I live in NY and for over 30 years I have used my middle and last names on every contract and piece of paper I have signed (even got my passport and non-driver's I.D. issued that way). After all this time I want to change my S.S. card so that my name matches the name I've been using for the past three decades because my new job won't list, pay or issue insurance cards as middle/last, but as first/last because that's what's on my S.S. card (my other jobs had no problem using my middle/last). The S.S. office tells me I have to get a court order switching my first/middle names before they can change my card information. Isn't my given middle name also my legal name? It's not like the name I'm asking them to list on the card is one that I picked out of a book because I liked it better than the name I was given. Help, anyone? Thanks.
2007-11-13 07:55:58 · 17 answers · asked by Diandra 1 in Politics & Government ➔ Law & Ethics
Thank you all for your answers. And, no, my goal was not to get a "yes" answer so I could tell the SS people they're wrong. I previously had an exasperating experience where several government people all gave me different, and wrong, answers to a question because they didn't know what they were talking about. After being switched all over the place, one official finally gave me an answer that was backed by material he read to me over the phone. I thought somebody might know a law or statute, post it, and then I would be able to go back to the SS office and show them. I'll just go through the legal name change rigamarole and be done with it. Thanks again to all who answered my question.
2007-11-14 03:03:28 · update #1
Your legal name is your first middle and last names together. Anything else is not your legal name.
Is your current plan to get someone on here to tell you yes and then go down to the SSA office and tell them they don't know what they are talking about?
2007-11-13 08:00:22 · answer #1 · answered by davidmi711 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Because not everyone is given a middle name, courts will only recognize first and last names as your legal name. If you want to use your middle name, you will have to get that changed, or just start putting the first innitial before your middle name.
2007-11-13 08:22:41 · answer #2 · answered by quatrapiller 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Your legal name is the one on your birth certificate. So what is on there? You should be able to get your SS card changed to match that, but not to drop the first name.
Dropping the first name would involve a court order.
2007-11-13 07:59:45 · answer #3 · answered by julie travelcaster 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Yes, Your full legal name is first middle and last
2016-05-23 00:06:47 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
The name that appears on birth certificate is the legal name. Using your middle and last name are valid when tolerated but when referred to the original document, it could be denied. Thus, all use of names must be coherent with what is on your birth certificate.
2007-11-13 08:01:01 · answer #5 · answered by FRAGINAL, JTM 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I believe that if the name is on your birth certificate, and on you Social Security, you can consider it to be a legal name. And I think you have to start out with it, like you said, your drivers i.d. & your passport have your middle name... Now if you always signed with just your first and last & reciently swiched, thats a different story. Nice question! :]
2007-11-13 08:03:35 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think your legal name is what's on your birth certificate. Your middle name is part of it, but as your middle name. I have a friend with the same problem. Her friends call her by her middle name, but all of her legal documents must have her legal first name on them. I suppose she could have legally changed that, but she never bothered.
2007-11-13 08:00:01 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Your legal name is "all" your names as listed on the birth cert. You have to list your name the way it appears on all legal docs. My aunt is called by her middle name, but her first name is on all of her info, such as credit cards, I.D.'s, insurance, home, car, ect. Just put you first name on you ins. card and call it a day. If you want to legally use your middle name (as your first) then you have to go to court.
2007-11-13 08:08:16 · answer #8 · answered by make me 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Your first name on your birth certificate is your legal name. You can't just make your middle name your legal name by using it, you have to go through the legal process.
2007-11-13 08:00:37 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
No, your birth name is your legal name. Not the way you want the order to be. It's the way you were named. That is technically a name change. Sorry
2007-11-13 08:01:55 · answer #10 · answered by 81 Honda 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋