Name change
Name change is a basic legal act that is recognized in practically all legal systems to allow an individual the opportunity to adopt a name other than the name given at birth, marriage, or adoption. The procedures and ease with which a person can do so is highly dependent on in which jurisdiction that person resides. In general, common law jurisdictions have rather loose limitations on name changes while civil law jurisdictions are quite restrictive. State laws can regulate name changes in the United States; still, they cannot altogether forbid common law name changes. Several specific federal court rulings have set precedents regarding both court decreed name changes and common law name changes (changing your name “at will”). The federal courts have overwhelmingly ruled that changing one’s name at will, by common law, is clearly one’s constitutional right. Nonetheless, one may still choose to have a court issued name change.
