Legal Name Change

Changing your legal name is pretty easy. Think about it – it has to be. Tens of thousands of women get married every year, I would imagine, and probably at least a majority of them go through a legal name change after they get married. So, if you want to, you probably do not need to go through some internet service, ordering forms for money that you do not need to pay, when you could have just gone over to some government office yourself to file your own legal name change.

Think about it, and do not be stupid. There are people willing to sell you anything, even when it is something that is already free.

That being said, I am pretty sure that you have to fork out a bit of dough for a legal name change. I have a friend – Eddie, we used to call him – who just hated his name. After years of hearing his mother saying things like “Edward come here this instant!” and “Edward, your dinner is getting cold,” he could not take it any more. There is something about having a name like “Edward” that makes nagging sound that much worse, he used to say to me, and I guess I just took his word for it.

So, as soon as he got to be 18 years old, he went straight down to whatever government office you have to go down to, and filed a legal name change. Now he is Jorge Jones, and has never been happier, as far as I can tell. So a legal name change really can make a difference in your life.

Of course, one reason why you might want to change your legal name, is to erase your past. I guess that this can be helpful, but with the government ever more watchful and paranoid, it might not actually be a good idea. A legal name change might just put you on their map and subject you to increased scrutiny. This is exactly the opposite of what you probably want to happen, so there is no point at all to it.

Really, for most of us, a legal name change is not all that necessary. Your legal name might be what you sign to firms, and documents, but it does not have to be what you go by, or what your friends call you. Unless you are getting married, I suggest forgetting the legal name change all together.