The Roda Nama

Monday, March 2, 2009

What is in a name?

Some of you have invariably heard of the nonsense that I'm going through trying to change my name...
Long story short: I don't go by the name I was given - which has caused me endless embarrassment when people don't know what to call me and then trying to explain what my name is and where it comes from ("But how do you get Nikki from Mari?" -- good question)

I had thought getting my name changed as a result of marriage would be a breeze: which in all honesty it would have, if I had only wanted to change my last name. Three name change was not in the cards for me. Why?
Because I got married in a state other than the one I live in. New York (being the unique state that it is) allows you to change your name on your marriage license. North Carolina does not.

The end result being that because my NC marriage license does not have the name I want printed on it, I can only use it to change my last name .... to change all my names I need a court order.

Brooklyn County Courthouse is like the DMV squared.
Before even starting the process I had to bring:
An original birth certificate, the marriage license, a notarized order for name change, a notarized spousal consent form (oh yes! They went there), and I was told I had to bring Allen with me.... (when we got there they just said they needed his ID - but all the other ladies changing their names had brought their significant others, which leads me to believe someone says that bull to make the whole process harder)

I spent 7 hours of my life there on Friday moving from one floor to another:
"Go to the 9th floor, get those forms stamped, then go to the 3rd floor and pay the cashier $65, then go back to the 9th floor to certify you've paid, then go to the 11th floor to have a judge hear your case, have those forms approved, then go back to the 9th floor, and certify that everything was done correctly, now notify the Department of Homeland Security by certified mail and pay $50 for the court order to be printed in a Brooklyn paper, bring back the proof of those actions to the 9th floor and then (and only then!) will you have officially changed your name.

So I still have a very long way to go in the process --- and am kicking myself daily for not having figured all this crap out sooner --- but I'm almost there folks!