Name Changes

It probably depends on location, so if you do have experience with it please indicate where it was.

I suspect that given that married women do it often enough it really can't be all that difficult.

I don't have direct experience myself, but a friend and his wife did by combining their surnames into a new one without doing the whole hyphen thing.

B

I don't know if its different for when women get married and generally take a new name. My wife finally changed hers recently, and it wasn't that hard. A lot of forms and stuff, but nothing you wouldn't expect. She used some website that helped with all the forms, but I'm away from home right now and don't know what it was.

eric/ said:

Does anybody here have experience changing their last name? I've been thinking about doing this because I don't like the one I currently have. I know that it's probably going to be a headache. I've been thinking about changing it back to the name of the first person in my family lineage to immigrate to America. I think it would be pretty cool.

Any experience with this? Did you find it worthwhile or more trouble than it's worth?

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You go to court and change it. You don't need a lawyer to handle the myriad of paperwork - but it helps.

The downside is your history with credit etc...it takes a while to get it switched over. And new credit (like buying a car) is sometimes difficult as your old name will populate the credit reporting while the new name will climb slowly. But in the scheme of things - it is like a name change when you get married.

With that said - why legal change it...why not just change it amount you and your friends.

The cost might be a bigger problem than the hassle.

I am not from the US, I tried to change my name as well, I have 4 christian names, two middle ones and a surname and it's a pain in the behind in the immigration where I live now.
BUT, it would cost me 5000 Euro, no way I am going to pay that much.

justperry said:

The cost might be a bigger problem than the hassle.

I am not from the US, I tried to change my name as well, I have 4 christian names, two middle ones and a surname and it's a pain in the behind in the immigration where I live now.
BUT, it would cost me 5000 Euro, no way I am going to pay that much.

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That figure is completely out of the realm of reasonable. It's just a couple of forms and some info typed into a data base. I assume it would be on the individual to contact his creditors and such, shoot them the certificate advising of the new name and that is it.

I wonder if there is a concern that name changing might be used as a vehicle to ditch one's old debts?

Changing your name should not change your SSN, so why would it have an impact on credit stuff? Again women who marry do this often. No?

It just adds an a.k.a. Married couples who don't share a last name end up with a similar problem. Mr. Wifeslastname and Mrs. Husbandslastname aren't legal names, but show up in credit searches.

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eric/ said:

Well idk about it changing the SSN, but you do have your SSN tied to your name, so would your SSN not change and they would just send you a new card with your new name on it?

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Generally your SSN would not change, but the name on your SSN card would and you would need a new one.

http://ssa-custhelp.ssa.gov/app/answers/detail/a_id/315/~/change-a-name-on-a-social-security-card

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balamw said:

Changing your name should not change your SSN, so why would it have an impact on credit stuff? Again women who marry do this often. No?

It just adds an a.k.a. Married couples who don't share a last name end up with a similar problem. Mr. Wifeslastname and Mrs. Husbandslastname aren't legal names, but show up in credit searches.

B

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It does not have any long term effects on your credit history. It often does have short term issues as things get repopulated with the correct information.

It mostly an issue while you are in the lag time between it getting updated.

Rodimus Prime said:

It does not have any long term effects on your credit history. It often does have short term issues as things get repopulated with the correct information.

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Yeah, I probably wouldn't change my name if I was about to (few months) apply for a home loan or anything major like that.

B

And just don't do what this guy did without dotting the eyes and crossing the tees.

http://news.yahoo.com/florida-mans-license-restored-state-drops-fraud-allegation-202743787.html

The DMV stripped Boca Raton real estate investor Lazaro Dinh, 40, of his license in December after he changed his last name from Sopena to help his wife's Vietnamese family perpetuate their family surname.

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eric/ said:

Yeah I would definitely do everything I could to make sure that kind of thing didn't happen.

I guess now I have some reservations about doing it, mainly having to deal with people asking why, or maybe my parents wondering what has got into me.

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I never pegged you as one to give a flip about what others thought...

had a family member do it due to divorce. she went through about 4-6 months worth of paper work, at not much cost, and has been really happy with the change. she also went with a 'first generation' last name. she says '2 thumbs up'.

when my wife and i got married, we both kept our own names because my wife would have needed to spend a crazy amount of time/money to fix/correct license/legal/documents. as a compromise, our two boys have her last name as their middle name, and my last name because that's how the US system is setup. works well so far. best of luck.

Name changes only cost around 15 dollars in the UK, done in a day. From your comments there seems to be some stigma behind it in the States, or maybe you're just overplaying it in your head. Maybe name changes are more common here. People simply do it because they don't like their name..

balamw said:

I suspect that given that married women do it often enough it really can't be all that difficult.

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Unfortunately the laws in many places make it easier for married women to change their last names compared to any other case.

Here's the Ohio statute re name change:

http://codes.ohio.gov/orc/2717.01

You get the application from the probate court, fill out the form and pay whatever fee they charge, publish the application (and pay the publication fee), wait for 30 days, and it's done.

Couple of other things to keep in mind, in terms of keeping ID up to date.

Your birth certificate will be in your old name. If you ever apply for something that needs a birth certificate you will also need to include the name change. But... just to get a up-to-date copy of your birth certificate you have a whole other section of a form to fill out if you have changed your name. After you change your name, my suggestion is to apply for a new birth certificate before you need it to avoid processing delays.

Don't forget your passport. If you have one, remember to change it. If you don't have one, well - you are going to need a birth certificate.... see above.

Same thing for any marriage licenses, etc.

School transcripts as well.

Keep in mind that applying for copies of some of these documents under a new name may delay the processing, so you may want to get them now. It can be done... but there is more paperwork for you and for them so that can slow things done.

niuniu said:

Name changes only cost around 15 dollars in the UK, done in a day. From your comments there seems to be some stigma behind it in the States, or maybe you're just overplaying it in your head. Maybe name changes are more common here. People simply do it because they don't like their name..

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You don't have to pay at all in the UK. Not for the name change itself anyway. There's a website which sells deed polls for around £25 a pop and while they do work, you can find free templates online to fill out which are just as valid. In the UK you just draw up the document, sign it, get an independent witness to sign it, then print off multiple copies and send them to your bank, the tax man, etc. and you're sorted.

The only expensive bit is if you want to renew your passport with your new name straight away since you have to pay around £80 for new passports. Same might go for driving licenses.

My name was legally changed (by the Ontario/Canadian government) when I was adopted... I have no idea what my original name was.