Surname Change: your opinions please

by RAYZORBLADE 40 Replies latest social family

• 

  Swan

  Hey Razor!

  That's a cool idea. You can do common law name change in most places, but legal is quicker, more permanent, and better recognized by bureaucrats. That judicial decree sure is nice to have when dealing with banks, insurance, utility companies, etc. You will need to go to your courthouse and they can direct you to where you can get the forms. Fill them out. Submit them. Some places require you to post a notification for a few weeks to prove you aren't defrauding. Then you go in and get it signed by the judge. Simple really. Not too expensive either, depending on where you live and if you do it yourself without an attorney.

  Tammy

  Francois:

  My grandmother was a MacIntosh from Alberta, Canada. I was told that they ended up in Canada after siding with the Stuart's in the rebellion. I think that was back in 1735.

  Tammy
• 

  SheilaM

  Oh don't address my ploy line hmmm I think you also want a kilt yep now I see the whole picture
• 

  Lady Lee

  Just so you Americans know ---

  here we don't have to go before a judge. The Department of Vital Statistics do it all.

  I paid an extra 25$ and had my new name and birth certificate in 1 week - just in time to get married with the new first name
• 

  Swan

  Lady Lee;

  here we don't have to go before a judge. The Department of Vital Statistics do it all.

  I paid an extra 25$ and had my new name and birth certificate in 1 week

  More and more I want to move to Canada. Your country rocks!

  Tammy
• 

  Lady Lee

  Just one more note from this wee voice here

  When I went through recovery part of healing for me was to take a name I felt good about, a name that I felt was ME.

  I hated my given name. When I think of it I hear either of my parents screaming it at me. I never hear it said nicely.

  When I got my divorce and left the JW I lost all my connections. It was easyto tell people my name was Lee. None of them had to change what they called me. So I have been using Lee for the last 15 years.

  And I love it
• 

  SheilaM

  Lee: Great!!!!
• 

  StinkyPantz

  Go ahead and change it, I say!!
• 

  SpunkyChick

  Hey Ray, if you don't like your last name...change it!! I did...I used to have a really long embarressing Sicilian last name. I don't know how it works in Canada, but it was really simple here in the US. I am soooooo happy I did it!! I practiced writing it for a few weeks prior to changing it.
• 

  Aztec

  Ray, I think it's a great idea! I once met a woman who'd had her identity stolen and she changed her last name to Gaia-Paix. Go for it!

  ~Aztec
• 

  Prisca

  I just try to think of it as this was his wonderful Grampy's name and it's not his fault his son is a monster ass****

  Good attitude to have! I've started to try to think that way too, because about a decade ago I was considering changing my surname, due to the shame my father had brought upon our family name. I wanted to change it to my mother's maiden name, because like Ray, I was closer to my mother's side of the family than my father's, not to mention the lack of support my father had given me.

  However, if I changed my name, my family name would die at our end of the branch, because my father was the only son of his father, and I have no brothers. At this stage, I am the only one still using the family name.

  The down side of changing my name would be that my new name would have been different to all my certificates, references etc at a time I was job hunting, plus the name was a foreign-sounding name, in a country town of mainly Anglo-Saxons. Due to the way it is prounounced, people may have assumed I was Japanese! (The name is a derivative of a Greek surname).

  Ray, I agree with everyone who has said it's a good idea. I know this isn't something you would consider doing without alot of forethought, so if it's what you want to do, then go for it!