Anyone know how to change the legal spelling of your first name?

KitteeBride2Be

I am filing my name change to my married name with SSA and it got me thinking. My whole life I have spelled my first name differently than what appears on my birth certificate and my SS card. (birth certificate says "Maryann" and I have always been known as "Marianne")Does anyone know if I would I have to legally change my name to have it appear the way I have always been known on my SSC? I have never had an issue with employers. All documentation has always had Marianne on it. I don't know if this would be considered a legal name change or if they could just change the way its spelled. I googled and I couldn't really find anything.Any thoughts? Thanks!

*BeachBride0410*

I am pretty sure you can change your first name when you go to change your last name.

Brie2010

You should call an attorney.  It varies state to state, but you'd probably have to petition for it in the courts.

scoetto

No clue. I'd contact the SS office and the state to see if that's possible.

missy68

No idea. It seems to me to be changing your name, though, since you're not changing the nickname (i.e. Rebecca, going from Becky to Beckie) - you're talking about changing the legal spelling.If it is considered the legal spelling, I would guess - and it's only a guess - you'd have to go to court to change it.  Your marriage license will allow you to change your last name, but not your first name.I would suggest calling an attorney's office or attempting to call the Social Security office/sending an email inquiry. They would be better informed.

Catwoman708

Go to the place you get you birth certificates. They have a form to fill out to amend your birth certificate. There is a fee for doing it. You will need a copy of your amended birth cert, and your marriage license, to get your new SSN/card, and to change your driver's license. There might be other things to think about too, like your bank accounts, creddit cards, and if you ever have to get school transcripts, they will need to know your old name/spelling.

*BeachBride0410*

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Name_change

Kristin789

When you get married and choose to change your name, you get to change any or all of it. You can change the spelling of any of it. You can change your name to Mareeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeanne or your last name to your husband's last name or change your last name to Blue just because you like it. But if you decide later on, it's really expensive to change your name. For example, I had a kid in my college class who wanted to change his last name to his STEPDAD's last name when he turned 21. (The biodad had prevented him from changing his last name until he turned 21.) So he did. And it was a lot of legal paperwork and costs. A lot. So decide now, and do it all at once.

mmm_080809

Laws for this may vary by state. Here, there's a big section of Q&A about legal name change on our county probate court's website - I would check your local court's website and see if there's any info there. In my state you just need to fill out a form and pay a small filing fee to request a court ordered name change.

lyndausvi

When you get married and choose to change your name, you get to change any or all of it. You can change the spelling of any of it. You can change your name to Mareeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeanne or your last name to your husband's last name or change your last name to Blue just because you like it. Ummm..  maybe in your state but not mine. I was only allowed to change my last name.  If I wanted to change my first or middle name then I had to have a court order.  I would check into your state laws. 

impslave

FI is going through this right now.  When he was born in NY, someone mucked things up and put "Jose" instead of "Joseph."  FMIL never bothered to get it corrected while FI was a minor and it wouldn't have been an issue.Now that we're hitting crunch time and have to get the marriage license soon, FI freaked when he realized that he would be "Jose" on there.  Last week, he signed papers with a local attorney to get a court order here in Nevada to legally change his first name to Joseph.After FI  has his hearing and the order is approved, the attorney will file that with NY so he can get an amended birth certificate.  Then we'll get our marriage license.I told him I would marry him no matter what his name is, but he really wanted to do this.  It wasn't something I anticipated when we started planning the wedding *heh*.

foolforfood

In my area, you need to get it changed through a court order.  Contact a clerk in your county court house.