Can I Choose Any Name?

Restrictions on Your New Name Choice

While most women choose their husband’s name after marriage, or revert back to their maiden name after divorce, you can generally change your name to just about anything you want, within reason.

However, if you’re pursuing a complete name change as opposed to just a “married vs. maiden name” scenario, you may want to handle this issue as a separate process, as opposed to trying to address it as part of a marriage or divorce process.

Out of the Ordinary Name Choices

Most courts will scrutinize any name change request that seems overly unusual or “frivolous”. For example, you can generally not change your name to that of a famous person unless of course, you have a good and valid reason for using that name.

That said, name changes have been notably on the rise and some odd requests have been granted. A New York judge, for example, granted a parents’ petition to change their four-year old son’s name to Yo Xing Heyno Augustus Eisner Alexander Weiser Knuckles Jeremijenko-Conley.

Entertainer Dan Miller changed his name in an Ohio court to “The” Dan Miller Experience. His first name is “The” Dan (with quotation marks intact), his middle name is Miller and his last name is Experience. So, with that in mind, almost any name is doable.

When Is a Name Change Not Allowed?

Some states do only allow the court to restore a woman’s maiden or other former name as part of a divorce.

Also, courts will not allow you to change your name to avoid legal issues such as debt collection, criminal prosecution or tax evasion.