Why Do People Change Their Names?

Your name is one of the most fundamental parts of your identity. The notion of changing your name legally can seem quite dramatic, since that has been the official name you’ve always had. However, while less common than in past eras, more and more people are deciding to formally apply to alter their first, middle, and/or last names.

Motivations for legally changing names vary greatly based on individual circumstances and life situations. But many people, regardless of their location or backgrounds, share the same types of reasons. You might think your situation is unique and find that vast numbers of other people have very similar circumstances. Here is a deeper look at the wide range of motivations.

Marriage remains one of the most prominent life events that prompts name changes. Traditions around names and marriage are evolving, but continue in many forms:

• Women taking their husband’s last name remains entrenched as a marital custom. Some view shedding their maiden name as a symbolic adoption of a new shared identity as a family unit. Some couples want to choose their own, brand new family name.
• Men sometimes opt to legally take on their wife’s last name too, though this practice is less frequent. Occasionally they will hyphenate, merging their surname with their spouse’s. Some spouses who took their partners last name in marriage later decide they prefer to have their maiden name back.
• With marriage, often children’s names, after a time, may be changed to a new family name.
  Same-sex couples sometimes blend elements of each of their surnames into a new, jointly-created hybrid name that better represents their new partnership.
• Along with just last names, some marrying couples opt to legally tweak their existing middle names or suffixes like Jr., Sr., etc. when they wed to further mark the occasion.
• Divorce conversely often motivates reverting to the maiden name held pre-marriage as a way to psychologically and emotionally separate from the ex-spouse. And sometimes a divorce may inspire one or both spouses to take a brand new name for heritage, remembrance or aspirations about their new future.

Many major life changes or events outside of marriage also commonly precipitate name changes:

• One of the most common reasons for name change is to legally take a name that you may have been going by all of your life. This situation is often surprising to the person who needs the name change, because the biological parent may not have told their child, or may have died before getting a chance to explain, or because it never seemed important enough to mention, or for a million other reasons that happen in real life. Many children were born to one biological set of parents who then separated or divorced when their child was still an infant. When the custodial parent (usually the mother) remarried, the child grew up with a different last name than the child originally had on its birth certificate. The new family often never legally changed the child’s name legally, so now that child will need a legal name change to get Real ID, Passport and other strict identity documents. There are LOTS of variations of this that many people have in common.
• Some people grow up with a nickname that is carried into adulthood and career. Many times people in this situation want to take that nickname as their official, legal name so that they can use it in banking, business, professional licensing and every other legal purpose.Gender transitions almost always involve legally changing one’s name to finally align with gender identity. New first names are often chosen specifically because they better reflect the person’s true gender.
• Immigration to a new country leads some to formally adopt more Americanized or Anglicized names as they assimilate into a new culture. Also, many immigration circumstances cause a person’s name to become involuntarily changed which then needs to be legally corrected.
• Religious conversions frequently lead to believers taking on a theologically significant new name after spiritual inspiration and to more fully embrace their belief.
  Adoptions and guardianships, for both child and adult situations, motivate name changes to affirm membership in new families and to facilitate school, medical and social circumstances. This may be initiated by the adoptive parents or guardian.
• Survivors leaving abusive relationships or domestic violence situations sometimes elect to shed their associated name to help empower their new independence and separation from former partners.Similarly, legal name change, and sometimes confidential name change, can provide new names without connection to the old names for increased safety after abuse and other dangerous conditions.