Anonymous Member

I'm interested in starting to go by a different name. Rather than go through the legal hassle of changing my name (and upsetting my family), I wonder if I could just start using the new name as an alias. Does anyone have any experience with this and/or know what kind of difficulties I might run into? Is it legal for me to apply to jobs using a name that's completely different from my legal name?

The_Jazz

No, it's not legal to apply for a job under a different name since the name you provide won't match the social security number you provide. You'd most likely lose the job if they figure that out.

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Baraka_Guru

I thought only criminals, authors, and celebrities use aliases.

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Plan9

Yeah, you'll just end up like Richard Bachman.

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Cynthetiq

My legal name is different than my daily used name. Thus my work paycheck, W2, 1099, and all contracts that are drafted are under my legal full name.

Any of the services I use, cellphone, gas co, electric, cable, doctor, all go under my daily use name which is middle name and surname. They don't care what your name is. They just care that the bill gets paid. As far as giving them my SSI#, they can all go fuck themselves because I don't give it to them.

I do not go by my first name at all unless it is a legal document for payroll, real property or financial instruments.

My mother in law changed her name many times, and I can't tell you what a pain in the ass it is to get her banking, legal papers, travel documents all because she uses a single word name like Cher or Madonna.

I was going to change my name to be my first initial and then middle name, last name since that's how I sign all my documents, but it's more of a pain in the ass since everyone uses First Name MI Last Name almost all the time. I'd still have a problem, so I just fill in my Middle name in the First name section and First Initail as MI.

What I'm cautioning you in is that it's a pain in the ass. Unlike changing your name when you get married, which is relatively simple as checking off a couple of boxes and filling out forms. When you change it formally, it's a huge pain in the ass so it's yet another reason to not have done it.

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Baraka_Guru

In another lifetime, I used to go by the name Lips.

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Knowing that death is certain and that the time of death is uncertain, what's the most important thing?
—Bhikkhuni Pema Chödrön

Humankind cannot bear very much reality.
—From "Burnt Norton," Four Quartets (1936), T. S. Eliot

clavus

PITA is right. I've known a couple people who decided to go by a different name. Big problem is when they run into old friends (who slip up and use the old name) around new friends who don't know WTF is going on.

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SecretMethod70

I've run into the very situation clavus mentions. Kind of the opposite of this thread, but a friend of mine went by his middle name as a kid and then started going by his first name once he was in college because going by his middle name was a pain. I met him after college, when he was going by his first name and was a coworker of mine. In walks some lady who goes "hi Andy!" and he quickly takes her into the back office to meet with her. The rest of us in the office were sitting there for the next half hour wondering wtf was going on and why that lady called him Andy

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Baraka_Guru

Well, I suppose there's nothing wrong with just letting people know you want to be called something else. You know, your driver's license has your real name, as do the government, your bank, and your employer, etc., but you request that everyone call you "The Yellow Dart" or "Mister Bojangles" or whatever it is you want them to call you.

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Knowing that death is certain and that the time of death is uncertain, what's the most important thing?
—Bhikkhuni Pema Chödrön

Humankind cannot bear very much reality.
—From "Burnt Norton," Four Quartets (1936), T. S. Eliot

LordEden

I went by a different name all through college and the later half of HS. I got the name pegged on me in HS and then when I went to college I was in the... shipping and exports business. I decided a nickname (Which I had been going by for a year or so) was a great way to mask myself socially while still being able to network for the sales and distribution aspect of my business venture.

I have the same problem that clavus and smeth mentioned. I have college friends showing up and they know me only by my nickname, people that I became friends with outside of college know me by my real name. There was some spillover with both sets of friends, as college friends started calling me by my real name and the post-college friends started calling me by my nickname.

There are friends/acquaintances from college that couldn't ever call me by my real name, they say it just sounds weird. Actually, a few people on TFP only know me by my college nickname. Funny world.

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GreyWolf

In Canada, you may use ANY name you wish... under certain conditions. You can't be trying to defraud anyone. You can't use it in legal proceedings in court. You must use your legal name, or an accepted derivative thereof, in all dealings with the government. I believe, but am not 100% sure, that you can use your "alias" on a legal contract, again, so long as there is no intent to defraud.

I had an acquaintance who used an alias so long that when he was busted for drug dealing, the charges were read using his legal name, but were qualified by "also known as <alias>". The questioning was exclusively Mr. Alias by the defense, and Mr. Legal Name by the prosecution. There were no objections to that.

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Jetée

Well, I'm not quite sure, but I do recall finding and researching this topic about a month ago, and I thought that this was legal (in special circumstances) to do so in the US as well. I was reading terms of employment documents, and it specifically addressed the issue of aliases and using a name that is not the one given to you at birth (the shame about it is I don't recall much of anything of the legalese behind it). There was just a simple matter of stating that you-1 is the one and the same as you-2, and you could not be charged with a crime, unless its used for the purpose of defraudment.

I'd err on the side of caution and seek to change your name via court or SS offices if you are going to be using the alias in any other situation than attending neighborhood mixers. But if the latter is the case, then this is for you:

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Lindy

My given name is Sophia, and I absolutely hate it. I never use it except when I'm signing legal documents. Driver's license. Passport. Those kind of things.
I've gone by "Lindy" (a diminutive of my surname) since I was about ten years old. I found out that legally changing my name would be a little bit of a hassle, but that I could call myself whatever I wanted as long as I was not using the assumed name to commit fraud or to usurp someone elses identity.
So I just call myself Lindy. One name. Like Madonna. It's unusual enough to be distinctive, but doesn't sound weird or contrived. Was a great stagename.
If the phone rings and somebody asks for Sophia, I pretty much know that I don't want to talk to them.

Lindy

Anonymous Member

Thank you GreyWolf and Jetee. I'm not interested in committing any crimes, and I'd be open about my legal name should the issue come up. My issue is only complicated by the fact I specifically want to use the alias for professional business, otherwise I'd do exactly what Lindy describes. Your posts give me hope that this might be possible.

dlish

anonymous,

if im understanding you correctly, you'd be transparent on your real name with your company, but you want to be called by your alias when it came to say your business card?

i dont see anything illegal in that really. if i were you i'd be telling the prospective client after i won the job while giving all your details to the company that your legal name is different and that you go by an alias.

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