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Who am I?

The name on my diploma when I graduate in December won’t be my name.

Well, it will be my legal name – the name I was given by my parents – but it’s not the name I go by.

don’t relate to it at all and if you were to call it out on the street, I’d say 99 times out of a 100 I wouldn’t actually respond. It just isn’t me.

All through school I hated this; it was a massive pain whenever we had substitute teachers, as it would be my legal name on the roll rather than my everyday name. At the start of every year I had to correct my teachers in every single class. Anytime I enrolled in something. On my driver’s licence. And now, on my degree.

You might say “get over it! Just use your name, it’s a beautiful name” as some do. Or tell me to just change it.

I’m definitely at the stage where I’m starting to consider it. And if I’m going to do it, the sooner the better I suppose, because the older I get the more documentation I’m going to have with my old name on it and the more difficult it will be to organise.

So why haven’t I pulled the plug? I don’t know. I guess it feels like a bit of a rejection of the name my parents took the time and trouble to choose. The cost – and paperwork involved in doing so is putting me off.  And although realistically, it’s not going to have much of an impact in my day-to-day life, apart from making it a little simpler, it feels like a BIG change.
Have any of you gone through anything similar?

4 thoughts on “Who am I?

  • Reply FB @ FabulouslyBroke.com September 25, 2009 at 00:18

    I haven’t had to deal with this, but my brother has had to

    He hates his name. And I think it’s fine, he just didn’t “own” it or spell it differently… but my parents also half admitted it was a BS name they gave him

    Which totally killed his self confidence. Now he goes by a different name by the rest of us… but is too CHEAP to pay for a name change. Not lazy. 😛

    I’d change my name. It’s what people know you by and call you. So it won’t be any different. Maybe keep your given name as your middle name?

  • Reply Jessie September 25, 2009 at 15:38

    wow, that’s something I’ve never thought of….how much does it cost to change your name?

    • Reply eemusings September 26, 2009 at 11:08

      About $150, so not in any rush… still dealing with all the costs of moving, old bills etc!

  • Reply On ink, identity and permanent reminders « Musings of an Abstract Aucklander September 30, 2010 at 14:41

    […] is not good enough reason to give myself a permanent reminder. The name has little meaning to me. It’s the name on my birth certificate, yes  but it’s not the name I go by on a daily basis. If you called it out to me on the […]

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