Hawaii Name Change: Fees, Forms & Gender Marker (2026 Guide)

Hawaii is the only state where a routine adult name change never touches a courtroom. Instead of filing a petition with a judge, you submit a notarized application to the Office of the Lieutenant Governor, which signs an administrative order of name change under Hawaii Revised Statutes section 574-5. There is no hearing, no fingerprinting and no background check built into the standard process.

That administrative path matters for two reasons. First, it is cheaper than most states: the combined state fees are far below the filing fees in states such as California or Florida. Second, it is predictable, because your paperwork is reviewed in the order it arrives rather than placed on a judge's calendar.

This guide walks through the 2026 process end to end: who qualifies, every fee from the $56 application to the $41 recording fee, the official petition forms, the newspaper publication rule, the confidentiality exception for people who need privacy, and the separate Hawaii Department of Health process for a new birth certificate with a sex designation change. If you are comparing states, our name change cost by state breakdown shows how Hawaii stacks up.

The Lieutenant Governor's process is open only to Hawaii residents. Active duty military personnel use their physical Hawaii address on the application, even if they maintain a PO box for correspondence.

Some people already hold legal proof of their new name without realizing it. Under the state's official application page, a separate petition is not necessary if you were married in Hawaii and declared on your marriage certificate that you would take your spouse's name, or if you are divorced and your divorce decree restores a former name. If you missed the chance to ask for a name restoration during your divorce, you can file with the Lieutenant Governor afterward rather than reopening the case.

Minors are handled through the same office with additional consent requirements: every parent listed on the child's birth certificate must sign and notarize the petition or a consent form, and a child over age 10 signs a consent form as well. If you want to understand the general workflow first, our legal name change process checklist breaks the typical sequence down.

Hawaii's state-level fees are unusually low and unusually transparent. The statutory filing fee is $50 under section 574-5(c), and the official online application adds a $1.00 archive fee and a $5.00 service fee, for a total of $56 per petition. All state fees are non-refundable, but a petition rejected for typographical errors does not cost you a second filing fee: the office applies the $50 fee to a corrected resubmission when the rejection is for fixable errors.

The state fees are only part of the total. The same official page lists the additional costs you should budget for:

Start online or pick up forms. The fastest route is the state's online name change application, which lets you pay and track your petition. Paper form packets are also available from the Lieutenant Governor's office at the Hawaii State Capitol in Honolulu.

Type every form. Handwritten forms are not accepted. Fill out the petition, fact sheet, notice of change of name and order on a computer, exactly as the packet instructions describe.

Notarize the petition. A notary public commissioned in Hawaii must witness your signature, and the notarized petition must reach the office within 30 days of notarization.

Gather supporting documents. You need a certified copy of your birth certificate issued within the last 90 days, plus any marriage certificates, divorce decrees, adoption or guardianship orders that support your request. Non-citizens submit a passport photocopy and additional identity documents listed in the packet.

Mail or hand-deliver the packet. Include the original petition, fact sheet, notice, order (one original plus five copies), supporting documents, the fee, and two self-addressed stamped envelopes.

Wait for review. Petitions are reviewed in the order received. The official application page currently estimates 8 to 12 weeks for the process, while the Lieutenant Governor's own guide has cited 6 to 8 weeks; either way, errors on your forms are the most common cause of delays. Verify the current estimate when you file.

Hawaii requires a public notice of your name change, which surprises people who assumed an administrative process meant no publication. Once the Lieutenant Governor signs the Notice of Change of Name, you are responsible for having it published in a newspaper of general circulation in the state — in practice, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. Publication fees start at $204.19 according to the official application page.

Two separate 60-day deadlines govern the process, and missing either one voids your petition:

If you use the online system, the state mails your notice after approval and the same deadlines apply. For context on why states keep this requirement and how waivers work elsewhere, see our publication requirement explainer.

For survivors of domestic violence, stalking, or others whose safety depends on staying unfindable, Hawaii law contains an important exception. Under section 574-5(e), when a petition is accompanied by an affidavit executed by a prosecuting attorney showing that confidentiality is needed for the petitioner's protection, both the newspaper publication and the Bureau of Conveyances recording are not required, and the petition, affidavit and order are kept confidential.

This is the path to discuss with the Lieutenant Governor's office or a Hawaii legal aid advocate if public notice would put you at risk. It is also a good moment to review our privacy-safe name change checklist, which covers additional steps such as scrubbing old names from data broker lists and ordering records carefully.

Note that the exception requires the prosecuting attorney's affidavit — you cannot waive publication on your own. Contact the office before filing so your packet is prepared correctly the first time.

Hawaii has offered a three-option gender category on driver's licenses, state identification cards and commercial driver's licenses since July 1, 2020, under Act 148 of the Session Laws of Hawaii 2019. Applicants can choose M (male), F (female), or X (Not Specified) when applying for, renewing or duplicating a credential. The Hawaii Department of Transportation's announcement states plainly that no additional documentation is required to select the X designation — your self-certification on the application is what the agency relies on.

The change keeps Hawaii's credentials REAL ID compliant, so the X marker does not affect airport travel. Driver licensing is administered by each county rather than by the state, so you will make an appointment with your county's driver licensing offices: the City and County of Honolulu on Oahu, Maui County, Hawaii County, or the County of Kauai. Bring your name change order and plan to update your license soon after your Social Security card arrives. For a broader comparison, see our gender marker change guide and our guide to nonbinary X markers.

If you were born in Hawaii, the Department of Health can issue an entirely new birth certificate reflecting a sex designation change under section 338-17.7 of the Hawaii Revised Statutes, as amended by Act 226 in 2015. This is a substitution, not a correction: a new certificate is established and the original certificate and supporting evidence are sealed, openable only by court order or at the registrant's own request.

The medical evidence standard is a notarized affidavit from a United States licensed physician who attests that they have a bona fide physician-patient relationship with you, have treated and evaluated you, have determined that you have had appropriate clinical treatment for gender transition and completed the transition to the new gender, and have seen a current certified copy of your birth certificate. Surgery is not required. Note two statutory details: the physician definition excludes doctors of naturopathy, and people born outside Hawaii need to work with their birth state instead.

The required forms are the Application for Amendment to Birth Record and the Physician Affidavit Form for Sex Designation Change, both available on the Department of Health's sex designation change page. The amendment fee is $3.00 per item. If you want your new legal name on the new birth certificate, submit proof of your completed name change with the application — the Department requires name change documentation either before the new certificate is established or as a separate later amendment. Read our birth certificate name change guide for the full picture.

Hawaii also issues a new marriage certificate reflecting a gender designation change under section 572 of the Hawaii Revised Statutes, as amended by Act 179. The applicant must already have a marriage certificate on file with the Department of Health and provides one of several documents: a new birth certificate showing the change of sex identifier, a government-issued identification document reflecting the change (including court-ordered changes from anywhere in the United States), or an affidavit under penalty of perjury that the request conforms the designation to the applicant's gender identifier.

The non-applicant spouse also signs a notarized affidavit stipulating to the issuance of the new certificate. The original certificate and supporting evidence are sealed, mirroring the birth certificate process. If a legal name change should appear on the new marriage certificate, include that documentation in the same request so the two updates are processed together. The Department of Health's amendments page lists the current document requirements and contact details for the Corrections Section.

With the recorded order in hand, work through the agencies in the order that unlocks the others. Start with Social Security, since nearly every other agency verifies your name against its records; our Social Security name change guide covers the free process. Then update your passport — the rules differ depending on how recently your current passport was issued — and your Hawaii driver's license or state ID through your county, adding the gender marker change in the same visit if that applies to you.

Finish with banks, employers, insurance, professional licenses, voter registration and any digital accounts that carry your old name. Order certified copies of your recorded order before you start, because most agencies want to keep or inspect a certified copy rather than a photocopy. Our passport name change guide has the document details for the federal step.

Hawaii's unusual process attracts a lot of wrong information on aggregator sites. These are the errors we see most often, checked against the statute and the state's own pages:

Q: Do I have to go to court to change my name in Hawaii? A: No. Adults file a notarized petition with the Office of the Lieutenant Governor under section 574-5, and the Lieutenant Governor signs an administrative order. The courts are involved only for matters folded into adoption or divorce proceedings.

Q: How much does a name change cost in Hawaii? A: The state charges $56 through the online application ($50 filing fee, $1 archive fee, $5 service fee). Add newspaper publication starting at $204.19, the $41 Bureau of Conveyances recording fee, and certified copies. Verify current amounts with each office before you pay.

Q: How long does the Hawaii name change process take? A: The official application page estimates 8 to 12 weeks, and the Lieutenant Governor's guide has cited 6 to 8 weeks. Plan for two to three months including publication and recording, and longer if your packet contains errors.

Q: Can I change my gender marker at the same time as my name? A: The name change and the birth certificate sex designation change are separate applications to separate offices, but you can prepare them together. A driver's license or state ID gender marker update happens at your county licensing office and can be done in the same visit as your name update.

Q: Can I get out of publishing my name change in the newspaper? A: Only through the confidentiality exception in section 574-5(e), which requires an affidavit from a prosecuting attorney showing publication would endanger you. In that case publication and public recording are skipped and the file stays confidential.

Q: Is there a fee waiver for the Hawaii name change process? A: Section 574-5 does not provide a fee waiver for the Lieutenant Governor's process, and the filing fee is non-refundable. If cost is the barrier, some applicants wait until their situation stabilizes or seek assistance from Hawaii legal aid organizations; verify current options with the office.

Every figure in this guide comes from Hawaii government sources: the state's official online name change application, which lists the application fee and the publication and recording charges; the Lieutenant Governor's name change guide and form packets; the Hawaii Department of Health's birth certificate amendments pages; and the Hawaii Department of Transportation's gender-neutral credential announcement.

Not legal advice. This article is general information, not legal counsel, and Hawaii's procedures and fees can change. Verify every requirement with the Office of the Lieutenant Governor at (808) 586-0255, the Department of Health Corrections Section at (808) 586-4541, or your county driver licensing office before you file.

Ready to budget your filing? Estimate your total with our name change cost calculator, and check whether any fee relief applies to your situation with our fee waiver checker.