If you've ever changed your name legally, what was the story behind your motivation?

I am curious to know your real name tough, if it doesn’t bother you of course and Simon De Beauvoir would be your future name?? :P

I changed my name unofficially in the 4th grade. I stopped spelling it with 3 letters [last two matching] first name and 4 letters [middle two matching] last name to having both names be 4 letters [middle two matching] because I liked the symmetry. It is that way on all my official documents except my birth certificate.

I know an artist, formerly named Ed McGowan who changed his name every month legally for one year as a performance piece. The only one I remember now is the first on, Alva Isiah Foss. It caused a bit of a stir at the time. He is probably Ed McGowan again.

@Ludy – it does bother me, you can PM me, if you want to find out…and no it wouldn’t be Simone De Beauvoir…it’d be Simone with another last name.

Well, it all depends on your individual reasons. A person might want to deprive their name because it either does not suit them or they show no liking towards it. Another might dedicate it towards an obsession of some kind. Or someone might simply desire to change their identity as well as their personality – they would use it as a facade to encourage them to enhance their character.

Good, cause i still don’t think I can pronounce that “last name”

Ludy is not my real name either and I didn’t even choose that nickname my name is so difficult for americans to say, well even the people I know that speaks spanish can’t say it right :) is Enedelia

I changed my name when I got married. I did not think about it that much, but I thought it would be nice to be the same name as my husband and I knew it would be easier if we had children since we live in America.

My father-in-law recently changed the spelling of his last name to how the rest of his family spells it. Back when he was born the person typing it on the official documents spelled his foreign name phonetically in the language of their present country at the time. All of his siblings before and after and his parents had it spelled correctly. I guess in his country they still were willing to spell it the “right” way on other documents. When he came to the states he eventually corrected it legally, because the US went by his actual birth certificate.

For that matter my husbands entire family kind of changed their names when they came to America, well dropped their mothers’ maiden names, which is used in their country, or dropped the De before their married names to avoid confusion.

My exboyfriend changed his first name legally because they butchered it on his birth certificate.

making Simone my actual first name, :)

Head explodes

Actually, the first name suits you. =) I like it.

@boots You don’t like it? I think, like @jjmah said, it suits me

@Simone_De_Beauvoir Not that I don’t like it (its the name that I know you by, even over your real one), I just find/found it… shocking, really.

@boots I found wis.dm and a way out of my old life in 2007 – it has been a name that led me to the people who shaped my future, including Alex…that was the moment in my life, I clarified for myself the beginning of a person I wanted to be…when I thought about what I’d want to change my name to, everyone already knew what it’d be, because that’s how I am to most people I now care about, anyway.

i changed my last name to my husbands and i hate it. i always wanted to be an author and i wanted my maiden name on the books. i regret changing it and i might change it back or use my maiden name as a pen name.

@Storybooklover Definitely!

My mom was in collage when she got pregnant with me and the sperm donor took off when she informed him of the news so when I was born, I was given her last name. Then, when I was four, she married my dad. My folks never had the extra money or the time to get around to him actually adopting me but I went by his last name anyway even though on legal documents, it was still my mothers maiden name. When I turned 18, I went to the courthouse and legally changed it to his. He’s been my dad for as long as I can remember back so I felt like it was something I needed to do.

@Randy What a cool story, thank you for sharing it.

In California, we can use any name we want – legally – without even going to court, as long as it isn’t done to commit fraud. My oldest son changed his first name when he was 13 years old.

I am a member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, and I have a Choctaw name, as well as a business name and my current ‘real’ name. My last name has changed each time I married.

I changed my first name legally when I was in my 40s. I did it because I had never felt that my given name “fit” me. My parents had disagreed over my first name and the name they named me was a compromise—neither one’s first choice.

I had also gone through some stuff that felt transformative, and I wanted to honor the new me.

I looked at baby name books for a long time, picked out my name, and lived with it for a while before legally changing it.

I am totally happy that I did it, and I never even think of myself by the original name.

I know someone who is in the process of changing her first name, legally, to something completely different from her birth name. She is doing it to disassociate herself from her abusive parents. She’s been calling herself by her chosen name since I’ve known her.

Not only is she changing her name, she moved halfway across the world to get away from them. After hearing what they did her, I don’t blame her at all.

@YARNLADY Did it upset you when your son chose a different name?

@Simone_De_Beauvoir I like your first name! I don’t understand the desire to change your first name, but I get the reasoning behind your last name.

I added my husbands last name to my name, but kept my middle and maiden name (so my last name is “maiden married” no hyphen.
I wasn’t sure if I wanted to do it, so I didn’t run off and do it right away. I found it to be such a pain in the ass. All credit cards, banks, insurance…the name change was frustrating. I was glad I kept my maiden name as well because I technically can still go by it. (but now it’s silly when I do because of my son)
I am glad I did it though. I did feel it was a small thing that brought me and my husband closer as a family because we all have the same last name. It wasn’t necessary, but I like it.

@casheroo Yeah, I don’t like it though…so I figure I should have a name that I like

@casheroo No, in the Choctaw tradition, we don’t really know who our children are when they are born, so we give them temporary names. Their names become apparent when they get older. The occasion was when I re-married, and he chose not to change his last name, as I did, but to change his first name to his ‘real’ name. He told me and the rest of the world his real name was Fox.

@YARNLADY Interesting! And I like the name he picked. My husband liked that name for our second child, but we went a different route.

I married; the reasons were the usual ones. No regrets.

Well Danger used to be my middle name…

@SeventhSense right.

If I got married I might take my wife’s name as a big fuck you! to the patriarchy. Then again every one would just assume that the name we both had originated with me so better we have separate names

in mexico we have 2 last names, when you get married you substitute the last one for your husband’s first last name, but here you only get to have one or at least is the most common way, but i really don’t want to erase compleatly who i am by getting my fiancee’s last name :( but he really wants me to

@Ludy I love the two last names, because I feel like the mom should get some credit! LOL. But then, as you point out when you get married you lose your moms name anyway. In Mexico you feel like you get to keep your maiden name, but in America using the de is perceived as you are telling everyone you are married if you use your full married last name. In America it is illegal for an employer to ask if you are married, we have Ms. so we don’t give away if we are single are married. I don’t think you have that in Mexico, just Sra and Srta. I guess you could use Doña but I don’t think Mexico uses it much, and I associate it with someone who is married, maybe I am wrong.

I am assuming you are here in the US? Why not just move your maiden name to be your middle name? That is done quite often here. I recommend not hyphenating your last names.

plus it will sound so weird example Ludivina Esther Espinoza de Munoz

@Ludy Do you mind dropping the Esther? Ludivina Espinoza Munoz, if, and that is a big if, you are in the US. In Mexico it would look like Munoz is your moms maiden name, I get that.

My sister had the registrar give each of her children her maiden name as a last name. This is in keeping with our Choctaw ancestry and helps with several children who have different fathers.

@Simone_De_Beauvoir
After she changed her name from Alotta Fagina I dropped the danger.

Wrote a response under the wrong question, sorry.

I’ve thought a lot about changing my name or adopting a pen name, but I’ve never done it—mostly because I haven’t been able to think of anything I like. For a pen name, I’d like something a little catchier… I think an author’s name does carry an unconscious influence on a potential reader. As far as my real name, it seems like it would be nice to claim it—to have something I chose rather than something I was given.

@lapilofu Well, in this case, like with tattoos – don’t get it done unless it has meaning.

@Simone_De_Beauvoir True true.

I am know as Joybird in a number of circles. It’s my self chosen Spirit name. To me it represents hummingbird; a bird of joy. There are those that refer to me as Pajarito Alegria which loosely translate to little bird of joy. I never use my legal first name preferring to use a nickname. And it is that nickname that most people use…that by itself or preceded with Miss.
I don’t use my last name at all. I am NOT my father’s and I am NOT my spouse’s. I am my own. At some point I will change it legally either to Pajarito Alegria or my nickname and Joybird as my last name.

pajarito alegria? that sounds weird, well just to let you know guys, I got married and am now officially Munoz!