I'm trying to change my name and i just came upon this? i have to put a ad in a newspaper for a month to change my name for whatever dumb reason, what does it say on this ad can anyone tell me? i don't want the whole of San Francisco knowing *old name* is now *new name*!!!!

That's pretty much everywhere, hon. Hugs, Devlyn

Most places in the states do that, in case someone is trying to change their name to escape a debt they owe.  That's why a name must be in the paper so if anyone you owe a debt to can know. 

From what I've heard it's usually in a small section of a paper.  It varies from place to place though.

But doesn't that give people the knowledge to harrass and attack you?

I'm 99% sure you don't have to list your address or any other personal info besides:
"Joe Doe is legally changing his/her name to Mary Smith. And a hearing will be held on this date."

The other factor is the cost involved with running the add which can be expensive as well. Who reads that stuff anyway.

Most places have a method for you to request the ability NOT to publish if you feel that doing so would be dangerous for you. They may ask you to support why you feel this way. Check your local laws for this. Here in Anchorage Alaska they have such a policy.

Good Luck on your name change! 

Usually the court gives you a whole list of newspapers to chose from, what you can do is find the Spanish speaking newspaper and use that one and then no one you know will find it and then no one will be the wiser and no one will show up in court to oppose your change

when I did this no showed up and I actually used the paper in my town since it was actually the cheapest one

the list is usually something like 20 long

Another option is to choose a paper that doesn't archive the legal ads online as well. Which is what I did. So if they missed it when it was published.....too bad.

My friends chose the smallest, most obscure newspaper from the list when they changed their names. It was also in a region pretty far from the metro area where we all live.

I didn't have to do this, thank goodness! No idea if that was because of town or state laws...