Lately I’ve been considering changing the dumb middle name my parents gave me to something I like a bit more.
How do I do this? And does it cost anything?
I believe you can file a “Change of Name” notice at your county Probate Court, assuming you’re in the U.S. It may cost a hundred bucks or so for the filing fee. You’ll also have to get your Social Security card and driver’s license changed, at least.
If you aren’t concerned about making it official, you can just start using the new name. There’s no official registry of names in the U.S. I’ve been going by “City Ahimseh Wonderwheel Gent” for some years now and nobody seems to care.
I believe that it can vary by state, but it does cost something. You have to go to an office of public records where your birth certificate is.
City Gent’s right.
In CA, at least, you can just start using the new name. You can even get a driver’s license without any official change on your birth certificate.
As long as you don’t do it to perpetrate a fraud.
So, what’s this terrible name? 
Peace,
mangeorge
I changed my name a few years back in Seattle in Washington State. (My full name: First, middle, and last.) It was pretty simple:
[ul][li]Get the form from small claims court[/li][li]Fill out the form – it asked what the old name is, what the new name is, and the reason for the change (you’re allowed to say “personal preference”)[/li][li]Attend small-claims court during the name-change sessions (that took about an hour for me and 12 or so others)[/li][li]Tell the judge for the record that, yes, you really do want to change your name[/li][li]Pay the court fee (~$75 when I did it)[/ul][/li]
It’s the stuff after the name change that’s a pain:
[ul][li]Get a new driver’s license (only $4 when I did it)[/li][li]Get new credit cards[/li][li]Get a new social-security card[/li][li]Notify creditors and credit bureaus[/li][li]Repeat the previous step for 2 years until they really all get it[/ul][/li]
For the government ones, you have to send them notarized copies of the name change. So you’ll want to get extra notarized copies from the court while you’re there. For the non-government ones, you usually have to send a photocopy of the name-change order; you don’t have to send court-notarized copies, though.
I’m told that this is more complicated for people who own property and have children: Much more paperwork to change. So keep that in mind.
Now, all that being said, if you’re changing only your middle name, you may not have to send paper copies to everybody and their dog – just to the gub’mint agencies.
You can, at least in Washington, get your birth certificate changed too. See Washington State Courts - Error for a brief explanation. Probably you can do the same in other states if you want. I myself never bothered with that. But I did get my college diploma updated.
I found out to my annoyance that, because I am female, I could call my credit-card companies and tell them any old time that I’ve changed my last name – no documentation needed. (Based on this tradition thing about women assuming their male spouse’s name when they marry.) But if I’ve changed my first name… Well, that’s a big hassle and they have to have documentation. Grrrr. Who wants to bet that a male can’t call up a credit-card company and just tell them that he’s changed his last name without providing any documentation?
Change a middle name? When does woman past 18 ever get asked her middle name much less use it for anything and why even bother unless it’s Janet “Hitler” Jones or something along those lines.
Out of the the thousands upon thousands of female people over 18, I’ve met in my life not one has ever used her middle name in any sort of introductory context. If it’s just annoyingly clunky simply use the initial or omit it altogether.
I second the thing about the driver’s license. I recently had to have my name changed on mine (got married 3 years ago and never got around to it). They never asked for marriage license, birth certificate, change of name proof, SS card–nothing. I didn’t even have my old license, I lost it which is why I was bothering in the first place. Very scary stuff!