u/Ill_Category2486

When I was 18, I was going through a mental health crisis and I wanted to reinvent myself, so I changed my entire name. 6 years later and I have received my bachelor’s degree, and built my entire career with this name. Throughout this time I was happy with the new name and felt proud of the fact that I successfully built myself from the ground up and accomplished what I’ve wanted.

Recently, however, I’ve felt a sense of inauthenticity towards my current name, especially because my birth name is from a different culture (for which I was bullied in my youth), and I want to reclaim my birth name back. I feel like I don’t wanna die with my current name written on my gravestone, and when I hear my last name, which is a generic anglicized name, I cringe.

I have a clean record under both names. My only concern about reclaiming my birth name is that since it’s an entirely different name, I will have to reintroduce myself to everyone with a completely new name, and possibly use my current first name as a nickname. My other option is to keep my current first name that everyone knows me by, replace my middle name with my old first name, and reclaim my last name. This concerns me with complicated background checks as I’ll now have a third legal name in my record, but it’ll be easier for people to identify me.

From a background check perspective, which option will give me less headaches in the future? Thanks y’all.

I grew up with a lot of trauma around my name, with kids making fun of my first name and hating my last name because it sounded ugly to me.

When I was in my late teens, I decided to change my entire name legally and reinvent myself. Over the years I was really happy with the new name, and have become successful in my life and have overcome my traumatic past. I’ve always liked my new first name, but feel a sense of inauthenticity towards my last name that I’ve adopted. I’ve gotten comments on why my last name doesn’t match how I look (my old last name was cultural), and overall I have recently realized I regret the name change and want to go back to my old name.

From a legal perspective, is reclaiming my birth name a smoother process, or should I keep my current first name that I like and have gone by at work and in social circles, and change my middle name to my old first name and reclaim my last name? I’m sure I want to eventually revert my name, and ideally the sooner the better.

I’m particularly concerned about future background checks, and also informing everyone that I have a new name, especially if both my first and last names are changed again.