The Name Change Project

For many transgender people, a legal name change is a first step towards conforming their legal identities to the way they identify and live their lives.  But securing a legal name change can be an intimidating experience, involving interaction with the court system and judges that is foreign to many people.  It can involve a significant expense as well as a serious commitment of time and effort.  By ensuring that transgender people have adequate legal representation when seeking name changes, TLDEF's Name Change Project ensures that they can successfully negotiate the legal process and move forward with their lives.

In only a short time, The Name Change Project has helped hundreds of people on the road to getting legal recognition for their names.  The project is straightforward.  Everyone who wants a lawyer deserves to have one to make the legal name change process as simple as possible.  If you can pay the costs of your name change (not the legal fees; we never charge those!), we ask that you do so.  If you can't, those fees may be covered.  You must live in New York City to participate in the project.

Need Help?

If you are seeking a legal name change, please call our office at 646.862.9396 or contact us by electronic mail.

Need directions to our office for a Project appointment?  Click here for subway and bus directions.

Want to pass this information along in printed form?  Print our Name Change Project outreach postcard (front, back) and pass it along to a friend, or contact us and we'll send you postcards.

Thank You

The Name Change Project is made possible by the generous financial and in-kind support of:

Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP;

Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP;

Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton LLP;

Covington & Burling LLP;

Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP;

Debevoise & Plimpton LLP;

DLA Piper (US) LLP;

Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP;

Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP;

Kaye Scholer LLP;

Kirkland & Ellis LLP;

Linklaters LLP;

Proskauer Rose LLP;

Ropes & Gray LLP;

Shearman & Sterling LLP;

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and Affiliates;

Steptoe & Johnson LLP;

Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP;

Sullivan & Cromwell LLP; and

White & Case LLP.