3 ms·

It's a bit of a shame that these push a Sovereign Citzen-esque pseudo-legal message, when they could point out an actual legal fact: under Common Law, you can u

It's a bit of a shame that these push a Sovereign Citzen-esque pseudo-legal message, when they could point out an actual legal fact: under Common Law, you can use any name you like.

Blahah 10y ago
Indeed, I have taken advantage of this professionally for years. My birth surname is very very common, which as a scientist makes it hard to build a professional reputation through publishing. My partner and I are in a long term relationship, so we both use a hyphenated joining of our surnames when we publish and in all professional situations. it all works fine until you try to do something involving a bank or border control - when we founded a company together we legally had to register as directors with our given names, bit when proving our identities we could only produce ID for our birth names. It didn't matter that what we are doing is perfectly legal, it only mattered that the bank didn't know how to handle it. All in all though, it has been a net positive experience - I choose my own name and only encounter bureaucracy when I choose to.
bencollier49 10y ago
I feel the next big advertising campaign should invoke common law to claim that the FB terms of service are illegal.
olalonde 10y ago
What does that mean exactly? Surely you can't use a made up name in a contract for example?
- techsupporter 10y ago
  In general (wildly general), legal scholars say that you are entitled to use any name you wish, even when contracting, provided you are not doing something that's illegal (such as perpetuating a fraud, theft, or some other form of deceit). States have a statutory name change process so that your name can be deemed recognized but, otherwise, your use of a name is solely up to you and the willingness of others around you to accept it. If you'd like to read a rather well done paper on it, check out this one from the UCLA Law Review: http://www.uclalawreview.org/pdf/57-1-7.pdf http://www.uclalawreview.org/pdf/57-1-7.pdf (By way of example, I was born "Firstname Middlename Lastname." I use an abbreviated form of my middle name in common usage, so let's say "Mid Lastname." A couple of my credit accounts have "Mid Lastname" on them, as does one of my utility bills, because they accepted my preference for using that name. Others have "Firstname Lastname" or "Firstname M. Lastname" because that was the policy of the business when I opened them. They are all equally valid and equally binding on me because I am the one who did those acts and I can demonstrate that I am. Why have I not done the statutory name change process in my state to formally adopt "Mid Lastname" as my recognized name? Eh, haven't felt like it.)

It's a bit of a shame that these push a Sovereign Citzen-esque pseudo-legal message, when they could point out an actual legal fact: under Common Law, you can use any name you like.

Blahah 10y ago

Indeed, I have taken advantage of this professionally for years. My birth surname is very very common, which as a scientist makes it hard to build a professional reputation through publishing. My partner and I are in a long term relationship, so we both use a hyphenated joining of our surnames when we publish and in all professional situations. it all works fine until you try to do something involving a bank or border control - when we founded a company together we legally had to register as directors with our given names, bit when proving our identities we could only produce ID for our birth names. It didn't matter that what we are doing is perfectly legal, it only mattered that the bank didn't know how to handle it. All in all though, it has been a net positive experience - I choose my own name and only encounter bureaucracy when I choose to.

bencollier49 10y ago

I feel the next big advertising campaign should invoke common law to claim that the FB terms of service are illegal.

olalonde 10y ago

What does that mean exactly? Surely you can't use a made up name in a contract for example?

techsupporter 10y ago
In general (wildly general), legal scholars say that you are entitled to use any name you wish, even when contracting, provided you are not doing something that's illegal (such as perpetuating a fraud, theft, or some other form of deceit). States have a statutory name change process so that your name can be deemed recognized but, otherwise, your use of a name is solely up to you and the willingness of others around you to accept it. If you'd like to read a rather well done paper on it, check out this one from the UCLA Law Review: http://www.uclalawreview.org/pdf/57-1-7.pdf http://www.uclalawreview.org/pdf/57-1-7.pdf (By way of example, I was born "Firstname Middlename Lastname." I use an abbreviated form of my middle name in common usage, so let's say "Mid Lastname." A couple of my credit accounts have "Mid Lastname" on them, as does one of my utility bills, because they accepted my preference for using that name. Others have "Firstname Lastname" or "Firstname M. Lastname" because that was the policy of the business when I opened them. They are all equally valid and equally binding on me because I am the one who did those acts and I can demonstrate that I am. Why have I not done the statutory name change process in my state to formally adopt "Mid Lastname" as my recognized name? Eh, haven't felt like it.)