Talk:Name change

message: Does anyone have any information regarding name changes that involve only one name — i.e., no "last name"?  I'm trying to research the subject now, but I'm coming up short.  For example, what happens if "John Doe" wants to change his name to "John"? - Korpios 17:09, 4 Jul 2004 (UTC)
replies: text: Seems possible, see . -- till we ☼☽ | Talk 20:48, 11 Jun 2005 (UTC)

text: In the U.K. it's possible, and the Identity & Passport Service should accept the name, although on a passport, a single name will be shown in the surname field, with XXX (i.e. three X's) shown in the forename field - according to http://deed-poll-office.org.uk/restrictions-on-names#single-names Gixz (talk) 01:33, 7 September 2012 (UTC)
thread_title: Untitled

message: Here's an interesting question: If you can't get a name like "Prince" in England, what happens if someone like Prince Rogers Nelson (a.k.a. The Artist Formerly Known as Prince) moves to England? Can he get a driver's license, for example? Or are you allowed to move to England with a name like that but just can't adopt such a name once already there?
:I seriously doubt the British government would force you to change your name. It's a jurisdiction issue, national boundaries of law, stuff like that. You'd have to be extradited or something. VolatileChemical (talk) 07:51, 28 April 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: As far as I am aware, there are no such restrictions in English law on what can be used as a name. So Prince wouldn't have any trouble at all.Llykstw (talk) 14:37, 17 June 2010 (UTC)
replies: text: There are no explicit restrictions in British law, but some names would be considered illegal.  However "Prince" would not be illegal.  It would be considered a presumed title, and you may have difficulty obtaining a passport in the name, but so long as you can show that you are genuinely using it as your name, it would be acceptable.  See http://deed-poll-office.org.uk/restrictions-on-names#presumed-titles Gixz (talk) 01:37, 7 September 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  British name restrictions 

message: Kind of a dumb question but.......  Does it cost money to change your name?  If so how much?
:That depends on where you are and the exact circumstance. I have heard of someone in New York State, USA saying that it cost her $175 to get a legal name change through a court of law. See the article and I just said that there is no additional fee when getting a legal name change with naturalization. Sign your posts on talk pages next time, please. Otherwise, others cannot easily identify your posts.--Jusjih 07:02, 21 February 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: In the U.K. the only costs are for drafting a deed poll (which you could actually do yourself free of charge), and for a new passport (although there is no obligation in the U.K. to actually have a passport, unless you want to travel) (according to http://deed-poll-office.org.uk/faq#what-other-costs-will-there-be-to-change-my-name).  A new driving licence is free for example. Gixz (talk) 01:42, 7 September 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  Cost? 

message: The article should mention that assuming a religious name is common--although not mandatory--in some pagan faiths. (especially Wicca and Asatru).  ISNorden 00:11, 13 June 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Name change common in other religions 

message: The article states "There are differences in specific requirements among U.S. states, but usually a court order is needed to change names (which would be applied for in a state court)." I've read that under common law, people in many states are allowed to change their names without legal formalities; they just start using the new name. Can anyone supply a good citation to support support or refute the idea that a court order is usually needed? Also, this passage overlooks the very common situation of women changing their names when they marry, without a court order. Gerry Ashton 00:57, 24 July 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Is formal process really required in USA?

message: Can immigrants in the UK (legal immigrants, that is) change their name under British law and keep their legal new name when they move to a different country or when they repatriate to their country of birth?
Does a formal reason need to be given, or can anybody change their name for just personal reasons?
What did you do? 82.109.204.158 09:41, 19 May 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Immigrants to the U.K. can change their name, but whether their country of origin accept the name is up to that country, so it depends. Gixz (talk) 01:55, 7 September 2012 (UTC)

text: Also, no formal reason needs to be given, so long as it's not for a fraudulent purpose.  However, if your name is considered for a frivolous purpose, you would have to show further evidence that you are using it for all purposes. See: http://deed-poll-office.org.uk/why-change-your-name Gixz (talk) 22:29, 7 September 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  Immigrants in the UK 

message: Some recent edits concerning a US constitutional right to common law name changes are difficult to understand for those who are not lawyers. If at all possible, these should be changed or supplemented with a link to an on-line copy of the decisions. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Gerry Ashton (talk • contribs) 22:29, 10 December 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Citing court cases 

message: I would like the article to include also something on this subject
--YoavD 13:29, 10 January 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Changing name for a company

message: Much of the content in legal name is better explained in this article, so I was tempted to redirect legal name to this article. But would it be better for the information to be on the broad-subject page than on the narrow-subject page? What do people think? —pfahlstrom 05:27, 10 March 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Merge and redirect is a good idea--Riferimento 14:27, 10 March 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Yes, but which should be redirected to which? I honestly don't know. —pfahlstrom 19:19, 10 March 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Proposed merge 

message: I request info on name change laws and procedures in Australia, if anyone has it. 130.194.13.103 07:55, 27 September 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Laws in Australia 

message: Can someone add something to the United States section about how citizenship authorities at Ellis Island gave lots of immigrants new American names upon their arrival at port, without, you know, asking them? We've all seen it in the movies, I want to read something factual about it. VolatileChemical (talk) 07:53, 28 April 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Involuntary migratory name changes 

message: Why is Quebec featured here?  Is the author of that section under the impression that Quebec is anything more than a territory in Canada?  It's hardly important enough to warrant its own section simply because Quebec is so culturally preserved that they refuse to allow anyone to do anything at all.  I mean, we might as well go ahead and toss in sections for every other province, all the states in the US, Hawaii, Alaska, maybe a few shanty-towns in Africa. 64.253.217.148 (talk) 22:46, 5 February 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: As the section states, Quebec has a different process for Name Change (Civil Law) than the rest of Canada (Common Law), thus through its uniqueness is notable. -M.Nelson (talk) 04:58, 12 March 2009 (UTC)
thread_title: Quebec

message: added some info on the rest of Canada 
Tydoni (talk) 22:38, 22 March 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Canada 

message: "Time can be of the essence. Most states require name changes to be registered with their department of motor vehicles within a certain time frame. For example, South Carolina[7], and Wyoming[8] require a name change be registered with their office in a mere ten days."
Above, "time can be of the essence" and "mere ten days" are awkward phrases for an encyclopedia article.  Please correct. --72.68.192.132 (talk) 22:25, 16 June 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Awkward part 

message: I have long suspected that the claims in the article about common law name changes being a constitutional right in the US was exaggerated. Now that Google Scholar allows one to see many legal opinions, I was able to read  Jech v. Burch and found that it did not support the following claims, which I have removed from the article:
*This at will right is guaranteed under the U.S. Constitution, specifically the Fourteenth Amendment (Jech v. Burch 466 F.Supp. 714).  
*The federal courts have overwhelmingly ruled that changing one's name at will, by common law, is clearly one's constitutional right.
What Jech v. Burch actually found was that there was a constitutional privacy right for parents to give their child any name they wished, and the state would have to have a reasonable public purpose to legislate otherwise. While the common-law right to change one's name at will was mentioned, no finding was made about whether it was a constitutional right. (Ordinarily states are free to pass legislation that overrides the common law.) --Jc3s5h (talk) 16:42, 25 November 2009 (UTC)
thread_title: Constitutional right in US?

message: Since the earliest version of this article only addressed the United States, US spelling should be used. Also, since the first full date was introduced in February 2004, and used the month, day, year format, that format should be used. Jc3s5h (talk) 17:40, 19 May 2010 (UTC)
thread_title: Spelling and dates

message: The article claims:
A person may be employed, do business, enter into contracts, sue and be sued under any name they choose at will.[1] Such a change carries exactly the same legal weight as a court-decreed name change, as long as it is not done with fraudulent intent.[2]
However, United States v. McKay does not fully support this. That case only says "[The right to change one's name by usage] is true in the absence of a restrictive statute, and is not abrogated by the fact that a procedure is provided by statute for the change of one's name." So a state may pass a statute eliminating or limiting the effect of a common law name change, just as a state may pass legislation overriding any other aspect of the common law. Kushner argues that a few states have indeed overridden common law name changes with respect to one,s true name, but even in those states one may still use, contract under, and be sued under, informal names, aliases, or nom de plumes, which are additional names one has in addition to one's true name. A common example is that while it is not illegal for a person to become known by a new name, few if any departments of motor vehicles would issue a driver's license in such a name without some official documentation that the name has changed. Can anyone with access to the other two cases look at them and see of they really support the claim in the article? Jc3s5h (talk) 19:59, 10 November 2011 (UTC)
thread_title: US: name adopted by usage has same legal effect as court name change?

message: The article states that a marrying counple can choose a totally new surname. This is incorrect. According to the NYS Vital Records website, and various others, a surname MUST be the surname of either spouse, a former surname, or a combination of their surnames. Part of their surnames MUST be in the Onomasticsfinal surname. You cannot simply "make a new name" as the article says. For example. Ms. Smith and Mr. Jones can become the Jones', or the Smiths, the Smitones, or the Joths. But they cannot become the Jakobs family.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 108.183.84.89 (talk) 00:21, 25 July 2013 (UTC)
thread_title:  New York Laws quoted wrong 

message: "Шведов" (rus). Such neutrality is seen in the page in Russian wiki where there are many people with this family name (statictics in time). It is related with onomastics and changing of the family name. RippleSax (talk) 12:47, 25 November 2015 (UTC)
thread_title:  Example of Russian family name which sounds harmoniously and neutral 

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thread_title:  External links modified 

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thread_title:  External links modified (January 2018) 

message: Reasons for changing one's name is really long and has lots of marginal examples with no evidence. Can we clean this section up? WriterArtistCoder (talk) 04:30, 5 April 2021 (UTC)
thread_title:  "Reasons for changing one's name" is weird 

message: This was recently added to the list of purposes:
* 
I confess I do not understand this.  Our William Smith is afflicted with a passport that mistakenly shows his whole name in the SURNAME field?  In his shoes, I'd complain to the issuing authority – emigrating seems a drastic remedy.  But okay, let's go with it.  In the new country, the immigration authority copies the error and likewise issues him defective documents, and now he's fed up … —Tamfang (talk) 06:17, 27 June 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  the William Smith problem 

message: The India section should be rewritten as less of a WP:HOWTO. —Tamfang (talk) 07:19, 12 July 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  India