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Is there any requirement that one's signature be a handwritten version of the printed version of one's name? My signature is pretty legible at least if you alr

by biztos 8y ago

Is there any requirement that one's signature be a handwritten version of the printed version of one's name? My signature is pretty legible at least if you already see my name in print, but I know lots of people who sign a squiggle. Your name could be ʤᔙ but you still might sign it ᠼ and I doubt anybody would care. (Made-up examples here, obviously.)

JoeAltmaier 8y ago
In some cultures a signature is somewhat like a signat-ring, a written emblem not necessarily related to alphabetic sequences. An 'X' for instance, signed on a contract by an illiterate and countersigned by a witness (well that was alphabetic but you get the idea). I knew a fellow from Bangalore who's signature was a graphic, some symbol written above a line and some letters below the line.
bluGill 8y ago
I'm told the squiggle is actually better than a legible signature. The legible signature is something you were trained to do following rules, and thus can be forged by someone else following the same rules. The squiggle is you, and so the existence/absence of some loop is enough to show a forgery and thus a forger has to memorize the entire thing with no rules to help. I'm not qualified to state if the above is true, but I like to believe it is.
- jjeaff 8y ago
  Also, if you have an elaborate squiggle, and you write it fast, it makes it very difficult to copy since the forger needs to write it quickly as well to get the same pen stroke results.
GolDDranks 8y ago
In Japan some places require me to sign my name with the exact same way than it's written in my passport using block letters. Normally I'd just write a cursive, stylized version (without my middle name). Some other names allow stylized signatures, but then they require that the signature must be almost exactly the same every time I write it. Again, not something I'm used to. This, of course reflects the fact that the Japanese don't use signatures to sign contracts. They use personal name stamps. The requirements make sense if you think your signature as a "name stamp that's written manually". Of course, signatures are not names, they have extra cultural, societal and legal baggage, but... just a data point that might be interesting.
lmkg 8y ago
There was a minor kerfuffle a few years ago because Obama was considering someone for Secretary of Treasury whose signature (which would have appeared on all American bills) was just five or six loops. It bore no resemblance to his name. He just apparently decided that was going to be his signature, and that's what he used for most of this adult life.
paulie_a 8y ago
I have really terrible handwriting, whenever I sign a document it literally is just some random continuous line. It's never been an issue. Nobody seems to care. You could probably make a smiley face and never have an issue regardless of the importance of the document.

by biztos 8y ago

JoeAltmaier 8y ago

In some cultures a signature is somewhat like a signat-ring, a written emblem not necessarily related to alphabetic sequences. An 'X' for instance, signed on a contract by an illiterate and countersigned by a witness (well that was alphabetic but you get the idea). I knew a fellow from Bangalore who's signature was a graphic, some symbol written above a line and some letters below the line.

bluGill 8y ago

I'm told the squiggle is actually better than a legible signature. The legible signature is something you were trained to do following rules, and thus can be forged by someone else following the same rules. The squiggle is you, and so the existence/absence of some loop is enough to show a forgery and thus a forger has to memorize the entire thing with no rules to help. I'm not qualified to state if the above is true, but I like to believe it is.

jjeaff 8y ago
Also, if you have an elaborate squiggle, and you write it fast, it makes it very difficult to copy since the forger needs to write it quickly as well to get the same pen stroke results.

GolDDranks 8y ago

In Japan some places require me to sign my name with the exact same way than it's written in my passport using block letters. Normally I'd just write a cursive, stylized version (without my middle name). Some other names allow stylized signatures, but then they require that the signature must be almost exactly the same every time I write it. Again, not something I'm used to. This, of course reflects the fact that the Japanese don't use signatures to sign contracts. They use personal name stamps. The requirements make sense if you think your signature as a "name stamp that's written manually". Of course, signatures are not names, they have extra cultural, societal and legal baggage, but... just a data point that might be interesting.

lmkg 8y ago

There was a minor kerfuffle a few years ago because Obama was considering someone for Secretary of Treasury whose signature (which would have appeared on all American bills) was just five or six loops. It bore no resemblance to his name. He just apparently decided that was going to be his signature, and that's what he used for most of this adult life.

paulie_a 8y ago

I have really terrible handwriting, whenever I sign a document it literally is just some random continuous line. It's never been an issue. Nobody seems to care. You could probably make a smiley face and never have an issue regardless of the importance of the document.