All you would have to do is go to your lical court house and ask for a form called name chnage. Fill it out, file it and in 6 weeks the judge will sign it off and then you just mail a copy or call whatever companys you want to update you new name change. Im sure u can do it as a canadian citizen aswell, its anyones legal right to go by any name they wish as long as it is not for fraudulent reasons and u dont have a criminal record u are running from. Trust me If I did it, u can. I felt so amazing whenI walked out of the court named Atianna, inlove with my name, aftre years of feeling so bothered by my birth name!

I changed my name when I was 22, but back then you could do so by usage, without a court order. I just went into the department of motor vehicles and requested my license be changed to my new name, then went to the SSA and had my social changed.

My mom named me Ruth Helen after two relatives who meant something to her but nothing to me. I hated having a one-syllable name that was more likely to be found on an 80-year-old. I remember being five years old and staring into the mirror trying to figure out how I was supposed to look like a Ruth. I didn't know what I should be called until a friend at summer camp named me Rudi. It just felt right.

My parents about had a conniption fit when I changed my name. They still call me Ruth unless they're trying to butter me up. It's nice not to have to correct people when they look at a legal document. All of my documents say Rudi now.

By the way, my screen name, Rudolphia, is a nickname. I used to work at the customer call center for my company, and customers kept insisting Rudi had to be short for something. I used to tell them Rudolphia, and a lot of my old friends from that time still call me that.

My given names are Kristina Ruth. I've always liked that my parents chose an unusual spelling, although the "K" is becoming more common. I was named for two of my mom's sisters - one was Christine and was one of my favorite aunts. She recently passed away from cancer. My Aunt Ruth is also a sweet lady and I feel honored that I carry a remembrance of their names.

As far as nicknames I have always gone by Tina. I was very petite and downright skinny as a kid and often got called "Tiny Tina". In highschool the boys thought it funny to call me "Tuna" which I generally ignored. Although I didn't like it, I found that if I didn't let them know, they usually stopped calling me that since they were just doing it to irritate me. My mom often called me "Tina Bee" (as in busy bee) and a lot of people now often call me "Tina Marie"
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I suppose if I really hated my name(s) that I would change them.

My family has played with their own names a good bit...
My sister is Karen Lynnette and as an experiment in highschool (she got extra credit for her psychology class as she kept notes of how long it took people to switch and remember the new name) she started going by Lynnette. Partly to see how she liked it and partly because she felt the name Karen was very plain. The name switch went pretty well except when my parents and me showed up for graduation. (She was in boarding school on the mission field - but that's a whole other topic). We would tell people we were Karen's family and they would give us blank looks. I remember feeling pretty stupid having to say, "Oh, yeah... Lynnette's sister."

My one SIL is Mary Ellen, and she goes by Ellen. She has talked about changing the Mary to Merrie since she feels that spelling better fits her personality, but so far she's not actually done it.

The same SIL and brother did legally change the spelling of their middle daughter's name when she was around 10. Her name was Breony (Gaelic feminine form of Brian) and was supposed to be pronounced Bree-AW-nee, but people too often called it Bree-OH-nee or BREE-uh-nee (like peony, the flower). So, to fix the problem they changed the spelling to Breonny (two N's) and that did the trick. Whether or not my niece likes her name I couldn't say as I've never asked.

If changing your name gives you the opportunity to feel like a whole new you I think that's great.
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I think a lot of people don't have the guts to go through with a major change like that and/or fear hurting their parent's feelings.

My name is Holly Lynae. I have always loved it and would never think of changing it. Even my last name, which I do not care for, I feel it will be bittersweet when I get married and lose it, as it was something my dad gave me and he is no longer alive.

Now if I hated my name, I would have no problem changing it

Kristina, my exhusband and his brother have both switched back and forth between their first and middle names. My ex was going by his middle name when we met, Ryan, which I don't care for so he switched to Josh. I'm half suprised that he hasn't gone back to Ryan since the divorce. But family memebers still sometimes call them by their middle names since that is what they went by as kids. Both have used their first names all throughout adulthood.