Date: Mon, 25 Dec 2006 20:12:59 -0500
From: "Michael Walsh" <MJW at press.jhu.edu>
To: <WSFAlist at KeithLynch.net>
Subject: [WSFA] Naming of names, was [WSFA] Re: Sad news: Dick Eney
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at KeithLynch.net>

> eva.whitley at gmail.com 12/25/2006 8:02:46 PM >>>
>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

If I recall correctly our WSFAn in Perth, Lee Smoire, was actually
given the name Leah, which she apparently disliked.

mjw