# How long do you have to name your child? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 21, 2010, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-you-have-to-name-your-child/550977 "2010-08-21T15:56:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2010, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-you-have-to-name-your-child/550977/41 "2010-08-23T15:06:54Z")
> [@ChrisBooth12](#): > > How far can you go with “shortened nicknames” On legal documents? It depends on how willing the other party is to accept that name as your legal identity. Generally speaking, under the law, you can use whatever name you want, so long as you aren’t trying to defraud anyone. > [@ChrisBooth12](#): > > Wait so your telling me I can just start using a different name out of nowhere and slowly change that to my legal name? Showing someone with a Birth Certificate for Baby Boy Lastname when you Drivers ID says something else? You can use as many different names as you want. If your name is “Christopher,” then you might have intimates who address you as “Chris,” “Christy,” “Topher,” and “Kit,” among other things. It’s all legal. > [@](#): > > I always assumed the marriage last name change thing was taken care of with the marriage certificate but it is basically women just using their husbands last name from then on? Most American women change their names legally at marriage. (In some countries, your legal name never changes.) There’s a space on the form to allow either or both parties to a marriage to do that. But you don’t have to. A lot of women change their legal names but keep their maiden names for professional use. Everything’s allowed. > [@](#): > > I dont know Europe seems to have it done right and stuff. Because with the US system I can see it easy with changing your identity The U.S. system prohibits fraud. People use different names all the time throughout their lives. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2010, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-you-have-to-name-your-child/550977/42 "2010-08-23T18:12:46Z")
I am named after an aunt who was allowed to name herself. She was called some nickname like Bunny until she was five, when she named herself Julia. I shudder to think what I might have named myself at age five… ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2010, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-you-have-to-name-your-child/550977/43 "2010-08-23T19:22:45Z")
> [@unclelem](#): > > The IRS began to require SSNs for dependents in 1987. Seven million children “disappeared” that April 15th. To be fair, some of those “disappeared” children might have existed, but their parents had never bothered to get them SSNs. Procrastinating like usual, it was then too late come April 15th to do so. I wonder how many of those 7 million, reappeared in the next few years as this was corrected. ---
**Author:** ![irishgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@irishgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/irishgirl)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2010, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-you-have-to-name-your-child/550977/44 "2010-08-23T19:36:10Z")
The default name here is “Infant”- I’ve treated a few babies who were still going by it at 5 and a bit weeks, but all had proper names by the 6 week deadline for birth registration. I generally addressed them as “Sweetheart” or “Buster” because I don’t like having nameless patients. IIRC not registering a birth (and getting a birth certificate) in the UK would not only cost you a fine, but would leave you open to the charge of concealing a birth, which is a crime. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2010, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-you-have-to-name-your-child/550977/45 "2010-08-23T21:39:40Z")
> [@acsenray](#): > > The U.S. system prohibits fraud. Are you suggesting that fraud isn’t prohibited in Europe? ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2010, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-you-have-to-name-your-child/550977/46 "2010-08-23T21:44:00Z")
No. The OP seemed to be concerned that fraud was integral to the U.S. system. (Sensitive, eh? :D) ---
**Author:** ![zev\_steinhardt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/97f17d/32.png) [@zev\_steinhardt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zev_steinhardt)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2010, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-you-have-to-name-your-child/550977/47 "2010-08-23T21:49:26Z")
> [@ChrisBooth12](#): > > I have seen in TV shows and Movies with mothers brining home children without yet a name. How long do they have before the HAVE to name it? I would assume it would have to be before the baby get its shots otherwise the Doctors offfice will not be able to put in the new patient info without a name. If not that than at least by school right? What are the limits on this kinda thing. I have three kids who were born in the mid 1990s in New York. We did not name our children before they came home from the hospital. Our sons were not named until after the bris and my daughter was not named for five days. Their birth certificates have blank spaces on the front for their first names but are stamped on the back with a stamp stating that their name “X” has been added to the official copy on file. Of course that was quite a while ago and pre-9/11 (I don’t know if that changed anything or not). Zev Steinhardt [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-do-you-have-to-name-your-child/550977.md?page=2)