First Initial, Middle Name

[LizzieMaine]

One way I've always enjoyed throwing a kink into computerized databases is the fact that for many years I've gone by my middle name, sticking my first initial on the front only for the most formal sorts of documents. Even my social security card shows my name that way, as do all my bank records, and other such documentation. And, of course, my driver's licence.

Well, when I went in to renew it today, the DMV folks told me there's been a change in Federal law that prohibits entering first names into the system that way -- there can be no spaces, no periods, no hyphens, and no first initials. So rather than exhume a name I haven't used in decades, I had to let them merge my first initial with my middle name. According to the great state of Maine, my name is now "Telizabeth."

Ack.

Any other first initial/middle name folks out there? Have they done this in your state? And has your name been mutilated in a ridiculous way?

 

[Paisley]

What will they do about the J. Edgar Hoover Building?

 

[Steve]

R. Steven right here. I've gone by my middle name my whole life; though I've never had that sort of trouble with it.

 

[scotrace]

This going to spell trouble for S. Tupid Jones.

 

[Nigel]

My ex wife always went by her middle name, she is T. Lisa, as in Toni Lisa but her father was also called Tony, so to save the confusion she became Lisa and it stayed.

 

[Zemke Fan]

Sounds like it's time...

According to the great state of Maine, my name is now "Telizabeth."

Miss Lizzie, for you to get your name legally changed!

 

[Novella]

I've never gone by my middle name, but I do sometimes have a laugh with my first and middle initials - M and R. When I get mail/documents that only list my last name and initials it looks like it's for a guy: MR LASTNAME. I'd like to publish something someday, if only so I could publish with my initials and confuse people with the fact that I'm really a Ms.

 

[BegintheBeguine]

When I changed my name the jerk I mean clerk at the Social Security office entered it wrong after I filled it out correctly in two different places on the form. She obviously decided I didn't know what I was doing. It took a lot of phone calls to get it straightened out. Haven't changed it with the DMV yet.

 

[Paisley]

My father used to have a driver's license that read "Norman Louise." A male friend of mine had a driver's license that read "female."

 

[Daisy Buchanan]

My father used to have a driver's license that read "Norman Louise." A male friend of mine had a driver's license that read "female."

For about 2 years my drivers license said that I was a male! I'm pretty sure that when I filled out the paper work for the license, I didn't put down the wrong sex. I never even noticed it until a male friend of mine pointed it out. I immediately went to the DMV to have it fixed. I had to fill out a "sex change" form!

 

[Big Man]

The last time I had my driver's license renewed they told me that I needed a second form of identification. I said, "what about my old drivers license?"

"No" they said, "that won't do."

I reminded the DMV Examiner that, "YOU issued this old license to me, why won't it work for identification?"

The old license had my picture on it but that wasn't good enough. I had to show them my Social security Card (issued in 1955 and with NO picture as "proof" of who I was).

Dang pin-head government rules ! :rage:

 

[DBFedora]

It can be fun...

to go by your middle name. It runs in my family. My grandfather, uncle, cousin (and even mother-in-law) all go by our middle names. I have even done it to my first born. My father-in-law razzes us about it all the time. We always have a good laugh about it together, but I always know that when a call comes in asking for William, that the person calling has no idea who they are really trying to reach. Generally, the calls are from an unsolicited source and I am instantly ready to relieve them from their script when (and if) they take a breath - courteously, of course. I (we) simply respond that he is not available to take the call.

I started using the abbreviated version Wm. with my middle name when in college as a byline for articles I wrote for our paper, and then for all of the work I turned in for classes. I continue to use the abbreviated form for many documents, for articles I write, music I orchestrate, and other creations associated with my work/life that need to have a more formal element/touch to them. :fedora:

 

[The Wolf]

This all makes me think of Henry Cho's routine about his friend, B.J. His buddy goes to get a license and to avoid confusion about his name he writes that it is "B only, J only" and gets back a license with the name "Bonly Jonly". lol

Sincerely,
The Wolf

 

[Leading Edge]

No ME for me please!

One way I've always enjoyed throwing a kink into computerized databases is the fact that for many years I've gone by my middle name, sticking my first initial on the front only for the most formal sorts of documents. Even my social security card shows my name that way, as do all my bank records, and other such documentation. And, of course, my driver's licence.

Well, when I went in to renew it today, the DMV folks told me there's been a change in Federal law that prohibits entering first names into the system that way -- there can be no spaces, no periods, no hyphens, and no first initials. So rather than exhume a name I haven't used in decades, I had to let them merge my first initial with my middle name. According to the great state of Maine, my name is now "Telizabeth."

Ack.

Any other first initial/middle name folks out there? Have they done this in your state? And has your name been mutilated in a ridiculous way?

Dag nap it! and here I was seriously considering Maine for my retirement location.

(Short version: using/amusing ME as part of my address lol )

 

[Diamondback]

Well, Miss Lizzie, you could have reversed them, becoming "Elizabeth T. [Lastname]". There've been times where I've thought about filing to have my former legal name (there's really not much left of the person it was assigned to, I only retain it for legal and correspondence convenience) replaced with my callsign, but people tend to look at you funny when you only have one name, and even more so when you bear the name of a rattlesnake.

Funny, how something so small as a name can create so much trouble...

Dang pin-head government rules ! :rage:

+1, sir!

 

[jonniangel]

My father would have had a heck of a time with the new rules, he didn't have a first name. For some reason, my grandparents just gave him a first initial and a middle name which he always used. Of course, when he joined the Navy in WWII, they couldn't deal with a first name that was only an initial so he actually had to make up a first name which shows up on all his military records.

My mother also goes by her middle name and has spent 85 years being V. Arline in all her medical records, drivers license, etc. Just this year, some rule changed somewhere and all her new medical records refer to her as Vera, which she hates. Not to mention she's afraid that it'll mess up all her medical records from previous years.

I hate both my first and middle names so I go by a nickname, just to make things really confusing!

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Any other first initial/middle name folks out there? Have they done this in your state? And has your name been mutilated in a ridiculous way?

Something similarly goofy is done to legal immigrants who receive their Alien Registration Cards ("green cards"). My wife's full first name is in fact two names: Maria Veronica. (Along the line of "Mary Jane" or "Betty Sue.") However, her green card shows her as Mariaveronica.


Why? Well, according to green card logic, "Maria Veronica" (with the space in between the two words) would mean that her first name is "Maria" and her middle name is "Veronica." Never mind the fact that my wife actually has no middle name!

.

 

[Tony in Tarzana]

My name's John Anthony, everybody calls me "Tony" but all my official stuff is "John A."

It makes it easier to distinguish letters and phone messages and such. If I get a message for "John" I know it's a bill collector or someone wanting a donation. lol

 

[DeeDub]

As a child, my immediate family called me by my middle name. I learned the hard way how narrow-minded my fellow citizens could be about naming conventions. I think the final straw was the grade-school teacher who insisted my middle name must be my first name, as though I wouldn't know better than she the order of my given names.

I started answering to my first name in high school and never looked back, so to speak. It does cause some confusion when my immediate family comes into contact with my wife, friends and in-laws, since they know me by different names.

My grandfather went by his first name. However, his first name was only one letter in length. He spent a lifetime explaining to small-minded folks that T was his name, not his initial. If he was still alive, he would undoubtedly be at odds with the sort of mindless bureaucrats who are making up the specifications for DMV computers and such.

 

[Flying Scotsman]

One way I've always enjoyed throwing a kink into computerized databases is the fact that for many years I've gone by my middle name, sticking my first initial on the front only for the most formal sorts of documents. Even my social security card shows my name that way, as do all my bank records, and other such documentation. And, of course, my driver's licence.

Well, when I went in to renew it today, the DMV folks told me there's been a change in Federal law that prohibits entering first names into the system that way -- there can be no spaces, no periods, no hyphens, and no first initials. So rather than exhume a name I haven't used in decades, I had to let them merge my first initial with my middle name. According to the great state of Maine, my name is now "Telizabeth."

Ack.

Any other first initial/middle name folks out there? Have they done this in your state? And has your name been mutilated in a ridiculous way?

I'd have made them show me the law. I'm skeptical that such a thing exists. Most likely, THEY just don't want to do it because their computer system isn't properly designed to handle it.