legal name

Some people legally change their name to be different from their birth name. Reasons for doing so include:

• Marriage, which usually involves adopting their spouse's surname.{{cite web |last1=Savage |first1=Maddy |title=Why do women still change their names? |url=https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20200921-why-do-women-still-change-their-names |website=BBC News |date=24 September 2020 |access-date=23 May 2024}} Some couples choose to blend their names together or choose a new surname entirely.{{cite news |last1=Weiss |first1=Suzannah |title=Creating a Name for Themselves |work=The New York Times |date=11 March 2020 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/11/fashion/weddings/name-change-after-marriage-not-always-easy.html |access-date=3 March 2024}}
• Adoption, where the child's surname is changed to match that of their adoptive family.{{cite web |title=Adoption Name Change: Factors to Consider |url=https://adoptionnetwork.com/adoption-name-change-factors-to-consider/ |website=Adoption Network |date=26 November 2019 |access-date=23 May 2024}}
• Transgender people adopting a name that aligns with their gender identity. The usage of their previous name is called deadnaming.{{cite web |last1=Stahl |first1=Dan |title=Making a name for yourself: For trans people, it's 'life-changing' |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/making-name-yourself-trans-people-it-s-life-changing-n1049721 |website=NBC News |date=6 September 2019 |access-date=23 May 2024}}
• Dislike of birth name.{{cite web |last1=Ridley |first1=Jane |title=I always hated my first name and thought it was boring, but I didn't want to insult my parents by changing it |url=https://ca.news.yahoo.com/always-hated-first-name-thought-114401062.html |website=Yahoo News! |date=22 April 2024 |access-date=23 May 2024}}
• To remove associations with a slave name imposed on their ancestors.{{cite web |last1=Craven |first1=Julia |title=Many African American last names hold weight of Black history |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/many-african-american-last-names-hold-weight-black-history-rcna17267 |website=NBC News |date=24 February 2022 |access-date=23 May 2024}}
• To reclaim a traditional name.{{cite web |last1=Reynolds |first1=Christopher |title=Indigenous people can now reclaim traditional names on their passports and other ID |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/indigenous-traditional-names-passport-1.6064850 |website=CBC News |access-date=23 May 2024}}
• To signify their religious conversion.{{cite journal |last1=Caplan-Bricker |first1=Nora |title=Adam Gadahn, Muhammad Ali, Malcolm X |url=https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2010/06/why-do-some-muslim-converts-change-only-part-of-their-names.html |journal=Slate |date=29 June 2010 |access-date=23 May 2024}}
• A new identity resulting from witness protection.{{cite web |last1=Little |first1=Becky |title=What's It Really Like in the Federal Witness Protection Program? |url=https://www.aetv.com/real-crime/whats-it-really-like-in-witness-protection |website=A&E |access-date=23 May 2024}}

The Civil Code of Quebec states that "Every person exercises his civil rights under the name assigned to him and stated in his act of birth,"{{cite CCQ|5}} and spouses retain their legal names upon marriage.{{cite CCQ|393}} However, a woman married prior to April 2, 1981 is entitled to use her spouse's name in the exercise of her civil rights, provided that they were doing so at that date. Quebec Min de Justice: Accueil/Couple et famille/Mariage, union civile ou union de fait/Mariage/Nom des époux{{cite web |title=Nom des époux |url=https://www.quebec.ca/famille-et-soutien-aux-personnes/mariage-union/mariage/nom-epoux |website=www.quebec.ca |access-date=16 May 2023}} A person's legal name can be changed, upon registration, only under prescribed conditions, and only where the person has been domiciled in Quebec for at least one year.{{cite CCQ|57}}{{cite web |url= http://www.etatcivil.gouv.qc.ca/en/change-name.html|title= Change of name|author= |date= 1 December 2016|website= etatcivil.gouv.qc.ca|location=Quebec|publisher= Directeur de l'état civil}}{{cite web |title=Décision |url=http://citoyens.soquij.qc.ca/php/decision.php?ID=225E36FCC8017BAA7C3D044849A677BA |website=citoyens.soquij.qc.ca |access-date=6 October 2021}}

In Germany, names are regulated to a large extent. Apart from possibly adopting the partner's name upon marriage, German citizens may only change their name for a recognised important reason. Among other reasons, a change of names is permitted when the name can give rise to confusion, ridicule, unusual orthographic difficulties, or stigmatization. In certain situations, children's last names may also be changed to their natural, foster or adoptive parent's last name. Transgender people may change their first names. Foreign names in writing systems that are not based on Latin are transliterated according to rules which may conflict with the system of transcribing or transliterating names that is used in the country of origin. Former titles of nobility became integrated into the last names in 1919 but continue to be adapted according to gender and other circumstances.{{citation|last=Seeger|first=Bernhard|title=Der Ehe- und Lebenspartnerschaftsname in der notariellen Praxis|year=2002|journal=Mitteilungen des Bayerischen Notarvereins|url=http://www.notare.bayern.de/read.php?datei=UERGUy9NaXR0QmF5Tm90L21pdHRCYXlOb3Q0XzAyLnBkZg==|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120320233430/http://www.notare.bayern.de/read.php?datei=UERGUy9NaXR0QmF5Tm90L21pdHRCYXlOb3Q0XzAyLnBkZg==|archive-date=2012-03-20}}.

In the UK, businesses that trade under names other than those of the owner or a corporate entity must display the name of owner and an address at which documents may be served, or the name and registered number of the corporate body and its registered address. The requirements apply to sole traders and partnerships, but there are special provisions for large partnerships where listing all partners would be onerous.

The information must be shown on any trading premises where the public have access to trade and in documents such as order forms, receipts and, as of January 2007, corporate websites (to be extended later in 2007 to sole trader websites).

In strict English law, if there is such a thing as a "legal{{hsp}}" surname, it is easily changed. In the words of A dictionary of American and English law, "Any one may take on himself whatever surname or as many surnames as he pleases, without statutory licence".{{cite book |last1= Rapalje|first1= Stewart|last2= Lawrence|first2= Robert L.|date= 1997|title= A Dictionary of American and English Law with Definitions of the Technical Terms of the Canon and Civil Laws|edition= 3rd|volume= 2|location= Clark, New Jersey|publisher=The Lawbook Exchange|page= 849|isbn= 978-1-886363-33-5}} This does not always seem to have applied to names given in baptism. As noted by Sir Edward Coke in Institutes of the Lawes of England, "a man may have divers names at divers times, but not divers Christian names."{{cite book |editor1-last=Butler|editor1-first=Charles|last= Coke|first= Edward|date= 1832|title= The First Part of the Institutes of the Laws of England|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=NOgyAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA9|edition=19th|volume=1|at= Lib.1 Cap.1 Sect. 1, at 3.a|author-link= Edward Coke}} But in modern practice all names are freely changeable.{{cite web |url= https://www.gov.uk/change-name-deed-poll/overview|title= Change your name by deed poll |author= |access-date= 12 April 2017|website= gov.uk}}

Changes of name are usually effected through deed poll, optionally enrolled either at the High Court of Justice{{Cite legislation UK | type = si| year = 1994| number = 604| si = Enrolment of Deeds (Change of Name) Regulations 1994}} or at the College of Arms,{{cite web |url= http://www.college-of-arms.gov.uk/services/name-change|title= Changes of name|author= |website= college-of-arms.gov.uk|publisher= College of Arms|access-date=17 April 2017}} with a notice recorded in The London Gazette. Changes may also be made by means of a Royal Licence obtained through the College of Arms, with similar notice. These enrolment, licence and notice procedures are useful for having the new name appear in official documents;{{cite web |author= |title=Change your name by deed poll |url=https://www.gov.uk/change-name-deed-poll/overview |access-date=12 April 2017 |website=gov.uk}} these procedures are therefore less likely to be useful for trans people or victims of abuse.{{Cite web |date=2021-01-24 |title=Opinion: It could soon be harder to change your name – devastating for millions of women and victims of abuse |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/government-name-change-deed-polls-trans-rights-b1791180.html |access-date=2022-05-18 |website=The Independent |language=en}}

Scots law allows anyone who wishes to do so to change their forename(s) or surname and such changes may be recorded in the official register held by the National Records of Scotland. Technically the Registrar General makes a correction to the entry.{{Cite web|url=https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/registration/about-registration-in-scotland|title=About registration in Scotland|date=21 July 2018|website=National Records of Scotland|access-date=21 July 2018}} A correction can be recorded where a birth has been registered in Scotland, or where a person is the subject in Scotland of an entry in the Adopted Children Register, the Parental Order Register or the Gender Recognition Register.{{citation |url=http://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/files/registration/rcn1-leaflet.pdf |title=Leaflet RCN1: Recording changes of forename(s) and surname(s) in Scotland | publisher=National Records of Scotland |website=www.nrscotland.gov.uk |access-date=16 April 2017}} The above formalities are not necessary where a spouse/partner assumes the other spouse/partner's surname upon marriage or civil partnership, or reverts to their original name upon separation, divorce or dissolution of the civil partnership.{{citation|title=Recording Changes of Forename(s) and Surname(s) in Scotland|url=http://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/registration/recording-change-of-forename-and-surname-in-scotland|website=www.nrscotland.gov.uk|publisher=National Records of Scotland|access-date=16 April 2017|date=2013-05-31}}

Only one change of name is allowed in the register where a person has not yet reached the age of 16, and afterwards only one change of forename and three changes of surname may be granted during a person's lifetime, provided that at least five years have passed between changes of surname. Name changes may also be recorded where:

• a decree or certificate has been granted by the Lord Lyon King of Arms,
• a certified copy of a will, settlement or deed of trust is produced, containing a condition that the person concerned takes a name different from his or her registered name, or
• an alternative forename or surname is used where the registered name is not in an English-language form.

Anyone born or adopted in Northern Ireland is able to change their name with the General Register Office of Northern Ireland in the following circumstances:{{cite web |url= https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/articles/recording-change-name|title= Recording a change of name|author= |date= 2015-10-26|website= nidirect.gov.uk|publisher= General Register Office of Northern Ireland|access-date= 17 April 2017}}

• a child's birth registration can be re-registered where its parents have subsequently married, or where a father that had not previously been identified is subsequently entered (whether by declaration, agreement or court order);
• a child's name can be changed once, before the age of 18, upon application by the parents (or adoptive parents, or guardian where the parents are deceased, as the case may be);
• a person aged 18 or over may apply to register one change of forename and three changes of surname during that person's lifetime, provided that at least five years have passed between changes of surname.

A deed poll can also be used in Northern Ireland for this purpose.

Most states in the United States follow the common law which permits name changing for non-fraudulent purposes. This is actually the most common method, since most women who marry do not petition a court under the statutorily prescribed method, but simply use a new name (typically the husband's, a custom which started under the theory of coverture where a woman lost her identity and most rights when she married).In re Natale, 527 S.W.2d 402 (Mo. App. 1975); In re Kruzel, 226 N.W.2d 458 (Wis. 1975).

Most state courts have held that a legally assumed name (i.e., for a non-fraudulent purpose) is a legal name and usable as their true name, though assumed names are often not considered the person's technically true name.Stuart v. Board of Supervisors, 295 A.2d 223 (Md. Ct. App. 1972); In re Hauptly, 312 N.E.2d 857 (Ind. 1974); United States v. Cox, 593 F.2d 46 (6th Cir. 1979). See also 10 U.S.C. § 1551 (2006).

In 1991, a Swedish couple refused to give their newborn a legal name, in protest of existing naming laws. In 1996, they were fined for not registering a name for their child for five years, after they unsuccessfully tried to register the child's name as Brfxxccxxmnpcccclllmmnprxvclmnckssqlbb11116,{{Cite news|title=Baby named Metallica rocks Sweden|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6525475.stm|access-date=February 3, 2012|newspaper=BBC News|publisher=BBC|date=April 4, 2007}} and then as "A".

• Courtesy name
• Pseudonym
• Pen name
• Stage name

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Category:Human names

Category:Names