Editing Name change (section)

==Reasons for changing one's name==
{{More citations needed|date=December 2024}}
* [[Maiden and married names|Marriage or civil partnership]] (e.g. Andrew Jones marries Tiffany Rodriguez and assumes her surname, becoming Andrew Rodriguez)
* Adoption or marriage of a custodial parent
* [[Divorce]] or [[Family estrangement|estrangement]] of parents
* Immigration / adaptation of the name to a different language or script (e.g. Samantha Ogden became Shilpa Ojha on becoming an Indian national)
* General dislike of one's name
* To evade the law or a debt or commit fraud
* To avoid a [[stalker]] or [[harassment]]
* [[Religious conversion]] or deconversion, ordination or return to lay status (e.g., Cassius Clay to [[Muhammad Ali]] upon conversion to [[Islam]],<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Muhammad-Ali-boxer | title=Muhammad Ali &#124; Biography, Bouts, Record, & Facts &#124; Britannica | date=June 24, 2024 }}</ref> Ibrahim Yassin to [[Avraham Sinai]] upon converting to Judaism)
* To choose a surname associated with a hobby, interest, or accomplishment (e.g., old name Henry Schifberg, new name [[Henry Lizardlover]])
* To receive an inheritance conditional on adopting the name of the deceased (for example [[Augustus Pitt Rivers]] was required to adopt that surname when he inherited from his cousin, Horace Pitt-Rivers; this reason was once quite common in landowning families in the UK)
* To replace a name which might be considered undesirable with a more desirable one (e.g., old surname Lipschitz, new surname London) 
* To dissociate themselves from a famous or infamous person (e.g., old name [[Michael Jackson]], new name Martin Jackson)
* To identify with a famous or infamous person (e.g., old name Simon Johnson, new name Simon [[King Arthur|Pendragon]])
* To dissociate themselves from a family [[Black sheep (term)|black sheep]] (e.g., relatives of [[Adolf Hitler]]).
* To dissociate themselves from an ethnic origin (e.g., changing [[Battenberg family|Battenberg]] to [[Mountbatten]] or Jan Ludvik Hoch to [[Robert Maxwell]]).
* Commercial sponsorship, e.g., [[Jimmy White]] temporarily became Jimmy Brown for [[HP Sauce|HP brown sauce]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/funny_old_game/4245973.stm |title=Jimmy Gets Saucy with Name Change |website=[[BBC News]] |date=February 8, 2005 |access-date=July 13, 2021}}</ref> [[Ashley Revell]] became Ashley Blue Square Revell for [[Rank Group]]'s Blue Square service. [[Peter Janson]] briefly changed his name by [[deed poll]] to [[NGK]] Janson to circumvent a [[Motorsport Australia]] rule that only allowed a driver's, and not a sponsor's, name to be carried on a [[Windshield|windscreen]] at the [[1977 Bathurst 1000]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/whats-in-a-name-fox-sports-runs-through-the-weirdest-name-changes-in-the-world-of-sport/story-fni2u98u-1226700563674?nk=0578d66960b190b8c466766c3cfb04b1 |title=What's in a name? The weirdest name changes in the world of sport |date=August 20, 2013 |newspaper=[[Herald Sun]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://autoaction.com.au/2020/11/01/privateers-peter-janson-the-trailblazer |title=Privateers: Peter Janson - The Trailblazer |date=November 1, 2020 |website=[[Auto Action]] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201101052846/https://autoaction.com.au/2020/11/01/privateers-peter-janson-the-trailblazer |archive-date=November 1, 2020}}</ref>
* Protest or activism (e.g., old name Jennifer Taylor, new name Jennifer [[Environmentalism|Save the Forests]])
* To change to a fictional character's name, (e.g., old name Tracy Darling, new name [[Tracy Beaker]])
* To make their name more attractive or "catchy" so as to increase their chance of success (see [[Stage name]])
* To circumvent election law governing what information can be provided on a ballot paper, by changing (for example) one's middle name to a short political message (see [[Byron Looper|Byron (Low Tax) Looper]]).<ref>{{cite news |url=https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/OTUS/change-candidates-ditch-birth-names-run-office/story?id=17649641 |title=Name Change: Candidates Ditch Their Birth-Names, Run for Office on Made-Up Names |date=November 6, 2012 |newspaper=[[ABC News (United States)|ABC News]]}}</ref>
* To change the legal name to the one used in everyday life (e.g., where middle name has been used throughout life)
* To remove superstitious consequences of the old name (e.g. old name Mulyono, new name [[Joko Widodo]])
* To better fit one's [[gender identity]], or as part of one's [[gender transition]] (e.g. Samantha was his name, now he is Samuel) 
* Losing a bet - for instance, a New Zealand man changed his name to Full Metal Havok More Sexy N Intelligent Than Spock And All The Superheroes Combined With Frostnova, and apparently discovered it had been accepted when his passport expired.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11217129 |title=Dunedin man's 99-character name |date=March 10, 2014 |newspaper=[[New Zealand Herald]]}}</ref>
* In accordance with [[witness protection]].<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-08-17/is-witness-protection-really-like-on-tv-bay-of-fires/102721260 | title=New name, new history, new location: Is witness protection really like what we see on TV? | newspaper=ABC News | date=August 16, 2023 }}</ref>
* To remove associations with a [[slave name]] imposed on their ancestors.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Craven |first1=Julia |title=Many African American last names hold weight of Black history |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/many-african-american-last-names-hold-weight-black-history-rcna17267 |website=NBC News |date=February 24, 2022 |access-date=23 May 2024}}</ref> 
* To reclaim a traditional name.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Reynolds |first1=Christopher |title=Indigenous people can now reclaim traditional names on their passports and other ID |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/indigenous-traditional-names-passport-1.6064850 |website=CBC News |access-date=23 May 2024}}</ref>