Well... it's official
Hey Everybody,
Well, I guess my full legal name is Jason Alexander-George Kallas, or at the very least it is now (it's on my birth certificate, my new social security card and my new license), and I'm not quite sure how to proceed: do I just accept it (it is after-all a minor change anyway, and could be my real birth name), or do I attempt to change it, whether my original birth name or not (it's a name I've never gone by my entire life).
See, now there's two possible theories. My first was that it was a typo. And even though there's evidence to support it, I kind of wonder how something like that could happen. It just seems like too big a thing to just be a typo (it would mean that a typo is responsible for changing my entire identity... just seems odd that such a thing could happen so easily). But because I had to get a replacement copy, I can't know that it wasn't a typo. If my original birth certificate had the second middle name, the mystery would be over. The other thing is I've never run into this problem before, including when I used my original birth certificate to get my Michigan license changed to a Pensylvannia one... which in my opinion is the chief clue in the typo theory. If the "George" was on my birth certificate, then, why wasn't it a problem, then?
The other theory is that it's always been there, but now because of the epidemic of identity theft and other reasons for hightened security, legal documentation has to display all names given on your birth certificate. It really could be my original birth name, and has just escaped attention because it didn't matter that much 10 years ago and it's not often one needs the birth certificate to renew a license. If I was renewing a Michigan license as opposed to an out-of-state one, I wouldn't have needed my birth certificate and the name would have remained unknown.
Other minor evidence to the second theory is the reaction of my parents. My mom doesn't remember giving me a second middle name, but she hasn't outrightly denied it... she's unsure. My dad's reaction was the same (actually, he was quite happy, for obvious reasons... his name is George). Moreover, he reminded me that my brother has two middle names (which I did know), one of which has gone unnoticed (or just never used within his legal documentation) because he's never moved out-of-state or needed his birth certificate to prove his identity. See, as some of you may know because I've explained it before, first born sons within Greek families are given the middle name of their father as their first, and the first name of their father as their middle. My grandfather was Nick George, my father is George Nick, my brother is Nick George, and my nephew is George Nick. But rather than using a number like Nick George Kallas the third, or fourth (actually I think my brother is the tenth anyway), rather than do that they are given a secondary middle name to differentiate. My brother's full name is technically Nicholas George-Demetrius Kallas. Now, even though there's no reason, traditionally speaking, for me to have a secondary middle name, that doesn't mean it didn't happen. If either of my parents were like, "no, we know we didn't give you a second middle name," and were certain of it, it'd be different. But because both are unsure of the fact, they could have done it and just forgot. Lord knows, my dad has forgotten both my birthday and my age at times; so forgetting that he gave me a second middle name is... shall we say... plausible.
The thing that sucks is I can't know for sure either way. If my original birth certificate showed up somewhere, and only Alexander was listed under my middle name, than it would clearly be a typo or error of some kind and I would go about getting it fixed. And vice versa if it turned out to have Alexander/George. Without the original birth certificate, I can't really know.
Now the course of action, either way, is whether or not to actually try to change it back to the name I've always gone by: Jason Alexander Kallas. I feel an incredible urge to do so, even if my original name did include the George, because it's the name I've gone by for the last 31 years of my life. It just seems strange that it's changed. And if it is a typo, than it shouldn't have been changed and should be fixed. Now from what I understand, legally changing your name can be an incredible nuisance. You have to go before a judge, explain why you want to change your name, an investigation into your record may follow, you may get audited by the IRS, and so on. I've already had enough shit just trying to get a new Michigan license to desire dealing with that, even though my explanation makes sense and I have nothing to fear from an investigation into my record. And again, after-all, it's not a huge or unusal change. Nothing's been taken away or is outrightly different. It's not like my first or last name has been changed, and my middle name is still there, it's just got a little addition to it, which may have been there from the get-go anyway.
So, I guess for now, we'll see what happens. I'll look more into the riggers of getting a legal name changed, and consider it further. It just sucks that I can't be certain one way or the other. I could call up the Detroit Department of Health and just inquire about how they draw up new birth certificates, get their opinion on the possibility for error. If all they do is type in my name and birthdate on my license to draw up the record and print it out without typing in any other information, that would strongly negate the possibility of a typo. I would just have to assume then that "George" has always been there and the government has become more strict about proof of identification and is now requiring or expecting forms of legal identification include all names given on your birth certificate. Right now, I'm leaning toward that assumption anyway... it's more a matter of whether or not I want to change it back to what I've always known it to be. Is it really that big of a deal... do you think? Or should I just take the "rose by any other name" philosophy?
K-Dog
Well, I guess my full legal name is Jason Alexander-George Kallas, or at the very least it is now (it's on my birth certificate, my new social security card and my new license), and I'm not quite sure how to proceed: do I just accept it (it is after-all a minor change anyway, and could be my real birth name), or do I attempt to change it, whether my original birth name or not (it's a name I've never gone by my entire life).
See, now there's two possible theories. My first was that it was a typo. And even though there's evidence to support it, I kind of wonder how something like that could happen. It just seems like too big a thing to just be a typo (it would mean that a typo is responsible for changing my entire identity... just seems odd that such a thing could happen so easily). But because I had to get a replacement copy, I can't know that it wasn't a typo. If my original birth certificate had the second middle name, the mystery would be over. The other thing is I've never run into this problem before, including when I used my original birth certificate to get my Michigan license changed to a Pensylvannia one... which in my opinion is the chief clue in the typo theory. If the "George" was on my birth certificate, then, why wasn't it a problem, then?
The other theory is that it's always been there, but now because of the epidemic of identity theft and other reasons for hightened security, legal documentation has to display all names given on your birth certificate. It really could be my original birth name, and has just escaped attention because it didn't matter that much 10 years ago and it's not often one needs the birth certificate to renew a license. If I was renewing a Michigan license as opposed to an out-of-state one, I wouldn't have needed my birth certificate and the name would have remained unknown.
Other minor evidence to the second theory is the reaction of my parents. My mom doesn't remember giving me a second middle name, but she hasn't outrightly denied it... she's unsure. My dad's reaction was the same (actually, he was quite happy, for obvious reasons... his name is George). Moreover, he reminded me that my brother has two middle names (which I did know), one of which has gone unnoticed (or just never used within his legal documentation) because he's never moved out-of-state or needed his birth certificate to prove his identity. See, as some of you may know because I've explained it before, first born sons within Greek families are given the middle name of their father as their first, and the first name of their father as their middle. My grandfather was Nick George, my father is George Nick, my brother is Nick George, and my nephew is George Nick. But rather than using a number like Nick George Kallas the third, or fourth (actually I think my brother is the tenth anyway), rather than do that they are given a secondary middle name to differentiate. My brother's full name is technically Nicholas George-Demetrius Kallas. Now, even though there's no reason, traditionally speaking, for me to have a secondary middle name, that doesn't mean it didn't happen. If either of my parents were like, "no, we know we didn't give you a second middle name," and were certain of it, it'd be different. But because both are unsure of the fact, they could have done it and just forgot. Lord knows, my dad has forgotten both my birthday and my age at times; so forgetting that he gave me a second middle name is... shall we say... plausible.
The thing that sucks is I can't know for sure either way. If my original birth certificate showed up somewhere, and only Alexander was listed under my middle name, than it would clearly be a typo or error of some kind and I would go about getting it fixed. And vice versa if it turned out to have Alexander/George. Without the original birth certificate, I can't really know.
Now the course of action, either way, is whether or not to actually try to change it back to the name I've always gone by: Jason Alexander Kallas. I feel an incredible urge to do so, even if my original name did include the George, because it's the name I've gone by for the last 31 years of my life. It just seems strange that it's changed. And if it is a typo, than it shouldn't have been changed and should be fixed. Now from what I understand, legally changing your name can be an incredible nuisance. You have to go before a judge, explain why you want to change your name, an investigation into your record may follow, you may get audited by the IRS, and so on. I've already had enough shit just trying to get a new Michigan license to desire dealing with that, even though my explanation makes sense and I have nothing to fear from an investigation into my record. And again, after-all, it's not a huge or unusal change. Nothing's been taken away or is outrightly different. It's not like my first or last name has been changed, and my middle name is still there, it's just got a little addition to it, which may have been there from the get-go anyway.
So, I guess for now, we'll see what happens. I'll look more into the riggers of getting a legal name changed, and consider it further. It just sucks that I can't be certain one way or the other. I could call up the Detroit Department of Health and just inquire about how they draw up new birth certificates, get their opinion on the possibility for error. If all they do is type in my name and birthdate on my license to draw up the record and print it out without typing in any other information, that would strongly negate the possibility of a typo. I would just have to assume then that "George" has always been there and the government has become more strict about proof of identification and is now requiring or expecting forms of legal identification include all names given on your birth certificate. Right now, I'm leaning toward that assumption anyway... it's more a matter of whether or not I want to change it back to what I've always known it to be. Is it really that big of a deal... do you think? Or should I just take the "rose by any other name" philosophy?
K-Dog