As for President, James Earl Carter was sworn in as “Jimmy Carter.”
I would think that the ultimate answer is “it doesn’t matter.” As long as the name used is identified with the correct individual, I don’t see it making any difference. The law allows for a lot of leeway (which is why you can’t avoid taxes by insisting your name is spelled in all caps).
I was always told to sign official documents with my full legal name. It’s the only time that I acknowledge my hated first name.
Going by my middle name has caused headaches. My checking account got setup under it thirty years ago. I’ve never bothered getting it changed. My utility bills are under my middle name. My mortgage was under my legal name.
I didn’t realize a President could he sworn in under a nickname.
In the USA, you’re generally allowed to refer to yourself however you want, as long as it’s not for fraudulent purposes, or violating copyrights. I’ve seen lots of Medical licenses issued to people under their shortened or otherwise preferred names, rather than their formal ones.
Famed civil rights lawyer Tony Serra practices under (and has a California bar license) under "J Tony Serra… when his legal name, or birth name at least, is Joseph Serra. (Antonio was his father’s name.)
I agree with RealityChuck. If she wants to be sworn in as just Hillary Clinton, or as Hillary Rodham Clinton, or use her full name, Hillary D. Rodham Clinton, (which I had never seen before today), it makes no difference, as long as she, in fact, is the person she represents herself to be.
She does refer to herself in campaign ads as Hillary Clinton, as in, “I’m Hillary Clinton, and I approve this message.”
Many people have multiple names which are “legal”. In most states (I believe there are exceptions), a woman is not automatically assumed to acquire her husband’s name upon marriage, thus instantly de-legalizing her maiden name. In some states, a bride is required to specify that on her marriage license, if she wishes to continue to be known by her maiden name. Which raises the question of the portability of a legal name, when a married woman moves from one sate to another.
Usually, nowadays, in the US, any name that you are commonly known by will be recognized as your legal name. This is to protect contract obligations, so a person cannot sign a contract and then claim that is not his legal name. For example, if your first name is William, and everyone knows you as Bill (or Skip), then Bill (or Skip) is held to be your legal name and a contract in that name is enforceable.
Of course, you can if you wish go through a judicial process of changing your name, which costs very little and requires nothing more than telling a judge you want a new name. It’s not necessary, unless you expect to have a situation in which a document is required to make someone recognize your new name.
My mother’s birth was never recorded, and she went through her life with three different sets of first/middle names beside two surnames, and her given name and date of birth were possibly apocryphal, recalled from childhood. But she never had any issues. In those days, your name and DOB were what you said it was. Anything similar to what was n the paper trail was good enough.
IIRC from the CNN documentary, she actually went by her maiden name for several years after her marriage; but then the fine folks of Arkansas saw something offensive about a woman not taking her husband’s surname, so as a bow to political reality she took her husband’s name. Mind you, it seems some Arkansas voters also saw something wrong with a woman who had a career of her own.
So did she have the name on her law license changed after she first registered with the bar there? (Presumably, she register as Hillary D. Rodham before her marriage).
He had been known as “Jimmy” for many years. But he had to challenge several (Republican) election officials in Court to be listed that way on the ballot. As I recall, he won all those cases – Judges said that this was clearly the name he had used & been known by for years, it was not being used for fraud, and so he had a right to be listed under that name.
I believe he also used that as his signature when he signed bills passed by Congress.
My cousin has an obscure Yiddish name, which most Americans have never heard, and do not even identify with a gender, because of the way it sounds. She has been called “Cassie” virtually all her life. I think she had her full name at her Simchat Bat, Bat Mitzvah, and her children are “bat” and “ben” Yiddishname. If she’s ever called to Torah, she’s called by her full name. Otherwise, she never uses it.
Her medical license says “Cassie [middle initial] Lastname.”
A lot of people probably think her actual name is Cassie. But using her full name would be like someone named Ryan, whose Hebrew name is Yechetzkel, to out of the blue want Yechetzkel on some document.
It’s important to be clear that you know to whom you are referring.
That’s certainly possible. Outside of my area of expertise, what I say and what I mean can differ to an alarming degree. Inside my area of expertise that happens less often. I hope.
I’m not even sure there is such a thing as a “legal name”. Your name is matter of fact, not law. What you call yourself; what others call you; that’s your name. You can have more than one name, and many people do.
That’s not to say that there coulnd’t be jurisdictions where there is a Nomenclature Act, or something of the kind, prescribing names, or rules for determining names. But it’s not the norm in the common-law world.
Yes you can change your name to anything you want (just not for fraud or some other illegal purpose).
But even without changing your name, your signature can be anything you want it to be, even a series of squiggles, or two squiggles and a dot, and you are free to change it anytime you like. The act of signing a document indicates your consent, regardless of what the signature looks like.
I have changed my signature a few times. The only time anyone said anything was when I was buying a house (which required about 40 signatures) they suggested that it would be best if all the signatures were the same as each other.
However, when it comes to business and banking, there’s a thing called an Assumed Business Name, which is not the same as changing your own name. Banks won’t let you open a bank account under that name unless you registered it. The exact spelling of a ABN matters on the paperwork. But even in that case, the banks would still cash a check that was written slightly wrong. For example, if a check was paid to Dave’s House of Pancakes and the wrote it pay to the order of “Daves Pancake House”, the bank would cash it, no problem. This happens in my business about once a month and there’s never been a problem with it.
