Legal and Preferred Name Change
If you have an immediate need for access to a SFU ID card with a different name, you can request this by visiting the Registrar & Information Services office at any campus. A replacement fee may be charged. If you have questions about this process, please contact us.
SFU acknowledges the importance of preferred names, especially for transgender, non-binary and/or genderqueer students. We want to ensure we use people’s correct names and pronouns, so that everyone’s individual preferences and identity are respected at SFU.
Students are able to change their preferred name in goSFU/Student Centre. However, this does not change the legal name that shows up in many other places in the university’s systems.
Your legal name and preferred name are different and used in different ways at SFU. There is a separate process for changing each.
Legal name change
Your legal name appears on official university documents:
- Official university transcripts
- Reports to government
- Letters of attestation
- Diplomas and certificates
- Tuition fee invoices and/or receipts
Once you have changed your name legally through the government, you can change your legal name on your SFU records.
To change your legal name, please use the Student Name Change Application and submit to urecords@sfu.ca.
Preferred name change
The preferred first name will appear in parenthesis on the following unofficial internal university documents:
- Class lists
- Student advising transcripts
When you change only your preferred name, your legal name may still show up on your academic transcript, degree parchment, and other documentation.
To change your preferred name, please use the Use of Preferred First Name Application and submit to reginfo@sfu.ca.
Replacing your SFU ID card following a name change
The replacement card fee will be waived for students who provide proof of legal name change and those requesting their first ID Card following a Preferred Name Change.
If you already have an SFU ID card and would like to get a new card with your preferred or new legal name, please complete and submit one of the above forms.