# What would you do if you woke up tomorrow morning and your name was different? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 12, 2017, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-if-you-woke-up-tomorrow-morning-and-your-name-was-different/784342 "2017-04-12T20:41:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Not\_Carlson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bc79bd/32.png) [@Not\_Carlson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Not_Carlson)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2017, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-if-you-woke-up-tomorrow-morning-and-your-name-was-different/784342/21 "2017-04-13T15:01:46Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > I’d assume some strange neurological event had occurred and/or was still occurring and seek immediate medical attention. The simplist explanation would be that my belief that my name had always been Steve is a delusion and my suddenly becoming delusional could be the sign of some major shit going down in my brain that I’d want attended to before it killed me or something worse (and yes various adverse neurological outcomes would be to me worse than death.) This exactly. Though my first thought might be to wonder if I was being gaslighted, I’d very soon decide that my belief that I had been called Steve to that moment must be a delusion, maybe caused by a tumor or something affecting my memory. I’d hie me to a doctor just as soon as I could. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2017, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-if-you-woke-up-tomorrow-morning-and-your-name-was-different/784342/22 "2017-04-13T15:51:46Z")
I’d look for any other evidence of things not being right, because I can’t see a neurological condition affecting my name and absolutely nothing else. The visual memories of seeing my name should be stored differently than the actual memory of my name. Human gaslighting is out, because the level of work would be just too much. I have my name in a ton of stuff no one knows about. So, assuming just my name has changed I would assume, in order: Evil god/[twilight zone](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wordplay_%28The_Twilight_Zone%29) is messing with me, personally There has been a dimensional shift (I’m going to look for that Sinbad movie right away!) I am insane ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2017, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-if-you-woke-up-tomorrow-morning-and-your-name-was-different/784342/23 "2017-04-13T16:23:45Z")
> [@Grrr](#): > > Not the same thing but up until my late twenties or early thirties I had very real memories of St Patrick’s Day being on March 16th. > Then suddenly, something happened and now it’s on the 17th. I’m fairly convinced I somehow slipped into an alternate universe. Is there an alternate ending to Big in your universe? What about a Sindbad genie movie? Berenstain or Berenstein? The answers to those questions may hold the key to whether, in fact, you did slip into a different universe. First thing I thought of in the OP was Kafka. Second was I’d assume something tripped in my brain and it’s time to see the doctor. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2017, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-if-you-woke-up-tomorrow-morning-and-your-name-was-different/784342/24 "2017-04-13T16:48:12Z")
But what if your name had been Dave, and now it’s Dave but you know that it’s a different Dave? How would you explain that to anyone? ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2017, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-if-you-woke-up-tomorrow-morning-and-your-name-was-different/784342/25 "2017-04-13T16:57:32Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > I’d look for any other evidence of things not being right, because I can’t see a neurological condition affecting my name and absolutely nothing else. … > > … So, assuming just my name has changed I would assume, in order: > > Evil god/[twilight zone](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wordplay_%28The_Twilight_Zone%29) is messing with me, personally > There has been a dimensional shift (I’m going to look for that Sinbad movie right away!) > I am insane Okay, dimensional shift and evil god seem more likely to you than an odd delusion as a neurologic event? Those you can more easily see? And how do you differentiate a sudden onset insanity condition from a sudden onset neurologic condition? Just for your edification well placed strokes and certain temporal lobe seizures, even odd migraine syndromes, can result in very isolated and bizarre symptoms, including something not _too_ unlike the op - the disassociative fugue state in which personal identity information is lost sometimes with a new identity stepping in. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2017, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-if-you-woke-up-tomorrow-morning-and-your-name-was-different/784342/26 "2017-04-14T00:02:10Z")
> [@janis\_and\_c0](#): > > I suppose it depends on if I like the new name or not. I like my name, so if I like the new one too, I guess I’ll keep it. . . . Yep! If it isn’t a bad name, then it isn’t really worth fighting over. A rose by any other name… Now, if it’s an ugly name – Arsebutterpukingsnot – I’m fighting it. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2017, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-if-you-woke-up-tomorrow-morning-and-your-name-was-different/784342/27 "2017-04-14T02:56:16Z")
We are all Dave. I would rather have been Zanzibar Buck-Buck McFate. But she didn’t do it, and now it’s too late. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2017, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-if-you-woke-up-tomorrow-morning-and-your-name-was-different/784342/28 "2017-04-14T03:19:28Z")
This question is oddly disturbing to me. I have an extremely unusual name even though it is just made up of fairly common English words. I am the only one in the world as far as I know. I wouldn’t like it at all. I would be much more like to take the $250 million challenge to change my sex rather than my name. OTOH, my name is so identifiable that I just make up new ones all the time to tell strangers. My daughters laugh when I do it because I say “I go by a lot of different names all around town.” because they know it is true. I already have lots of different names for different situations but they aren’t me. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2017, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-if-you-woke-up-tomorrow-morning-and-your-name-was-different/784342/29 "2017-04-14T05:41:44Z")
What would you do if you woke up tomorrow morning and your tattoos were different? What would you do if you woke up tomorrow morning and your zip code was different? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-you-do-if-you-woke-up-tomorrow-morning-and-your-name-was-different/784342.md?page=1)