--- title: British Passport Officials Say Woman Cannot Use 'Skywalker' In Name description: Her name could be copyright infringement canonical: https://time.com/3059436/british-passport-skywalker/ author: Eliana Dockterman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-07-30T21:30:40.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:12:02.996Z og:title: British Passport Officials Say Woman Cannot Use 'Skywalker' In Name og:description: Her name could be copyright infringement og:url: https://time.com/3059436/british-passport-skywalker/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt54e6afb6a60ef5e4/69869dced0b6f2301730581b/73913906.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Luke And Leia og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: British Passport Officials Say Woman Cannot Use 'Skywalker' In Name twitter:description: Her name could be copyright infringement twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt54e6afb6a60ef5e4/69869dced0b6f2301730581b/73913906.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # British Passport Officials Say Woman Cannot Use the Name 'Skywalker' in Signature  by [Eliana Dockterman](/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Correspondent Jul 30, 2014 9:30 PM CUT  American actors Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher in costume as brother and sister Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia in George Lucas' Star Wars trilogy, 1977. American actors Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher in costume as brother and sister Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia in George Lucas' Star Wars trilogy, 1977.Terry O'Neill—Getty Images  by [Eliana Dockterman](/author/eliana-dockterman/)  ## Eliana Dockterman Correspondent Jul 30, 2014 9:30 PM CUT Authorities told a British woman who tried to add “Skywalker” as a middle name on her passport that she’s committing trademark infringement. Laura Matthews, 29, legally applied to change her name to Laura Elizabeth Skywalker Matthews “for a bit of a laugh” in 2008, using the famous _Star Wars_‘ character Luke Skywalker’s moniker, the [BBC reports](http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-essex-28559872 "undefined"). When she tried to renew her passport, she wrote her signature as “L. Skywalker.” But passport officials said they “will not recognize a change to a name which is subject to copyright or trademark.” Authorities said she will likely have to submit another passport with a different signature, though with the same printed name. This was the first time Matthews encountered a problem with her signature. She says that she’s used it on her driving license and credit cards. \[[_BBC_](http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-essex-28559872 "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3059436/british-passport-skywalker/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3059436/british-passport-skywalker/"},"headline":"British Passport Officials Say Woman Cannot Use the Name 'Skywalker' in Signature","datePublished":"2014-07-30T21:30:40.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:12:02.996Z","description":"Her name could be copyright infringement","url":"https://time.com/3059436/british-passport-skywalker/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Bizarre"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt54e6afb6a60ef5e4/69869dced0b6f2301730581b/73913906.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Eliana Dockterman","jobTitle":"Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/eliana-dockterman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt54e6afb6a60ef5e4/69869dced0b6f2301730581b/73913906.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Luke And Leia","caption":"Luke And Leia","creditText":"Terry O'Neill—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3059436/british-passport-skywalker/","name":"British Passport Officials Say Woman Cannot Use the Name 'Skywalker' in Signature"}}]}] ```