Legal Name Change

[Fearless Leader]

Couple of questions about it.

Q1) Have any of you done it?

Q2) Was it an easy process?

Q3) Did any sort of complications arise?

[mattscott306]

Yeah, I got my name changed last august, it's an easy process if you use a lawyer. Here in GA (I believe it varies from state to state) you have to run a notice in your local newspaper for four weeks, and then go before a judge. They want you to have a good reason to (I was taking my stepfathers last name), but you can do it for no reason.

[MongoTheGeek]

I have heard its easy and that in US you can get it changed to just about anything and for just about any reason except for fraud purposes (Evading debts or trying to appear to be someone else.)

May I recommend the name Raymond Luxury Yaucht.

[Mammoth]

Name yourself.. Mammoth Jr. :D

[mkrishnan]

Name yourself.. Mammoth Jr. :D

So that you can start saying, "Call me Daddy?" ;)

[Mammoth]

So that you can start saying, "Call me Daddy?" ;)
No so I can start my army of minions. :cool:

[SpookTheHamster]

Zeus, Thor, Odin. Those are good names.

[mattscott306]

Old school classic.

Amanda Hugenkis

[2nyRiggz]

How about Rowland Studmuffin.....pick up a lot of chicks with that.



Bless

[steamboat26]

How about Rowland Studmuffin.....pick up a lot of chicks with that.


That was a good laugh :D

[iRachel]

Only possible complication that I can think of is that most states will charge a fee - though I don't think it's that much.

Just make a list of all the place you need to call/write to have them update your information - it might be longer than you initially thought - and keep track of who you've notified and who you haven't got to yet.

[RedTomato]

I changed my name a few years ago.

The UK has two ways to do it :

1. Common law - you just tell everyone to call you by your new name. Some companies will be happy to bill you in your new name, others need legal proof as below.

2. Deed Poll. You go to a solicitors and get a legal document drawn up, for about £50, certifying your change of name. No reason is needed. You can then show that to the banks etc to get your credit cards, passport etc in your new name.

As mentioned above, the key thing is that there must be no attempt to hide your identity or evade anything.

Some people deed poll their names to strange things, like Mr IhateMcDonalds, often when in the middle of a court case against the entity they don't like.

RandomStory: My favourite non-entertainment-related namechange is Henry Morton Stanley, the famous American explorer who discovered Dr Livingstone in the jungle with the immortal phrase "Dr Livingstone, I presume?"

He was actually born with the name John Rowlands to a grindingly poor family in a Welsh coal valley - his parents weren't married, his father died soon after, and his mother refused to look after him, so as an illegitimite, he grew up in the harsh workhouse.

Escaping to the USA at 15, he encountered a wealthy trader in New Orleans, named Stanley, whos name he assumed, reinventing himself.

All his life, he was obsessed with fear that people would discover his real working class origins, his illegitimacy, and that he wasn't really called Stanley. As an old man, he wandered the graveyards of New Orleans, looking for graves with the name 'Stanley' that he could claim were ancestors of his.

[Zwhaler]

How about Beufard Tideus (pronounced Byoo-ferd ty-diss)... there is a funny story behind that one... :D ;)

[Fearless Leader]

Ron Burgundy
Steve Jobs Jr
I love Macs

Have crossed my mind

[TequilaBoobs]

Yeah, I got my name changed last august, it's an easy process if you use a lawyer. Here in GA (I believe it varies from state to state) you have to run a notice in your local newspaper for four weeks, and then go before a judge. They want you to have a good reason to (I was taking my stepfathers last name), but you can do it for no reason.

i did the same thing - changed my last name to match my stepdad. i had my lawyer do the paperwork in VA where i was at the time. cost like couple hundred bucks, signed a few documents, and that was it. more trouble updating information with the DMV (worse employees ever!), credit cards, social security, etc...

[eRondeau]

May I recommend the name Raymond Luxury Yaucht.

How do you pronounce that???

[yellow]

Couple of questions about it.

Q1) Have any of you done it?

Q2) Was it an easy process?

Q3) Did any sort of complications arise?

My wife has.

No it wasn't. Changing driver's license, SS card, etc was a hassle.

No, just wasted time.

[yellow]

I have heard its easy and that in US you can get it changed to just about anything and for just about any reason except for fraud purposes (Evading debts or trying to appear to be someone else.)

May I recommend the name Raymond Luxury Yaucht.



I'm changing my name to "Cash", so I can sue the banks that converted money from checks made out to cash.. I mean.. to me!

[emw]

Like yellow, my wife also changed her name. It wasn't extremely simple, but neither was it all that complex.

The only complications were that people who knew her by the "old" name now had ot learn the "new" name. If you're doing something drastic, like changing your entire name (vs. just last name), then there may be other complications caused primarily by things cropping up that are still in your old name that you forgot to change.

Unless you're just talking about your MR name, in which case you just need to PM a god with a good reason... ;)

[cycocelica]

Why exactly do you want to change your name?

[RedTomato]

Some countries have lists of 'official' names, and everyone born in that country must be called a name from that list.

I find this a hard concept to grasp, but apparently it's true. I had a girlfriend a long long time ago, called Victoria.

Nothing unusual about that, but she was from Argentina, and 'Victoria' is not on the list there. (the situation may be different now) Her mum apparently had a huge struggle to get the right to name her baby Victoria.

Victoria loved her unique name - she was pretty much the only one around - and when she came to live in the UK, she was really pissed off to find it was such a common name here.

[TequilaBoobs]

apparently, you can change your name to a symbol, like Prince, but how practical it is I dunno...

[RedTomato]

Prince changed his stage name, yes. But I'm pretty sure his taxes, accounting and passport name remained the same.

I also have a different working name (for brand recognition reasons) and passport/taxes name.

[biturbomunkie]

good to know it's not too hard. have been thinking of changing my name.

[mattscott306]

apparently, you can change your name to a symbol, like Prince, but how practical it is I dunno...

Nope, you can't use any symbols or numbers in your name change. You can only use letters.

[iMacZealot]

I'm changing my name to "Cash", so I can sue the banks that converted money from checks made out to cash.. I mean.. to me!

That really made me laugh. :)

[Fearless Leader]

Nope, you can't use any symbols or numbers in your name change. You can only use letters.

crap i guess :apple: is now out of the question. (bet steve jobs has had the same thought)

[MACDRIVE]

I know a guy who changed his name from Brian Riley to Adrienne Apollo. :D

[mpw]

I changed my name, £50 and no real problems. I'm planning to change it again fairly soon, but I can't decide what to change it to...unleashes MR's punsters

[furious]

I changed my middle name to Danger. :p Now I can say my middle name is danger. :cool:

[mpw]

I changed my middle name to Danger. :p Now I can say my middle name is danger. :cool:

My middle name is....

Ooo why don't we all try to 'guess' the middle names of other members? ;)

[dartzorichalcos]

How about Josh, Isaac or Dartz.

[MongoTheGeek]

I changed my middle name to Danger. :p Now I can say my middle name is danger. :cool:

Penn Jillette named his daughter Moxie Crimefighter Jillette.

[jruc4871]

You could deliberate over...

Hercules Rockefellor
Rembrandt Q. Einstein

...then just settle on Max Power.

[eRondeau]

Not trying to get off-topic here, but I know one couple who were both professionals and neither wanted to change their name when they got married. But when they had a baby, they couldn't agree on whose surname the baby should take. So they "combined" parts of both surnames to come up with a totally new surname. So, as an example, if mom was Smith and dad was Jones, the baby's surname is now "Smones". Seriously. I'm not making this up.

[Blue Velvet]

1) Yes
2) Yes
3) Yes

[EricNau]

apparently, you can change your name to a symbol, like Prince, but how practical it is I dunno...
Don't you mean The Artist Formerly Known as Prince? ;)

[Mord]

Make sure to get everything changed over asap, it'll only cause issue later on.

in scotland it's pretty trivial, you just print out a document, take it to a solicitors sign it, have them sign it and then they'll make you a few copies. you then have to show it to the relevent people and the list is rather long and you'll likely only have 3 or so certified copies so it takes a bloomin age, right now for me the passport office still has one, the student loans company has annother and my university has the third and is pretending they mailed it back to me when they didn't.