. In no circumstances can
anyone compel either the home office
to put forward petition, or her males-
~ 10 grant her license But, judging
from past experience, one is able TO in
dicate generally the cases in which an
application is likely to be successful.
TO begin with, no case has ever been
known in which the crown has refused
its license for any change or assump-
ton which is in conformity with either
n will or settlement, so that II may be
taken for granted that any application
for royal license pursuance either
a will or settlement will be granted
without the least difficulty being raised.
Applicants desiring to assume a
name under other circumstances must
show what The crown can consider to be
good and sufficient reason why the
change should be effected, The re-
fusaIs as to which one hears OCCASION
ally do not all seem to be dictated from
identical reasons, but il is difficult to
get exact particulars of such cases,
and though one would hesitate to say
that the granting of royal license
upon a voluntary application was
matter of the caprice of the crown or
its officers, one cannot, however, def
ntely say that such-and-such case
would be Invariably refused. Conse-
quently, one can only indicate the prob
abilities of consent or refusal. These
will usually be found to be somewhat as
follows, though as each case has its spe-
cial circumstances it is naturally diff
fieult to speak with any certainty.
An application to assume a name
where no descent can be shown from
any family of such name, and where 1T
is mere matter of personal caprice. is
almost invariably refused, An applica-
ton to assume the name of family
from whom descent in the female line
exists is generally granted if it can be
shown that the female ancestor of that
name through whom descent is proved
was an heraldic heiress in blood, or
where the applicant can show that he is
an heir of line of any male of that fam
ily An application put forward in a
case of adoption to assume the name
of the guardian is usually granted if the
application is made by the guardian
and in his lifetime; but the matter is
on an entirely different footing if the
application is made merely at the ca
price of the ward and after the death
of the guardian, when the latter has
left behind him no indication of his
wish that his ward should adopt his
name. An application to assume the
particle de" in front of a name is usu-
ally granted where unquestionable evil
dence can be produced of descent from
some ancestor who so wrote his name.
The application of husband TO as
sumo his wife's name is usually gov
erned by the fact of the heirship or
otherwise of the wife. If she be an
heiress in blood the application is usr
ally granted but it is not infrequently
refused in cases to the contrary. But
the crown does not sanction the as
sumption of name by the wife while
her husband is alive, unless the hus-
band joins in the petition to assume
the same name. Meteorological Maya
zine.