Name Change during Interview - Why???

L

LegalAlien2

Registered Users (C)
Hi Everyone,

I have been following this forum for quite a few months. Now that I'm waiting for my Interview Letter, I'm reading this forum more and more ... probably every hour. Many of you may be on the same boat... frustrated waiting for their application to move into the next stage. My wait just started, so I'm nowhere near frustrated but reading others' experiences make you aware of other's emotions and questions too.

Many people talk about the name change during the interview process and I have always wondered why would somebody do that. So, if you have OR been considering changing your name, please let me know of the reasons. Following are some which I could come up with:

Community --------------------- Reason
-------------------------------------------
Muslim/Middle Easterners - Change Name so as to avoid discrimination (Maybe there is none legally, but there's a lot in people's minds)

Chinese - Difficult for people to pronounce

Women - Change the maiden name to Hubby's last name

Everyone - Incorrect name on documents

Everyone - To make it shorter for convenience sake

Everyone - Fascinated with an American Name (or may become more Americanized by being called as John or Joe)


-------------------------------------------

I am expecting a nice big "thought provoking" thread... Feel free to add the reasons in any format you want to.

I don't want to offend anyone here and I apologize if someone feels that way.

Cheers,:)
 
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I think you got most of it right. One main reason is people change maiden name. Ladies change their last name and they usually leave it before citizenship to avoid confusion. Chinese change their names, i know that through friends.
 
I had the same discussion with a friend who also noticed this happening at his oath and he concluded that on a resume some employers may pass on a difficult to pronounce foreign name based on the misconception and prejudices that employer may have.
 
I'm keeping my first name, but changing my last name. I just want something more pronounceable and something that I don't have to spell every time I mention it.
 
I have noticed that some people (from Greece, parts of India, and some other countries) have really long names. To change one's 15+ letters long last or first name (or both) sounds for me as a good idea, or at least convenient :)
 
I've found in US, people go by nicknames instead of their real name. Like Richard becomes Rich or Richie, Edward becomes Ed, and even long foreign names like Nickalodowizc simply becomes Nick. The same thing happened during immigration waves from Europe to US in the 1800s. Many German names became "Americanized", like Schmidt became Smith and so forth...
 
I think nicknames, or diminutive forms of names, are used all over the world, not just the U.S. In Russia, for instance, Vladimir becomes Vova or Volodya, Dmitry becomes Dima, Alexander becomes Sasha, etc. In Spanish speaking countries, Jose becomes Joselito or Paco(how???), Manuel becomes Manolo or Manolito, etc. Are there similar occurrences in India and Middle Eastern countries?
 
Vorpal said:
I think nicknames, or diminutive forms of names, are used all over the world, not just the U.S. In Russia, for instance, Vladimir becomes Vova or Volodya, Dmitry becomes Dima, Alexander becomes Sasha, etc. In Spanish speaking countries, Jose becomes Joselito or Paco(how???), Manuel becomes Manolo or Manolito, etc. Are there similar occurrences in India and Middle Eastern countries?
Click to expand...

True, in India Deepak becomes Deep, Meghdut becomes Megh, etc...
 
In my wife's case, there was a spelling mistake in birth certificate (One alphabet missing) Though she told IO that she has court order signed by judge in India correcting the name and also showed GC, Passport, all US visas, US Drivers license, SSN card and any and all document in IO's file have the correct name. IO would NOT budge. There is not a single document in her life (except BC) that has that wrongly spelled name but IO was not ready to listen. So we were forced to go for name change else would get Nat cert (and then passport) with a wrong name.

There you go with another reason how you can be forced to accept name change.
 
Usually people from India do not change names at all. We keep long names and make it harder for people to pronounce :) part of multicultaralism. What fun if everyone is Joe Smith. as previous posters say, we have short names too. Balasubramaniam is called balu. Sivaramakrishnan is siva etc. I have a long name and I am proud of it.

PS: except for politiciaans Piyush Jindal changed his name Bobby Jindal and converted from Hindu to Catholic to become Governer of Lousiana. He is one smart politicial. i think a born politican!
 
desihai said:
Usually people from India do not change names at all. We keep long names and make it harder for people to pronounce :) part of multicultaralism. What fun if everyone is Joe Smith. as previous posters say, we have short names too. Balasubramaniam is called balu. Sivaramakrishnan is siva etc. I have a long name and I am proud of it.
Click to expand...

Some people from southern India have their family name "first" and their first name as last... something like their names being "Smith Joe" and they would write as "S Joe". That way people know that they are called as Joe. It may make sense for them to change their name to reverse the order to follow the "universal" naming convention.

As mentioned by Vorpal, it may be understandable for some to change their name so that they don't have to spell it all the time.
 
I was considering it, but then I'd have to change my DL and everything else so I didn't want to go through the hassle. My reason is I just have always dropped the last letter of my first name. I hate having the last letter and am known by the name without it. So figured why not just legally change it as that's what I sign everything as anyways...
 
Some people think that "better" (nicer, easier to prononce or remember, etc) name can help them to get along with better life, just like clothes or shoes. Not everybody takes pride of their names... I used to know one guy named Oleg Gorovoy who changed his name to Alec Gorman, and that's in NYC, the heart of immigration!... Won't surprise me if he'll become a politician or something...
 
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I am from TamilNadu. Our names used to begin with 1) the place of origin 2) father's given name 3) first name and then 4) last name. The last name usually indicated the caste.

So, a person's name could be Kadavur Vaidyanathan Sethuraman Iyer (where Kadavur is the place of origin, Vaidyanathan is the father's first name, Sethuraman is his first/given name and Iyer is the last name (which indicated Brahmin caste). It will be written as K.V.Sethuraman Iyer, and he will be called simply, 'Sethu'.

In the 50s & 60s, during the 'rational' movement led by Periyar and the like, people dropped the last name which indicated caste - either out of belief in the rational movement or simply out of fear (as in most cases). So, our K.V.Sethuraman Iyer became K.V.Sethuraman (and continued to be called 'Sethu'). His wife would be called S.Meena for Sethuraman Meena. His son will be called K.S.Hari for Kadavur Sethuraman Hari.

Now, when Hari grew up and came to the US - where they insisted on a last name, this K.S.Hari or Kadavur Sethuraman Hari became - Hari K. Sethuraman (or Hari S. Kadavur). When he married, say a girl called Geetha, she became Geetha Sethuraman (note that now, his father's first name has become the last name of the entire family), and when be gets a son, he becomes Jay Sethuraman.

Some adventurous ones would use their first name as their wife's and children's last name - like Geetha Hari and Jay Hari.

So, confusion reigns among the TamilNadu/South-Indian population in the US !!

Many of them now are claiming their original last names. In our hypothetical example, Hari K. Sethuraman will want to change his name to Hari K.S. Iyer, and normalise his wife's name to Geetha H. Iyer.

That's the long story of our poor Tamil/South-Indian brethern!!
 
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Thank you, Ravi1985, that was interesting :)

desihai, do you have your full name on your driver license and other documents?
Does anybody here have a long last name? How do you manage? I mean most forms have so little room for names? (N-400 had plenty :D) I previously meant person's own convenience, not others. If you're in constant trouble trying to fit your last name on forms, or if your lovely first name gets often dropped because of the long last name, that could be annoying too ;)
Btw, I like comfortable clothes and shoes, these make my life better, so why not to choose a comfortable name that would not cause problems because of length, frequent misspelling, or any other reason :)
 
My first name is Asli and people are really having a hard time while trying to pronounce it. If i meet a new person and more than likely wont see him/her again, i go with Ashley lol. It makes it so much easier and less stressful. I love my name and would never change it. I am using my maiden name as my last name along with my husbands name. Well, i thought about changing it to my husbands name but i decided againts it while i was filling out my N-400. The reason is; as soon i get my citizenship, i am going to apply to become a fighter pilot and if i make it oneday, i would love to have my fathers name on that plane. So i decided to keep it. :)
 
I completely forgot, I know a person who changed her last name from Pork to Park :)
So it could happen that a person's name has an irksome meaning in English.
 
I actually did think about "changing" my Name. My things was basically adding a middle name since I don't have one but I decided against it because my parents gave me my name for a reason and yes becoming a citizen of the US doesn't change me as a person and change being their daughter but my PERSONAL thing was I didn't want to "disrespect them.
 
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