<P> Although as in other jurisdictions residents of Quebec may informally use whatever name they want, procedures for formal name change are very strict as Quebec (unlike the rest of Canada) operates under a civil law system . The decision must be authorized by the Director of Civil Status, and requires a valid reason for changing the name, including long - term use of the new name (in the Montreuil case cited below, the Quebec appeals court has considered five years' use to be a sufficient reason), difficulty of use due to spelling or pronunciation, or bearing a name that another person has made infamous . </P> <P> Only a judge may authorize a name change for a child for reasons of abandonment, deprivation of parental authority, or change in filiation such as adoption . </P> <P> This has occasionally led to controversy . A lawyer named Micheline Montreuil, a non-operative transgender woman, had to undergo a lengthy process to have her name legally changed . Initially, the director of civil status refused to permit the change on the grounds that a legal male could not bear a female name . According to Quebec law, Montreuil could not change her record of sex because this requires proof of a completed sex reassignment surgery, which she has not had . On November 1, 1999, the provincial court of appeal ruled that nothing in the law prevented a person who was legally male from legally adopting a woman's name . (Montreuil was initially prevented from changing her name despite this ruling on the grounds that she had not established general use, as normally required for a name change; the Quebec appeals court finally authorized the change on November 7, 2002 .) </P> <P> The Director of Civil Status will amend a Quebec birth certificate if a name change certificate is issued by another province . Some have used that loophole by temporarily moving to one of Canada's other provinces, which follow the more permissive common - law rules, in order to get the legal documents . </P>

Where do you go to have your last name changed