this post was submitted on 14 Oct 2025
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I think you can change your name in most places
I'm not saying you can't, just that it should be normalized for people to take agency like that.
What does "normalize" mean to you? It's not uncommon. I know several people who have done this at different ages, for different reasons. Are you saying people should talk about it more? Like "Hey, I'm Dave but my name used to be Jim"?
Usually people just send it the paperwork and then use their new name. It's a normal thing that normal people do and it doesn't really raise any eyebrows for normal people.
Anytime someone has found out I changed my name I'm barraged by questions about it.
It's not unheard of to change names but most people won't accept "because I wanted to choose my name" as a valid reason.
But like, you'd still name a name before that, at least for official documents and such. Normalizing renaming is fine, but I see that as somewhat separate from parents naming their children to begin with.
I'm talking about normalizing picking your own name which is different than just being able to change your name.
Sure, but when do you propose someone pick their own name? What are they referred to before that point? I know there have been cultures where what you are suggesting is exactly how they handle it, but in societies that have identification numbers and birth records, they need to be called something before they are able to choose their own name.
Like, the actual, physical logistics of what you propose doesn't make sense to me. Normalizing changing your own name to something you choose later, though, does make sense.