# Is changing my name to a name with a Scandinavian character “ø” in it a bad idea? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 13, 2024, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-changing-my-name-to-a-name-with-a-scandinavian-character-o-in-it-a-bad-idea/1007217 "2024-09-13T15:59:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2024, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-changing-my-name-to-a-name-with-a-scandinavian-character-o-in-it-a-bad-idea/1007217/141 "2024-09-24T16:16:58Z")
My children have Korean middle names, spelled in a particular way in the Korean alphabet. But California doesn’t allow anything outside the typical 26 letters of the English alphabet. So their birth certificates have their middle names spelled a particular way in the English alphabet. They each have only one middle name: there’s a legal spelling and there’s a traditional spelling. Orthography does not define a word or name–usage does. * * * I’ve hesitated to contribute to this thread, because names are a touchy subject tightly bound with personal identity. It’s not really appropriate to advise others about their own names. But I think the original poster might want to consider what their name means to them, outside of the way it’s spelled. A name is more than some letters on a piece of paper. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2024, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-changing-my-name-to-a-name-with-a-scandinavian-character-o-in-it-a-bad-idea/1007217/142 "2024-09-24T17:06:34Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > I recently had a flight from the us to Germany where my middle names didn’t match between my passport and the flight reservation. And it turned out the airline didn’t care. And the guy who checked me in said he never gave his middle name when he flew. Over the years I’ve heard from many frequent fliers who consistently say the same thing: Middle names don’t matter. At the airport, nobody pays attention to them. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2024, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-changing-my-name-to-a-name-with-a-scandinavian-character-o-in-it-a-bad-idea/1007217/143 "2024-09-24T17:44:30Z")
I think it was established (by me, among others) that some databases ONLY go with A–Z. Therefore, you have to decide whether you want ö ↦ O or ö ↦ OE, but be consistent. That is only a very specific subset of databases, though, and your birth certificate still says Schröder or whatever; you did not actually “make a change”. ETA if you are changing “Weiss” to “Weiß”, a German-speaker may not view that as a “change”! If the DMV cannot handle ß that is OK because the _capital_ form of ß is SS… or maybe SZ… you are right that the printed license will end up with one of those. > [@Pleonast](#): > > My children have Korean middle names, spelled in a particular way in the Korean alphabet. But California doesn’t allow anything outside the typical 26 letters of the English alphabet. So their birth certificates have their middle names spelled a particular way in the English alphabet. This is called transliteration, and there is often more than one scheme for a given language. For an inverse problem, suppose your name is Smith and you move to Japan. At some point you are going to have to write your name. Katakana? Kanji? The bureaucrats are not going to accept any random made-up shit, either, and you are going to have to be consistent, and no matter what you do many people are going to miswrite and/or mispronounce your name anyway; sucks to be you. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2024, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-changing-my-name-to-a-name-with-a-scandinavian-character-o-in-it-a-bad-idea/1007217/144 "2024-09-24T18:03:42Z")
PS I have seen names from _a lot_ of different origins rendered using A–Z because of old computer systems. That in and of itself should not create a problem. The story about some bureaucrat telling the person that she does not know her own (consistently used and spelled) name is an example of malicious stupidity and there were no funny accents involved. > [@suranyi](#): > > > [@puzzlegal](#): > > > > I recently had a flight from the us to Germany where my middle names didn’t match between my passport and the flight reservation. And it turned out the airline didn’t care. And the guy who checked me in said he never gave his middle name when he flew. > > Over the years I’ve heard from many frequent fliers who consistently say the same thing: Middle names don’t matter. At the airport, nobody pays attention to them. Because in that case nobody actually thought the person was not who they, and their tickets and ID, said they were, and nobody went out of their way to be a jerk for no reason. I doubt they will delay a traveller because e.g. the ticket has an “O” but some other id has an ø. They must see something like that every 10 minutes. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2024, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-changing-my-name-to-a-name-with-a-scandinavian-character-o-in-it-a-bad-idea/1007217/145 "2024-09-24T18:36:50Z")
> [@Pleonast](#): > > I’ve hesitated to contribute to this thread, because names are a touchy subject tightly bound with personal identity. It’s not really appropriate to advise others about their own names. But I think the original poster might want to consider what their name means to them, outside of the way it’s spelled. A name is more than some letters on a piece of paper. This is why i suggested using the ø for their signature, and other areas where the name won’t be directly entered into a giant database somewhere. You can have a real name and a legal name, and they don’t need to be identical. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2024, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-changing-my-name-to-a-name-with-a-scandinavian-character-o-in-it-a-bad-idea/1007217/146 "2024-09-24T19:31:32Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > ETA if you are changing “Weiss” to “Weiß”, a German-speaker may not view that as a “change”! Note that ß is used in Germany, but Switzerland, where they arguably speak a language resembling German in some parts (and Liechtenstein) replaced it with “ss”. > [@DPRK](#): > > For an inverse problem, suppose your name is Smith and you move to Japan. At some point you are going to have to write your name. Katakana? Kanji? The bureaucrats are not going to accept any random made-up shit, either, and you are going to have to be consistent, and no matter what you do many people are going to miswrite and/or mispronounce your name anyway; sucks to be you. The opposite problem to: how to romanize Japanese. You can see examples of people who probably came to US and other countries before and after the post-WWII spelling reform. Names like “Inouye” are old spelling, it would be “Inoue” these days. ---
**Author:** ![Norse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a9adbd/32.png) [@Norse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Norse)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2024, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-changing-my-name-to-a-name-with-a-scandinavian-character-o-in-it-a-bad-idea/1007217/147 "2024-09-24T20:16:56Z")
My first name includes an “ø”. So far, airlines and immigration have accepted “oe” instead of “ø”, my email address uses 'o" and I spelt my first name with an “o” when I lived in the US. Worked fine. But if my official name was with an “o”, there’s no way I’d change to an “ø”. Especially if the “ø” wasn’t a generally recognized letter in my home country. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-changing-my-name-to-a-name-with-a-scandinavian-character-o-in-it-a-bad-idea/1007217.md?page=7)