Because nearly everything in the US shoehorns things into three boxes, virtually every place my name is recorded on something important is different. I could'v

Because nearly everything in the US shoehorns things into three boxes, virtually every place my name is recorded on something important is different. I could've been consistent in using two or three out of four, but when I was younger I was intimidated by forms that say you must enter your "full legal name", so I would, and they would mangle it unpredictably. Checking account, credit card, drivers license, and property deed, each one different. Well, in fact, my social security card and my birth certificate don't match, so I was doomed from the start. It gives me some sympathy for places that try to regulate names to avoid parents doing something too goofy. I sometimes wonder if there will come a day when all the databases will stop allowing discrepancies, and it won't matter to the powers that be, because it's such a tiny percentage of the population that becomes "unpersons".