What about Kim? Pat? Chris? Dana? Bobby? Stevie?

[dillon]

Not to mention Jan, Madison, or the ever-trendy Taylor... More pseudo-righteous idiocy from some chickens--t elected hick judge. I think this judge ought to check his own genitalia...his inability to stand up to the nonsense of the Religious Right makes me think he lost the main part of it somewhere along the way.

http://thegavoice.com/georgia-judge-den ... me-change/

[Fred in Skirts]

Since the story takes place not that far from where I live, I heard about it on the local news. After the field reporter finished his broadcast from in front of the court house the anchors did something I have never seen them do. They both came down on the Judge and stated he should be removed from the bench. One of them said the government has no right telling you what name you can have. They said it is a personal thing for each individual and not something that others have any right to have a say in. There has been a great backlash of the people not just in the Gay community to have the judge taken off the bench. I agree with them that he is not doing his job as an unbiased individual.

Fred

[Sinned]

Over here you can pretty much call yourself what you want at any time as long as there is no intention to defraud. With the advent of the computer certain keyboard characters are not allowed in official forms. We have what is called a deed poll which you can use to change your name and it's basically just a notarised statement of your old name and new. As far as a know there is no centralised database of deed polls. Appearance before a judge is not necessary.

[crfriend]

We have what is called a deed poll which you can use to change your name and it's basically just a notarised statement of your old name and new. As far as a know there is no centralised database of deed polls.

In the US it's always been difficult to change your name -- except for when a woman changes her maiden name to her husband's surname. Beyond that, it's a pain -- including for the same woman to change her name back to her family name in case of a dissolution of the marriage.

This is down to how many agencies track such data very, very, closely. Towns have to track it, counties track it, states track it, and the gods alone know how many Federal agencies track it. Such is one of the problems of living in a police state.

So, even if I went off on a German bent, it'd likely take me years to change my name to the absolutely equivalent German spelling -- even retaining all three names thematically intact (one might not need it, but two would). So, largely it's a non-starter here because of the assumption by "law enforcement" that the intent is to deceive.

The judge in this case is just knee-jerking the same was as many of them do because they're wired to believe that deceit is the intent. The applicant is guilty until proven innocent, and it's up to the applicant to prove innocence.

[STEVIE]

What about names that are non European in origin?
Steve.

[Reaper_Man]

We have what is called a deed poll which you can use to change your name and it's basically just a notarised statement of your old name and new. As far as a know there is no centralised database of deed polls

and any friendly lawyer will tell you that deed polls aren't worth the paper they're written on (which is why there is no database) in the UK a person can change their name whenever they want provided that the relevant authorities are informed of the change (custom and revenues, DWP etc

the deed poll was something invented by the lawyers as a way of screwing money out of people who know no better

[Fred in Skirts]

the deed poll was something invented by the lawyers as a way of screwing money out of people who know no better

Isn't that what lawyers are supposed to do??

Fred

[dillon]

What about names that are non European in origin?
Steve.

It would be interesting to see what the judge would do if some dude wanted to change his name to "Osama"...

[Judah14]

What about names that are non European in origin?
Steve.

It would be interesting to see what the judge would do if some dude wanted to change his name to "Osama"...

That is actually a (somewhat) common name among Arabic-speaking people. The problem is that the stigma attached to it is similar to those from names like Judas, Hitler, etc.

[moonshadow]

I read somewhere that Beverly and Vivian were once considered male names. I watched a movie recently here the father character was named Beverly.

Personally, I like the name Beverly, it just rolls nice and wouldn't mind giving the name to my first born son...

I've seen some girls who go by "Andy", probably short for Andrea. Andy was my childhood name, and my parents still call me by that.

[crfriend]

I read somewhere that Beverly and Vivian were once considered male names.

There's continual crossover in the "gender" of names. My grandfather's name was Dale. My dad missed being called "Robin" by a hair's-breadth. My biological parents were very careful to give me an unambiguously male name, but didn't account for the pronunciation of initials which has caused some measure of amusement over the decades, especially given my surname.

I've seen some girls who go by "Andy", probably short for Andrea.

Andrea is not necessarily a "girl's name"; e.g. Andrea Bocelli. Another variant is "Andreas".

Andy was my childhood name, and my parents still call me by that.

That's the diminutive for both Andrew and Andrea.

Another thing my parents were careful of was to give me a name that didn't have an associated diminutive. This has caused some problems over time as there's no "familiar" name to use for me in intimate settings. "Carlos" has been used once in a while, most notably in a moment of surprise by a wonderful woman whom I had a "summer fling" with decades ago; "Carly" or "Carla" are straight out, and nobody's even tried applying either to me.

Ultimately, all a name is is a sequence of uttered sounds that we recognise as being "ours" and that we respond to from training.

[dillon]

Beverly was definitely once also a male name; there was a former Chief Justice of the NC Supreme Court who bore the name. And we could certainly add Francis to the list (Francis Albert Sinatra). I have seen women spell their nicknames as Andi (reality TV celebrity Andi Dorfman) and Andie (actress/model Andie MacDowell)...there must be one using Andy somewhere, no doubt, though the -ie ending is usually regarded as feminine and the -y as masculine.

[crfriend]

[... W]e could certainly add Francis to the list (Francis Albert Sinatra).

Francis is absolutely masculine -- and it has a feminine counterpart: Frances, which was my grandmother's middle name. My ex's mother named her daughter with the masculine form after the saint (which my ex- certainly wasn't).

[Disaffected.citizen]

Vyvian or Vivian were (and maybe remain in use) male names, Vivienne is the generally accepted female spelling.

Then you have Gabriel and Gabrielle. Not sure if you have Leslie and Lesley in the US; Leslie is unisex, Lesley is female.

Hillary is more commonly female now, but was previously used more for male.

Then there is/was Marion that might also be Marian. John Wayne!

Shirley was also used for men in bygone days (look up Big Daddy, UK wrestler), now just for women.