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Four Things That Are Difficult To Take As Your Legal Name

10 February 2015

Arthur Young

Have you ever thought of changing your legal name? You may want to take that step, for example, if your name is associated with a dangerous criminal's name. However, you can't just pick any word and use it as your name. Here are examples of four things that you may find difficult to adopt as your legal name:

Famous Names

The courts will not allow you to change your name to one related to a famous person. A famous person may include a top sportsperson, writers, or even singer. This is because you will be viewed as trying to mislead the public that you are actually that person, or that you are related to him or her.

You may only succeed in taking a famous person's name if you convince the court that you won't take advantage of that famous person's name. For example, if the name you want belongs to a famous singer, then you may not get it if you are also a singer. On the other hand, you may be allowed official use of the name if you are in a different industry such as banking.

Profanity

Most people would find it difficult to call you or refer to you with a racial slur or a profanity. The law agrees, which is why it would be difficult to change your legal name to a common profanity. You may get away with it if it is a profanity only known to you or your circle of friends, or if the meaning of the word has changed over the years. However, it will probably depend on the court and judge handling your name change.

One Letter or Numeral

It is also difficult to take a single letter, punctuation or numeral as your legal name such as "P," "?,"or "6." The legal reasoning is that such a name would be confusing. It is difficult, but not impossible. For example, some jurisdictions would allow you to take such a name if you agree to spell it out rather than use the symbol.

Trademarks

You also can't take a business, company or product name as your legal name if it is legally registered as such. There are copyright and trademark laws that prohibit other people other than the registered entities from using such names. Again, you can get around these restrictions by obtaining prior consent from the original and legal owners of the names.

It is clear that changing a name isn't just as simple as picking a word and getting it rubber stamped in court. A family lawyer's knowledge will help you to avoid picking a name that is likely to hit a snag in court. The attorney like Cronk & Waterman PLC will also help you to push through a legal name that lies on the border between what is acceptable and what is not, for example, a name that sounds roughly the same to a famous person's name.

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