I changed my first name, because I honestly didn’t feel it suited me. Changing it involved going to the register of births, deaths and marriages, proving my identity, paying about $30 and filling out a form. 7 days later- new birth certificate arrives in the post.
It took me no time to adjust, because once I picked the name, it immediately felt right. I told everyone I knew that i was changing it and that they had a month to get it right or they faced being struck off my list of social contacts. There was a period where people would say “Hey (oldname)!” death glare from me “Oh… sorry! I meant (newname)” but it only lasted a month or two.
The only people who haven’t adjusted just fine are my parents… but they have learned that if they call me my old name, they get no response- they just don’t use my name at all now.
The only hassles i have had was going around to all the different places (eg the bank, department of transport, university, etc) to change my name on all my official documents like driving license, student ID, etc
Passports can be tricky. I still haven’t heard from the British Passport Office about how I change that over, although the Australian one was relatively easy.
Just be careful not to walk around with ID in two different names for too long, or you will possibly be accused of identity fraud.
I have a friend who changed her name. She’s a pre-op transexual and wanted to change her name to reflect her new gender. The first judge was an ancient codger who refused to do it, saying something about not believing men should use women’s restrooms. She tried a different judge a few weeks later and it was done without a hitch.
My sister did it. She never really gave a reason that was believable, and my parents were crushed. Still are. The family doesn’t call her by the new name, but I try to introduce her to people as her new self, just out of respect. She doesn’t seem to mind that we call her by the old name. She isn’t pissed off at anyone, but just decided to change her name.
I know of someone at school who went from “Mike” to “Aidann” just this month. And a friend of ours (another mike) changed his last name legally a couple of years ago, but no one remembers except the people who’ve met him since! We were at a party this summer, and someone asked if we’d seen Mike G., and we were very confused until someone remembered the name change and said “Oh, you mean Mike L (old last name)”. The people asking us said “What!!!” It was funny… Guess you had to be there… :shrug:
Back in 6th or 7th grade, a kid in my class changed his name from “Michael” to “Thor.” There were several Mikes in our class, and his dad was also named Mike, so we understood why he wanted to change his name. But why he changed it to Thor --legally-- we never understood.
