I am not who you think I am. Anymore. Or maybe I am. Yes, of course I am.
Since I was young, I've gone by my middle name. I did this because my dad used my first name. Well, actually I guess it was his name first. I was a Jr. I never used my official first name because, well, that was his name. I used some variety of my name in all of my school records, the obligatory diminutive names giving way to the more grown up version in high school. I used my name when I filed my taxes. I used my name when I bought my first car. I used my name on everything... until recently.
Several years ago, things started to fall apart. I think it was our mortgage that first forced me to use my official name on a document. Then it was financing on my car. Then my bank account. Then one thing after another - most recently my Red Cross card and my new ID badge at work. Part of this is fed by the forms, printed and on-line, that state "First Name, Middle Initial, Last Name." Not everyone goes by their first name and they have no way to deal with "First Initial, Middle Name, Last Name"-type people.
Over the years I've been able to "correct" a few of the issues (or at least get them to use "First Initial, Middle Name" format), but it's becoming more and more difficult. I'm not trying to hide or change who I am, but rather to solidify my identity.
My driver's license seems to be the root of all of these problems. It has my full name on it. But... it has my signature on it. I've used that argument on a couple of occasions with some success when I was asked to "re-sign my full name." If my drivers license has my "official signature" on it, then if I signed something different on a form, they'd not have anything to compare it against to prove that it was me that signed the document.
I understand the need to be "more diligent" nowadays I guess, so I recognize that it will only get more difficult, not easier as time moves on. So, after discussion with my dad to ensure him I was not trying to forsake his (ok, our) name, I finally got the ball rolling to change my name. I will no longer be "First Name Middle Initial Last Name" guy. With the full authority of a court order behind me (sigh, that's a story for another time), from this day forth, I will now be [Middle Name] [Last Name] guy. Well, not exactly 'cuz that would just be weird, but you know what I mean...
Now the fun begins - "fixing," officially, all of the places that have my name wrong. This includes strangely enough, re-writing history. I have to change all of the current and active documents that have my "old" name, but I also need to have my birth certificate, our marriage license, the kids birth certificates, and a host of other documents reissued so ensure that when the day comes where my name is written on a headstone (or small vase or plastic bag of ashes), no one will question the rights of my family to take what little I had at the time.
