Changing A Surname In The US

[Chez_Guevara]

Wikipedia records several restrictions concerning court issued name changes in the US.

Firstly, and this is presumably a general statement relevant to all states, it offers the following wisdom:

The applicant may be required to give a somewhat reasonable explanation for wanting to change his/her name. A fee is generally payable, and the applicant may be required to post legal notices in newspapers to announce the name change. Generally the judge has judicial discretion to grant or deny a change of name, especially if the name change is for “frivolous” or “immoral” purposes, such as changing one’s name to “God,” “Penis,” “Copyright,” or “Fuck.”

Three sensible exclusions there, in my opinion.

The article then mentions a couple of specific examples, like so:

In 2004, a Missouri man did succeed in changing his name to “They.” The Minnesota Supreme Court ruled that a name change to “1069” could be denied, but that “Ten Sixty-Nine” was acceptable (Application of Dengler, 1979), and the North Dakota Supreme Court denied the same request several years before (Petition of Dengler, 1976).

(1) Does any state allow surnames containing characters other than A-Z (with diacritics where necessary), apostrophes, and hyphens? The UK system prohibits other symbols and I would guess similar restrictions apply in the US.

(2) Is there anyone in Minnesota, or anywhere else, walking around with a totally numeric first name and surname, albeit spelled out in letters?

This again is just my opinion but I think numeric names would be quite useful because it would save people having to give out their phone numbers to other people.

Many thanks.

[Rhythmdvl]

Neat thread.

In the same vein, does anyone know what Prince’s (current) legal name is? I thought changing to that symbol was more than a stage gimmick, but I don’t keep up on celebrity news.

[CookingWithGas]

I do not have a cite, but when I lived in Ann Arbor about 25 years ago there were folks advising people that you didn’t have to go to court for a name change, you just had to start using the name. This advice was from a women’s advocacy organization that was primarily giving this advice to women who were being married or divorced, although the applicability seemed broader. I can’t vouch for the veracity, or its applicability in 2008.

[CookingWithGas]

[QUOTE=Rhythmdvl]
In the same vein, does anyone know what Prince’s (current) legal name is? I thought changing to that symbol was more than a stage gimmick, but I don’t keep up on celebrity news.
[/QUOTE]
This is a blatant hijack but there has been some discussion that he changed his name to a symbol as part of some sort of copyright dispute with his production company. You can search this board for all kinds of discussion and possibly actual facts.

[Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker]

I can’t answer the OP, but will add this:

Back in the early 1970s, I remember a newspaper article about a man whose name was “10-8 Kelly.” He said that was his real name, and that he was named “10-8” because his mother had a pregnancy that lasted ten months and eight days.

I didn’t buy it either, and I don’t buy that that was his real name, but I’d love to find that article again.

[Chez_Guevara]

[QUOTE=CookingWithGas]
I do not have a cite, but when I lived in Ann Arbor about 25 years ago there were folks advising people that you didn’t have to go to court for a name change, you just had to start using the name.
[/QUOTE]
Correct.

That’s defined as ‘changing your name at will’ whereas in the UK I think it’s known as ‘change of name by use’.

The problem with this method here is that documentation such as (from the link) passport, driving licence, tax and National Insurance records, bank and credit cards etc. can’t be amended to reflect the new name. A deed poll is necessary to allow such changes.

[Rhythmdvl]

[QUOTE=CookingWithGas]
This is a blatant hijack but there has been some discussion that he changed his name to a symbol as part of some sort of copyright dispute with his production company. You can search this board for all kinds of discussion and possibly actual facts.
[/QUOTE]

Gah?

@Chez Guevara

(1) Does any state allow surnames containing characters other than A-Z (with diacritics where necessary), apostrophes, and hyphens?

Since you’ve read those threads, can you help with the outcome? Was it a legal change or just a stage thing?

[Polycarp]

[QUOTE=CookingWithGas]
I do not have a cite, but when I lived in Ann Arbor about 25 years ago there were folks advising people that you didn’t have to go to court for a name change, you just had to start using the name. This advice was from a women’s advocacy organization that was primarily giving this advice to women who were being married or divorced, although the applicability seemed broader. I can’t vouch for the veracity, or its applicability in 2008.
[/QUOTE]

To the best of my knowledge, the common law allows one to adopt and use any name they choose to, so long as there is no attempt to defraud. That is, you may decide that you’d rather be Brad McStudley than Wilfred Cholmondeley, let those around you know that’s your preference, and begin answering to Brad and not to Wilfred.

On the other hand, nobody is compelled to accept your choice. “Changing your name” in an ex parte petition before a judge places on legal record your choice, and may be used to compel, e.g., your bank, your employer’s personnel records, the skeptical bureaucrat at the driver’s license bureau, to rfecognize that the former Wilfred Cholmondeley is now officially and legally Brad McStudley.

Attempts to defraud might include trying to avoid paying debts tied to your previous name, claiming that you are the “Cecil Adams” who writes the Straight Dope column, claiming that you are William Gates who runs Microsoft rather than William Gates (ne Stanislaus Cracowsky) who runs the third shift at the Burger King across the road from the mall, etc.

Some jurisdictions, however, may have definite statutes relating to the assumption of a new name – which would override this. Exceptions are often spelled out in law, such as the right to assumption of a new surname at marriage, in an adoption, or on divorce [which might be reversion to an old surname].

All the above is TTBOMK, with no cite backing me, and I’d very much appreciate Gfactor or another person with clear knowledge of the legal ramifications specifying what they are.

[pravnik]

[QUOTE=CookingWithGas]
This is a blatant hijack but there has been some discussion that he changed his name to a symbol as part of some sort of copyright dispute with his production company. You can search this board for all kinds of discussion and possibly actual facts.
[/QUOTE]
Prince couldn’t release music as “Prince” for a while because Warner Brothers owned the rights to distrubute music under that name:

The first step I have taken towards the ultimate goal of emancipation from the chains that bind me to Warner Bros. was to change my name from Prince to [the Love Symbol]. Prince is the name that my Mother gave me at birth. Warner Bros. took the name, trademarked it, and used it as the main marketing tool to promote all of the music that I wrote. The company owns the name Prince and all related music marketed under Prince. I became merely a pawn used to produce more money for Warner Bros.… I was born Prince and did not want to adopt another conventional name. The only acceptable replacement for my name, and my identity, was [the Love Symbol], a symbol with no pronunciation, that is a representation of me and what my music is about. This symbol is present in my work over the years; it is a concept that has evolved from my frustration; it is who I am. It is my name.

Prince (musician)

[jjimm]

Nothing to contribute other than I once went out with a girl whose brother, a hippy douchebag, had changed his name by deed poll to “Tree”. Not first, middle, or last - just “Tree”.

I saw his checkbook - clearly the bank’s computer at the time couldn’t handle just a single name, so it said “MR TREE” on it.

[Cardinal]

I remember clearly that when Prince was in court, his lawyers tried to refer to “The Artist” and such, but the judge put his gavel down and insisted on “Mr. Nelson”. The name change had been a stage name only, and I guess his state ID still said Prince Rogers Nelson.

[Triskadecamus]

I changed my name.

I did not change my surname, but I did change my middle name to two other middle names. I notified the Social Security administration in a notarized letter, using both the old and new names. I then used the replacement social security card to obtain a drivers license. (Turns out, back in the old days I didn’t actually need the card.) I notified all my creditors of my new name, and my bank as well. The hardest thing of all was convincing the University I had attended before that that I was entitled to have access, and credit for my prior records. They wanted an extra fee for registration. (They didn’t mind giving me academic credit, though.)

Tris

[Chez_Guevara]

[QUOTE=Rhythmdvl]
Was it a legal change or just a stage thing?
[/QUOTE]
Court approval for a stage name isn’t required. These were applications for legal name changes.

There’s nothing in either UK or US law to prevent me from calling myself Chez Brilliantine from now on, stage performer or not, if that is my desire. However, unless I make the change legal via UK deed poll my personal documentation (passport, driving licence, bank details, etc.) can’t be amended to reflect that change.

The Petition of Dengler (1976) to the North Dakota Supreme Court failed primarily because ‘the name-change statute contemplates a change from one name to another, and not a change from a name to a number. Section 32-28-02, NDCC’, despite the following justification by the petitioner:

The petitioner, in support of his request, states that he was adopted and given the name Michael Herbert Dengler; that his personal philosophy has experienced expansion and quests for answers to various philosophies, including recognized schools of thought as well as his own personal philosophy, which he has adapted from those of other schools of thought and other cultures; that a person’s name should be a mark of indicium which corresponds to and is a verbal and graphic manifestation of the person’s philosophy.

This is followed by petitioner’s explanation of the characters ‘1069’. I wouldn’t bother reading it if I were you.

Is the North Dakota name change statute the same in other states of the US?

[Chez_Guevara]

This is peripheral.

One notable difference between the UK and Missouri is that here one cannot change one’s first name and surname to a single name. Whereas a circuit judge in Missouri allowed Andrew Wilson to change his name to ‘They’, the UK deed poll rules wouldn’t permit Gordon Sumner to legally change his name to ‘Sting’.

[AHunter3]

[QUOTE=Chez Guevara]
Correct.

That’s defined as ‘changing your name at will’ whereas in the UK I think it’s known as ‘change of name by use’.

The problem with this method here is that documentation such as (from the link) passport, driving licence, tax and National Insurance records, bank and credit cards etc. can’t be amended to reflect the new name. A deed poll is necessary to allow such changes.
[/QUOTE]

In the US, that’s not true, as written. An individual person may find it necessary to go the deed poll route in order to get documentation changed. It’s trickier without because any given bureau or org may balk. But generally speaking, once you get the first one, the next one’s easier, and it becomes a “snowball rolling downhill” phenom.

[Walloon]

For those with access to legal databases, American Law Reports has an article on “Circumstances justifying grant or denial of petition to change adult’s name”, 79 A.L.R.3d 562.