July 2002
Know Thy Jurist: Change Thy Name
by Sir Brian P. McLean
Know thy jurist. Know how to change thy legal name.1 These are related concepts. Let's start with changing thy legal name. William Blythe IV. Sound too Republican? No problem. Change it to Bill Clinton and voilà, you're a liberal Democrat and two-term U.S. president. Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.2 Too hyphenated and glottal? Kein Problem, meine Freunde. Change it (in 1917) by royal proclamation to Windsor, and occupy Buckingham Palace rent-free for the next century.
In Washington, you don't have to be a member of the royal family or from Arkansas to change your legal name. That's good news.3 You can change it on your own,4 or resort to a statute, RCW 4.24.130, that makes legally changing your name easy. I have used the statute recently to avoid professional embarrassment.
The statute allows you to petition the district court5 in the county where you reside6 to change your legal name or the name of your ward. RCW 4.24.130(1).7 Not so fast if you're an offender under the Department of Corrections' jurisdiction, RCW 4.24.130(2), and maybe not at all if you're a sex offender, RCW 4.24.130(3); RCW 9A.44.130(7) (sheriff might be able to stop the name change for "legitimate law enforcement interests," but sheriff cannot deny you "when the name change is requested for religious or legitimate cultural reasons or in recognition of marriage or dissolution of marriage").
Assuming you're eligible for a name change, the law goes on to say that when petitioning the court you have to give an affirmative reason for the change.8 Id. Kelly Kunsch (who has contributed to 84 volumes of Washington Practice)9 and Barbara Barker suggest some "good" reasons for a name change, including "to simplify a difficult or foreign spelling; to conform to the name petitioner has customarily used; to change the name of a minor to conform to that of a parent; to legally establish the name that already appears in various official records; to reflect the petitioner's personal tastes.…" (italics omitted).10
But there are limits. Under common law, a name change could be sought for any reason that is not fraudulent.11 But RCW 4.24.130 invites judicial scrutiny, and thus the freedoms associated with common law and simpler times become more fragile. Avail yourself of codified law, and the idea that one who has the freedom to choose foolishly (the common-law right to subject oneself to "contempt, ridicule and inconvenience") must be balanced by the scales of justice against civilization's interest in avoiding names that are obscene, likely to provoke violence or warfare, arouse passions, or inflame hatred. If that isn't unfair enough, it may be impossible to assume a name that confers a fictitious title of nobility, royalty or a superior rank.12
The cost for a name change is ridiculously reasonable — five dollars. See RCW 36.18.010.13 Changing other people's legal names can be a bit touchier, but perhaps useful.14 Let's take my recent experience in superior court. I spelled a judge's name wrong in a letter. Let's call her Judge "Stephen." She's a superb jurist, her name is difficult to spell, and my variation was superior (namely, "Stephens"). Nevertheless, I arrived at the settlement conference and apologized. She was very gracious. I returned to my office and wept, realizing that for the rest of my career this judge would remember that I made a mistake.15
But the law is my friend. After careful and deliberate contemplation, I realized that if she changed the spelling of her name to my version we could both put this entire embarrassing episode behind us. I quickly prepared a Petition for Name Change and cover letter, and sent them by legal messenger to the judge's chambers the same afternoon.16
Several months have passed and I have not heard from the judge. Her name remains the same. But I grow more confident every day that, even if I failed to know my jurist as well as I should have, I can always make a name change.
Sir Brian P. McLean, who has toyed for some years with changing his name to €, lives in Kent with his wife, who has a different last name. He practices in Pierce and King counties, where he and Richard Brady are managing members of Brady & McLean PLLC.
NOTES
1. You can "nick" your name for the sake of brevity. For example, my member Richard could go by "Dick" (he does not). But changing your nickname to "Skip," "Chip" or "Bulky," and RCW 26.09.150, which relates to a court's authority to grant a name-change request as part of a marriage dissolution, are beyond the scope of this article.
2. Cf. "Schlachtenhaufen."
3. See 57 Am.Jur.2d Name 613, 619, 627 (2001) (within common-law principle of freedom of choice in the matter of names, person could change name without resort to legal proceedings).
4. See, e.g., AGO 1985 No. 10 (a person may use any name he sees fit, but a state agency may require disclosure and proof of name formerly used).
5. To determine whether a district court has exclusive jurisdiction, ask a superior court judge or see footnote 6.
6. Note that if you're a victim of domestic violence and have reasonable fear for your safety, RCW 4.24.130(5) allows you to petition the superior court and have the file sealed.
7. This satisfies a problem that has nagged me for decades: Upon what legal foundation did Bruce Wayne rely when he renamed his youthful ward "Robin"? Note, however, that there is an apparent age limitation to youthful consent. A minor over the age of 14 may have to consent in writing to a name change. Kelly Kunsch and Barbara Barker, 1 Wash. Prac. Change of Name § 23.5 (2001) (relying on RCW 26.33.160 (1)(a)).
8. Thus turning a convenience into a burden.
9. Thus making the practice of law as easy as the art of being a counter person at McDonald's.
10. Kunsch and Barker, at § 23.11.
11. The attorney general says that a name change cannot be sought for fraudulent reasons. See AGO 1928 at 507. Kunsch and Barker suggest that a name-change petition should not be granted if the change would be illegal or "detrimental to the interests of any person." Kunsch and Barker § 23.5. If "detrimental" does not include bad taste, then does "any person" not apply to the petitioner? Don't know.
12. See, e.g., Matter of Miller, 67 N.Y.S.2d 1024 (City Cir. Ct. 1994), and 57 Am.Jur.2d at 643.
13. Your county may, however, "collect a reasonable fee to cover the cost of transmitting the order to the county auditor." Pierce County District Court No. One presently charges $72 according to its Web site. Oh Tim Eyman, where art thou?
14. But see 57 Am.Jur.2d at 630 (right to change name belongs to individual, unless minor child).
15. The settlement was a draw.
16. The idea for the Petition for Name Change was, characteristically, my member's.
