Should I change my name in my early 40s?

[Anonymous]

Wondering because family and very close friends calls me "Jennifer" and they have since I was a baby but my legal name and gov work name is "Julia". How easy would it be to change my first name? Julia is my boring work name to me while Jennifer is fun and familiar

[Anonymous]

Real ID says no
Just use birth name for now on legal documents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Real ID says no
Just use birth name for now on legal documents.

What's that mean?

[Anonymous]

Do you use Jennifer for anything official at all?

If all your ID says Julia - Social Security, Drivers License, (marriage certificate if any), passport and birth certificate, I would NOT legally change your name to Jennifer. It's just a pain in the ass to do it.

Just go by Jennifer socially, as your nickname.

[Anonymous]

Good luck voting later. Thanks Safe Act.

[Anonymous]

Change your name legally? No. That sounds like a total PIA for no good reason.

[Anonymous]

Both are perfectly fine but common boring vanilla names. I don't see what difference would it make but if you want to then why not? However, do consider annoying consequences, more so in current environment. What if it flagged during travel? If by any chance you are brown or naturalized, you are inviting unnecessary trouble.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Real ID says no
Just use birth name for now on legal documents.

What's that mean?

It means that Congress is working on the SAVE act, and if you want to be able to vote all your paperwork needs to match your birth certificate.

[Anonymous]

If it will make you happier then by all means do it!

I don’t think you are too old to switch out your legal moniker at all.

[Anonymous]

The process for a name change varies by state, and it can be extremely simple or it can be complicated. That said, the House already passed the SAVE act. It’s not a good time to add any layers of change to your legal identity.

I work with DV victims, a few have had complete legal name changes. Anytime they need to prove identity, they have to show their original BC, their name change, their marriage(s) and divorce (s). It’s already burdensome post 9/11. With the changes coming it will get worse. Strongly advise against a legal name change for anyone at this time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The process for a name change varies by state, and it can be extremely simple or it can be complicated. That said, the House already passed the SAVE act. It’s not a good time to add any layers of change to your legal identity.

I work with DV victims, a few have had complete legal name changes. Anytime they need to prove identity, they have to show their original BC, their name change, their marriage(s) and divorce (s). It’s already burdensome post 9/11. With the changes coming it will get worse. Strongly advise against a legal name change for anyone at this time.

there really is never a good time to change your name. Maybe I should just make my name Jennifer Julia and my two surnames.

[Anonymous]

I've never heard anyone refer to the name Jennifer as fun.

I know two people who legally changed names in or after their 40's. One was changing her name legally to Becca because she hated Rebecca and everyone calls her Becca anyway.

And one was her abusive ex husband only called her Nicole and she legally changed it to Nicki.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The process for a name change varies by state, and it can be extremely simple or it can be complicated. That said, the House already passed the SAVE act. It’s not a good time to add any layers of change to your legal identity.

I work with DV victims, a few have had complete legal name changes. Anytime they need to prove identity, they have to show their original BC, their name change, their marriage(s) and divorce (s). It’s already burdensome post 9/11. With the changes coming it will get worse. Strongly advise against a legal name change for anyone at this time.

there really is never a good time to change your name. Maybe I should just make my name Jennifer Julia and my two surnames.

Name changes have not been problematic until recently, but now, especially for women, it's not a good idea. Some women are talking about legally changing their name back to a maiden name, so that their documents all match. The problem I see there is that since we link identity to SSN, at some point in the near future, it's likely that you will have to produce documents for all names over time. Go by whatever name you want, but don't add any legal layers in my opinion.