Do you know anyone who legally changed their name as an adult?

AnneShirleyBlythe · March 2011

The Heaven Lee/Heather Lee post got me thinking.

My aunt's give name was Nadine. For some reason she went by Susan. She had it legally changed as an adult. It was always whispered in hushed tones..."do you know what aunt Sue's REAL name is?".

mbritto4 · March 2011

My Mom was about to when she passed. She was waiting for my Grandma to pass away to not offend her, but she died 4 days after Grandma. Mom's name was Virginia, she was going to legally change it to her NN Gini because she always hated Virginia.

edited to add: My Grandma dropped her MN when she got married and used her maiden because she always hated her name Elizabeth Olive (hated Olive). I don't mind it, but always think of Grandma when I see people on here naming girls Olive.

Karen1998 · March 2011

No, but in Texas you can do it by renown, so I think doing the full legal thing is less common.

Ripli · March 2011

I know a couple of people who go by their middle names, rather than their first names. But no one who's actually legally changed it to something else entirely.

I know a guy who legally changed his last name. It basically sounded like 'whores' so it changed it something a little less, um...whorish lol

My husband has always said he would've had no qualms about changing his last name to mine if his surname had been a mouthful or unpleasant-sounding.

kmv68 · March 2011

A very skanky girl in high school changed her name the day she turned 18 from Tanya to Tatiannah

Ali1b1g+1 · March 2011

My aunt's given name was Lois. She went by Loe while growing up and then changed it to Zoe as an adult. She really didn't like Lois.

ReniaB · March 2011

I did

CocoBrynne · March 2011

No but in about 18 yrs I think a bunch of Neveah's will be flooding the social security offices Wink

IU_baby · March 2011

One of my former clients legally changed her first and middle names after she divorced her first husband and married her second one. Lee Ann became Kennedy. I never knew the reason why.

backinpgh · March 2011

A girl I used to work with was named Genevieve but she changed it to Jennifer when she turned 18. I knew her as Jen. Honestly Genevieve was way too fancy for her...lol

mrsmikey · March 2011

My MIL's birth name was Ava Joan, and she went by Joan and hated Ava. So when she got married she changed her first name to Joan, kept her maiden as her middle, and then took her husband's last name. I bet she never thought Ava would make a comeback

inque223 · March 2011

I had a friend who's name was Kim...she changed it it Daryl. She LOVED Hall and Oates as a teenager and started going by Daryl (of the Hall fame) when we were seniors in HS. Then a few years later she legally changed it.

I always thought it was a little weird...her identical twin was Julie...and Kim and Julie sounds so much better than Daryl and Julie as twin sisters.

jiffy-pop · March 2011

I know a guy whose last name was Roach. He changed it to O'Ryan before he got married (to one of my good friends). His mn was Ryan. I have no idea how they came up with O'Ryan. Everyone always thought it was weird that they just randomly came up with that last name. I think they're divorced now.

stellahav · March 2011

My grandmother changed hers from Regina to Virginia, because everybody called her Virginia -- I don't know why. Her sister changed hers from Helen to June (her mn).

ikissedthecook · March 2011

My mom's first name was Peggy, but she always hated it. At some point in her adult life, she dropped her first name, and now uses her middle name as her first name instead.

HappyGoLuckyGal · March 2011

My SIL changed her name from Jennifer to Jaiden when she was in her mid-twenties. Sigh.

Nanna · March 2011

My aunt legally changed her name from Darlene to Darcy when she started her modeling career.

2bmrs.g · March 2011

One of my best friend's name was Margaret, but she always went by Megan. When she got married, she legally became Megan.

pghctwife · March 2011

lurker chiming in

My grandma's given name is Henrietta Phyllis. She was 'supposed to be a boy' (?? she was only the 2nd of 4 soo... um weird) and her father was Henry, so she became the namesake. Then a couple years later her brother was born. Henry. She supposedly marched into K and announced that she was Phyllis and NOT Henrietta. This was before Soc Security etc, so I dont think she needed to change it legally, it just was.

meggers102 · March 2011

One of my friends from high school's name was D. Elliot LastName. Yes, his first name was just a letter in honor of his father but his parents didn't want him to have the same name as his dad. As you can imagine, just the letter 'D.' caused lots of confusion and frustration. Once he was 18 he dropped the 'D.' and is now just Elliot LastName.

losmitty · March 2011

I know a girl who changed her name from "jordan" to "jordyn". :P

Rach21 · March 2011

I had a friend change his name in high school. He was born Bruno DeJenna but changed it because he "didn't like the Italian stereotype." (We lived in freakin MT, not Jersey. It would really be OK, dude!) He changed his name to Brian Johnson. I was totally disappointed because there are a million Brian Johnsons in the world.

It took me and DH a long time to come up with G's name. If he changed it, I'd be really hurt.

beaner123 · March 2011

I used to work with a guy who changed his name from Dave to Jet....his last name is Black...

Zed58 · March 2011

In Minnesota, you can legally change your name free of charge to anything you want when you are married. When you fill out the application for your Marriage Certificate, you write what you're name will be after marriage and it can be whatever you choose. When I was in high school, I had a job working for the county and one of the things I did was type up Marriage Certificates. Needless to say, I saw some interesting name choices.

I saw quite a few "normal" named people taking some whacked out names when they were married (but I also saw "normal" named people changing their names to different "normal" names). Anyway, I saw a lot of name changes, but the ones that stick out are the ones went "hippie" with their names...like Sunshine, Moonshine, Starlight, etc. Didn't see a *lot* of them, but definitely more then I would have ever imagined.

Other then that, I personally know a woman who legally changed her name from Sarah to Maggie.

Quiksilver620 · March 2011

a man I work with is named Ralph, but he goes by Larry...weird

braveangel2 · March 2011

I did and so did my 60-year-old boss. Both of us had issues with parts of our names that less-than-savory family members chose for us. The paperwork and the $100 was so worth it.

TiffaniMay · March 2011

My grandmother's name was Chloe, but she legally changed it to Ann. She despised Chloe, but I think it's a beautiful name.

718gemini · March 2011

My husband did. His first name was the same as his Dad's, and he's always been known by his middle name. He never liked sharing a name like that, and when he moved to the US it became a bit of a headache. He'd been thinking about having it changed for a while. It was an option when he was naturalized, so he ran with it.

RaeJ004 · March 2011

CocoBrynne:
No but in about 18 yrs I think a bunch of Neveah's will be flooding the social security offices

This!

robynlesley · March 2011

I know two people who did so but they changed their names from a traditional and common name (one was Jennifer) to an eccentric name (think Zuma / Apple / etc.).

I have friends who hate their first name and go by their middle name, too.

When my best friend Margaret was a teenager, she wanted to change her name. But now she loves that she is named for her mother--also Margaret.

crystal959 · March 2011

My maternal grandfather legally changed his name so he was no longer a Jr. and my paternal grandmother legally changed hers from Thelma Joyce to Joyce Thelma. I think I might have too in her case.

azzyberry · March 2011

Not as an adult but I had a friend in the 2nd grade who legally changed her name. She was being raised in a foster home because her mom was a deadbeat and I don't know what happened to the father. Anyway, she didn't want to have the same last name as her bio mom so she went to court and they agreed that she could change her name. She also decided to change her first name as well. She came to school the following year with a new name. By the time we hit high school very few people knew that she used to have a different name but there was still the occasional whispering. I still remember her former name.

shall923 · March 2011

I worked with a guy that was a jr. When he was 10 his father left him and his mom, remarried, had another son and named him jr. The exact same name. So, dropped the first name and took his mom's maiden name.

zaramarie81 · March 2011

I know a Carol who hated her name and changed it to a nickname that sounds nothing like it.

I also have a family member who hated her mn so dropped it when she married (I see this as different than people who just want to make their maiden name their mn because these folks don't always hate their given mn!). Um, what else... I know of a friend who goes by his mn because he doesn't like his first name.

Amber68W · March 2011

My MIL's name is Mary and she goes by Peggy. She had a bad accident when she fell off of a horse and hit her head. From then on, she went by Peggy. She never legally changed it and I'm always afraid I'm going to slip up and call her Mary.

Daisy41459 · March 2011

My uncle did. His given name was Chester Edward Jr., but he went by Eddie his whole life (so much so that my mother didn't know his real name until he changed it). So when he was of age he changed it to Edward Matthew (his confirmation name).

grace782 · March 2011

My aunt's given name was Cathy, and she had it changed to Cathleen as an adult because she wanted a name that wasn't just a nickname. I'm pretty sure she'd always been asked what "Cathy" was short for. I like that she got to pick, since there are so many names that could be long for "Cathy."

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