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Abbreviating Name on Official Documents?
harlows_monkeys asks: "I went through a bit of a hassle getting a replacement SS card, because my name in their records is 'Timothy' but my driver's license says 'Tim'. They seemed surprised and a little bit suspicious over my going by 'Tim' when my legal name is 'Timothy'. Looking over things, I see that I'm 'Tim' on my driver's license, health and auto insurance, credit and bank cards, bank accounts, mutual funds, paychecks, W-2, and tax returns. I'm 'Timothy' to the SS office, and on my auto lease (but 'Tim' on my auto registration).
The SS office warned me that this mismatch would cause problems. Has anyone else run into this? Should I be going around and changing my records everywhere to say 'Timothy' to match my Social Security records?"
Only worse.
I have two completely different names... and it became a problem here because some HR dorks didn't believe that I was me because my phone directory listing has my nickname instead of my legal name.
It also became a problem in college when a professor who knew me personally by my nickname removed me from the class rolls by accident. I had to appeal to get re-added afterwards.
Use the legal name everywhere. It will be a big pain in the ass otherwise.
Conformity is the jailer of freedom and enemy of growth. -JFK
This may be a bit more extreme example, but a friend of mine was trying to transfer her driver's license from Texas or something to New York. It had her name like this: F. Middle Last on some of her stuff (like social security card and Texas license) and First M. Last on other stuff of hers. She was there for hours, but they wouldn't trust that she was who she said she was, even though everything else obviously matched up just fine. She actually had to do something ridiculous like get a signed and stamped copy of her birth certificate from Texas, I don't remember exactly what.
While this example is a bit different, and I would imagine slightly more susceptible to this kind of BS, I would say, yes, it can happen to you! Get that sh*t standardized!
You've got to make sure that documents that require your "legal name" all precisely agree. A real PITA, but it'll cause problems.
I had to go to court and almost ended up fined or in jail because of a slight mismatch in my documentation. Because my insurance didn't match, some automatic notifcation system cause the state of Florida to think that I didn't have car insurance, so they canceled my driver's license without telling me. When I was pulled over on the highway, I was charged with the misdemeanor of driving without a license (the cop did not care about the reasons, he could only see that my license was revoked). I then had to have my girlfriend come pick me up, 6 hours' drive away from home, and I had to return later to answer the charges. The DA dropped the charges when I pulled her aside and explained what happened and showed her the documentation, but I still lost the day and a half that it took to drive to that jurisdiction and back for the 8am court date, and the driving of the day of the incident (6 hours there, 6 hours waiting for the girlfriend, 6 hours back).
The good news is that non-legal documents like credit cards don't have to agree as long as you're not trying to dodge creditors. The rule is that if you're using a name in a non-fraudulent manner and it doesn't require your legal name, it's all fine.
But really, really. Make sure "legal name" documents agree completely. The Bureacracy is not your friend, and you must appease it now or it will take its vengeance later.
"It is our blasphemy which has made us great, and will sustain us, and which the gods secretly admire in us." - Zelazny
This is the #1 reason to never use a JR or SR in naming your children. You are dooming them to forever having their financial records mixed up with every person in your family. Good luck getting a loan if you son or dad has bad credit. You could be perfect and it won't matter.
Unfortunately, your SS is your major ID number and however much it shouldn't be a universal ID system, it's become that without any real oversight or security to it.
I have two legal names (as someone else above mentioned). My given name is Jeremiah, whereas, for as long as I can remember (unless I was in trouble, and that was only with my parents and grandmother), everyone called me 'Jeremy'. All of my school records, my health records, all of my tax returns, all have me listed as Jeremy. Of course, I just figured that this was how the government identified me. Then, while digging through a box of documents one day, I found a social security card paperclipped to a birth certificate, both with the name 'Jeremiah'. This confused me, as I have a social security card and birth certificate (dated one year after the original), with the name 'Jeremy'. Of course, by this point, I wasn't sure what to call myself. I wrote to, and called, the Social Security Administration and never got anything back. I've never actually had any problems with my name. I think it's because when you apply for anything even remotely official, and they ask for your social security number, so long as that's unique and you only use the one you have, the one bound to your name, then you should be ok. I'm sure there's a range of 'accepted variations' on names and such. Pat for Patrick, Sam for Samuel, Tim for Timothy, Tom for Thomas, Matt for Matthew, and so on. *shrug*
Now, everyone just calls me 'Greg', anyway.
Informatus Technologicus
There are also conflicts with other cultures.
My own uses the patronimic for naming.
(fake example)
My first name is Robert, my father's name is John.
So my full name (on my Birth Certificate) is Robert John Powell.
However, what is my "last name" (as asked by soooo many forms that you fill out throughout your lifetime)
My last name according to my culture is "John" and my FAMILY name is "Powell"
Do I put "John" or "Powell" on the forms?
I mix and match.
So various government agencies now know me as "Robert John" and others as "Robert Powell"
Both are legit and I'm not trying to defraud anyone.
Some other cultures have different birth dates too (I don't understand the details)
There is the "moon" birth date and also the birth date that you actually came out of your mum.
Trying to fit many many other cultures into Western cultures sometimes causes some interesting results.
And Dog help you if you choose, for whatever reason, to change the way you sign your name. There are legitimate reasons for this (such as having an index finger amputated).
Another big one: Do I use my middle initial when ordering things online with a credit card? The form says, "Must match the name on the card." Well, the name on the card is "Joe M Smith." WITHOUT the dot after the middle initial. So am I supposed to enter "Joe M Smith" or "Joe M. Smith?" As far as I'm concerned: who the FUCK cares?
Oh, and get this. My girlfriend immigrated here from Israel. She has no middle name. She is of Russian descent. What does INS tell her? "You HAVE to have a middle name. All Russians have a middle name." Wow, I'm glad they know so much about Russian culture, but unfortunately, they're wrong as hell. So she simply made one up on the spot: she used her nickname (the name she actually goes by) as her middle name. So her name is now "Raisa Raya." How retarded.
Oh, and on top of that, the INS thinks she's a MALE. She received her selective service draft card a few weeks ago! Fucking hilarious.
The government is a decrepit pile of shit.