Changing Your Name in South Dakota

A person who has lived in a South Dakota county for at least six months files a petition with the clerk of courts in that county, in circuit court, stating the reason and the name requested. Notice of the hearing must be published once a week for four weeks in a legal newspaper in the county. At the hearing in open court, the judge orders the change if notice was given, the petition is true, and there is proper and reasonable cause. The court may skip publication and an open hearing for an adult domestic abuse victim or a human trafficking victim who shows a particular need for protection, and may seal the records.

When a divorce decree is granted, the court may, on its own or at either party's request, restore to the wife her maiden name or the name she legally had before the marriage.