The petition must be filled out and signed in front of a Notary Public. You may need additional forms to change a child's name.You can ask the court to change a child's name if you are the child's biological or adoptive parent, the child's legal guardian or "next friend." To update your personal name, business or residence address download, complete and submit the Change Notice to the address on the form. I'm going to take a minute here and we're going to cover how to properly do an all-purpose acknowledgement for the state of California. Go to the courthouse and fill out a form, showing your current name and the name you want, plus your reason for changing it. Double-check all the information you have written in the certificate, such as the spelling of the signer's name and the date, and make sure it's correct.