Date: Mon, 25 Dec 2006 20:02:46 -0500
From: Eva Whitley <eva.whitley at gmail.com>
To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at KeithLynch.net>
Subject: [WSFA] Re: Sad news: Dick Eney
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at KeithLynch.net>

Michael Walsh wrote:
<snipped>
>
> When my mother died, it took a bit longer to get her military records
> (so she could be buried at Arlingon for *her* military service) because
> my father had forgotten that long, long ago she had switched her first &
> middle names.  I don't think she ever went through any legal process,
> she just did it.  But then, life was simplier, long ago.

My mother was an unexpected baby (my grandmother thought, at age 46,
that she was menopausal, not pregnant) so she was not named at birth.
The attending doctor was told the family named was Valentino (rather
than Valentine) so when my mother applied for Social Security she had to
explain why the birth certificate for Agnes Mary Whitley said "Baby
Valentino."

If memory serves, you can use any name you like as long as it isn't for
fraudulent reasons, and if you use it consistently, it's legal. IANAL,
however. --Eva