• Becoming a Parent
  • Adoption Information
  • Choosing a Last Name for Your Child
  • Delayed Registration of Alberta Vital Events
  • Guidelines for Choosing a Given Name or Last Name for Your Child
  • Making Corrections to a Registration
  • Ordering a Birth Certificate/Document
  • Registration of Births
• Dealing With Death
• Getting Married
• Statistical Information
• Stillbirth Information
• Vital Statistics Searches
• Common Questions - Vital Statistics
• Forms and Publications - Vital Statistics

Guidelines for Choosing a Given Name or Last Name for Your Child

Number of Names

A Child's name must minimally consist of two names: a last name and given name.

Alphabet

A child's name must be written in the Roman alphabet "a" to "z". 

Single Letter Names

A person may have a given name or a last name that consists of only a single letter. The letter may be upper or lower case and may or may not be followed by a period.

Special Characters

The only punctuation (special characters) allowed are (.) period, (') apostrophe, (-) hyphen. Punctuation is only permitted in conjunction with letters (for example, a child's name cannot be .."-"..).

Accents

Some accents are permitted provided they are used with a Roman letter. 

Numbers

Arabic numbers such as 1, 7, 55, 401, 007, etc. are not permitted as part of a name. 

Hyphens

Hyphens may be used in a given or last name. 

Titles

Some titles are permitted in a given or last name (for example, Sr., Senior, Junior, JR., IV, II, III, Third, Fourth, Second, etc).

Additional Information

Choosing a Last Name for Your Child