Hey guys! Well, after 9 months on T, I am finally able to get my name changed legally!


I got a job at school so now I'll have some extra cash to get it changed.


I actually wanted to know though, what you guys put as your reason for name change? I know a lot of people put transitioning from female to male on their papers, but I wanted to know if any of you put anything different and had it granted?


Thanks guys

you can put personal preference or common use and it will most likely get passed

I didn't tell the lawyer anything, but then on one of our phone calls he asked because he thought the judge might ask and I told him I was transitioning.  I wish I hadn't but nerves got the better of me and I just blurted it out.

Some people apparently say that their new name suits them better.

If you live in Canada its pretty easy and you can just write "personal" if you want to. They don't worry so much about your reasons as much as just making sure you aren't doing it to dodge criminal charges or debt or something.

I put personal choice and it wasn't questioned or brought up

You don't have to pay for a name change, and don't have to go to court to do it.  According to commonlaw (valid in every state but lousiana which still goes by napoleanic code) you can change your name simply by the usage method.  Don't believe me? google commonlaw name change


or check the link


http://www.firelily.com/gender/gianna/common.law.name.change.html




don't buy into the myth......you shouldn't have to purchase your name

I never used a lawyer.  In Oregon, you don't need one.  I simple put down that I was in transition and need to change it to a female name.


The judge signed it in 5 minutes.

Quote from: Oriah on August 03, 2012, 08:43:25 PM
You don't have to pay for a name change, and don't have to go to court to do it.  According to commonlaw (valid in every state but lousiana which still goes by napoleanic code) you can change your name simply by the usage method.  Don't believe me? google commonlaw name change

I would advise against this because it can open up a whole world of trouble in post-9/11 America.

Quote from: Arch on August 03, 2012, 10:13:01 PM
I would advise against this because it can open up a whole world of trouble in post-9/11 America.

such as?


I see no reason to live in fear.  That's exactly what the Amerikan government wants everyone to do

Quote from: Oriah on August 03, 2012, 08:43:25 PM
You don't have to pay for a name change, and don't have to go to court to do it.

From what I looked at, it would seem that for a name change to be valid for some purposes (i.e. drivers license, banking, etc...), then an appearance in court, along with an administrative fee might be necessary.

Quote from: Sadie May on August 03, 2012, 10:31:18 PM
From what I looked at, it would seem that for a name change to be valid for some purposes (i.e. drivers license, banking, etc...), then an appearance in court, along with an administrative fee might be necessary.

I promise that it isn't....you may run into some difficulty at the DMV or Social Security office because they don't deal with commonlaw name change often, but there is no need to publish in a newspaper, appear in court, or pay a fee......but the information regarding commonlaw name change isn't exactly advertised because lawyers and the courts want you to think you have to spend money.....


Now, I promise it will be EASIER to do if you go through the courts......but it is cheaper and feasible to do so without.

Quote from: Oriah on August 03, 2012, 10:22:21 PM

such as?

Such as, many situations are very difficult if you have no court order. Marriage, for example, depending on who is making the decisions. Lots of schools want a court order as well. And other entities. I'm glad I made most of my changes before 9/11 because the changes I made afterward were tricky and difficult and embarrassing, and some are impossible.

Such as, I now cannot change my birth certificate because I have no court order.

Such as, you cannot get a passport in your new name for some set period of time--I think it's five or seven years, and this was true before 9/11, by the way--and to prove that you really are who you say you are without a court order, you have to jump through extra hoops and provide extra documentation. If you haven't bothered to keep lots of old IDs and documents that you have no earthly reason to keep (unless you are a pack rat), then you are SOL and have to start over at the beginning.

Such as, the U.S. government in general is now very suspicious of common usage name changes and seems to go out of its way to make life difficult for anyone who does it nowadays.

And I don't call it living in fear, I call it being practical and smart. If I'd known then what I know now, I would have gone through the freaking courts and spent the three hundred bucks, or whatever it was back then.

I don't think you are correct regarding the passport thing....and providing you are, could you give citation(s)?


Oh, and submitting to a government that's directly oppressing you......very effective....

Quote from: Oriah on August 03, 2012, 11:12:39 PM
I don't think you are correct regarding the passport thing....and providing you are, could you give citation(s)?

Well, since you ask...I know I'm correct because I had to apply to change my name post-9/11 with no court-ordered name change. If you have no court order, you need "[a]t least 3 public records showing your date and place of birth that show exclusive use of your assumed name for at least 5 years." At the time that I applied, they would also take two such documents and two notarized affidavits from people who knew you during the name change, but that option does not seem to be available anymore.

Which is too bad, because how many people have documents in their NEW name that have their birth date AND place of birth? Or documents with their place of birth, period?

http://travel.state.gov/passport/correcting/ChangeName/ChangeName_851.html

Oh, and I should point out that you haven't addressed the birth cert issue. Nice bit of misdirection, but I tend to notice these things.

Quote from: Oriah on August 03, 2012, 08:43:25 PM
You don't have to pay for a name change, and don't have to go to court to do it.  According to commonlaw (valid in every state but lousiana which still goes by napoleanic code) you can change your name simply by the usage method.  Don't believe me? google commonlaw name change

or check the link

[url=http://www.firelily.com/gender/gianna/common.law.name.change.html]http://www.firelily.com/gender/gianna/common.law.name.change.html[/url]

don't buy into the myth......you shouldn't have to purchase your name

Yeah it's doable to a certain extent. Legally, if you aren't trying to defraud anyone (which you aren't), you can just start using a name. I'm not sure just how workable it is, for anything beyond sort of usage (for instance school, work, bank, etc.). I don't think it will work for Social security or birth certificate.


Funny thing, I found out about this common law thing and I added an initial in the middle of my name. I was not given a middle name and just got tired of writing no middle name on school records. My credit card and school records have the initial, but nothing else does. I think I could probably get other things if I cared.


--Jay Jay

I would think that abstaining from getting a court order will actually bring one much more onto the radar screens of the offices that keep track of these things.

If it matters - lots of folks I know were never asked to publish. And in my state, you can petition to not publish for privacy reasons, and also apply for a waiver of the fee (based on low income). No lawyer needed.

On the other hand, from that G Israel article written in the last millennium, I read, "Frequently I am called upon to help resolve a dispute when some agency or entity refuses to accommodate a client's change of name. ...Failure to accommodate a person's change of name in some areas may constitute discrimination and I politely indicate so, typically in a well-worded letter advising my client to contact an attorney if his or her name change is not accommodated."

LOL. So um yeah, the common law tactic feeds the lawyers more than DIY and waiting in line at the courthouse.

To the OP - "common usage" not only is true, but keeps your status a tad more private and out of public record.

Back to the subject at hand--I have a trans acquaintance who gave as his reason that he just didn't like his name. He was passing so well by that time that (he says) the judge just glanced at him and said something like "I would think not" or "I wouldn't think so" or "I wouldn't either"--I forget what exactly.

But this guy has told some whoppers in the past, so I don't know if that story is true. I wouldn't doubt the reason he gave, just the judge's response.

Where I am you can change your name at any time by common usage, but to change your name legally and get your documents changed it has to be through a legal name change. They also want a valid reason to change the name and saying because you don't like the old one isn't valid, unless the name is offensive to public values. If I want to change my gender marker as well as my name I have to be single, that is divorced if currently married.


If I travel to the USA they can check my name against my birth record and can refuse entry if I did not have a legal name change to match that on my passport. I'm not sure what would happen to USA citizens travelling to Australia without a legal name change. The passport and entry permit have to under the legal name (I think). Certainly people are not allowed entry under an alias, hence a rock musician called Lady Ga Ga, for example,  would not be allowed in under a Lady Ga Ga alias, she had to have a passport under her registered legal name.


There tends to be very little tolerance in such situations. And it can be pretty frightening to be in a situation in a foreign country and have your ID rejected. I've travelled fairly extensively and have never met an immigration official with a sense of humour. Good manners yes. But that is as good as you get.  When I travelled to Japan the passport control were as friendly as rattle snakes. If there is anything incorrect in your documents you are sent back. The same in China.


Cindy