Humans love naming things……gardenias, flamingos, clothespins, you name it. For people, our names help to establish our unique place in the world, often summing up in one word our basic personal data of gender, nationality, and family history. Whether based on days of the week, family tradition, or religious custom, all cultures have developed naming rules. That begs the question……are we legally obligated to have a name? In the United States, going without a name is not inherently illegal. In other words, police won’t arrest you for not having a name, However, you can’t legally identify yourself without one, and that would make things rather difficult for you. You need a legal name on a birth certificate in order to obtain a driver’s license, social security card, or passport. In the United States, no matter where a woman gives birth, she is legally obligated at some point to report it to the appropriate government entity, usually a Department of Health and Human Services or vital records. That entails filling out a first and last name for the child. How long the mother has to fill out that birth certificate varies by state. Once you have a name, you can change it to anything you want, as long as the new moniker isn’t a number or a vulgar word and you’re not changing it with fraudulent intentions. For example, in 1993, following a feud with record label Warner Bros., the artist born Prince Rogers Nelson changed his name to a symbol as a way to get out of his recording contract. It didn’t work. Although Prince retained his legal name — and switched it back in 2000 after his contract expired — for 7 years people simply referred to him as The Artist Formerly Known as Prince.
