Advice on name change

[mishy]

I am applying for dual citizenship through my maternal gf. I have all docs (except naturalization, which I should be getting soon), along with apostilles. My one concern was my mothers first name. On her birth certificate is the name Savera, but all other docs is Sarah, which she always used. She never changed it legally. I contacted the Newark Consulate and asked if this would be a problem. They said discrepancies are not acceptable. If the bc says "Saveria", then all the certificates following that must have that name. I will need to have the docs amended.

My brother is applying through the Miami Consultate, and I asked them the same question.......their reply was that if she did not have a legal change of name, she should have her marriage certificate amended according to her birth certificate.

My question is......what would be the easiest way to go? She is thinking of just changing her name legally, here in NJ, therefore only amending the one record. Any advice is appreciated......

[mler]

I'd go with the legal name change. If she does this, then all the records will match exactly. In addition, given the increased scrutiny identification documents are getting, it's good to have a birth certificate that matches the name you are using.

Making a legal name change in NJ is easy. I did it several years ago. She simply goes to the County Courthouse and completes a form. The reason for the name change is "to change my birth certificate so that my legal name is consistent with the name I have been using throughout my life." After several weeks, she will be asked to insert a statement regarding the name change in the local paper. The court will direct you to the paper, and they are familiar with the appropriate wording of the statement. After this is published, a judge will review the case, and the name change will become official. The process took about two months, and the cost (including newspaper ad) was about $250.

With the legal name change, amending the birth certificate should not be a problem. My birth certificate was from NYC, and the NJ name change was sufficient.

BTW, be sure to include any middle name(s) that she has been using. The name change should read exactly as you want it to read on official documents.

[mishy]

Thanks mler..I knew you would answer! Great advice. Yes she did decide to legally change her name. I will go with her next week to the Newark Courthouse to start this process. She already called them to find out where exactly she should go. I will make sure her middle name is the same on all documents. Thanks again!

[PeterTimber]

You can change your name anytime for any legal purpose and all you have to do is go to the county courthouse law library and ask them for the form letter to change your name and then subjkit or have your attorney subit the application to the couert and they will send you the lawful name change letter or document..It shoudl not cost much if you do it on your own or a few hundred to the attorney (they always charge something!). =Peter=

[mromano]

I have a similar issue with my documents.

My grandfather (GF) has an Italian first name on his US birth certificate, but he has an Anglicized first name on his US marriage and death certificates. My GF's surname is consistent across all documents, thankfully.

I have 3 questions:

1) How can I determine if my GF had a legal name change, or just decided to call himself by a different name after birth?

2) If I need to amend my GF's marriage and death certificates (and my father's birth certificate where it lists my GF's name), how can I do that?

3) Rather than amending these 3 documents, can my Vital Records Office simply write an affidavit claiming both first names are the same person? All the events took place in the same city.

Thanks very much for your help! =)

[johnnyonthespot]

Do you have his naturalization papers yet? There is a section on the Declaration of Intent which says something along the lines of "lawful entry for permanent residence in the United States of America was at _New York, NY_ under the name of __________". Ideally, this will be his Italian name and the name at the top of the Declaration will be his anglicized name. It was explained to me that this was the manner in which many Italians effectively changed their name from the original "Italian" name to their legal "American" name.

Before you take any action on this, consider that most consulates seem to be quite rational in regards to anglizations of given names, especially the common ones such as Giuseppe/Joseph, Filippo/Philip, Francesco/Frank, etc. You might want to try contacting your consulate and asking their policy.