The Trouble with a Name Change

For many years, I’ve wanted a passport.  Over the last few years, I’ve missed a couple of opportunities to travel because I haven’t had a passport.  I decided that I would no longer miss out on those opportunities.

On September 30, I applied for a passport for the first time in my life.  And I was told I didn’t have enough proof of my name change to complete the application process.

Let’s walk through this.  

My given name is Cristen Leann Heath.  That’s the name on my birth certificate.  That’s what my parents named me, but they never called me Cristen.  Ever.  On the first day of Kindergarten, I didn’t raise my hand during roll call because the teacher called out “Cristen.”  I didn’t know who that was.  

When I got married, I took my marriage certificate over to the Social Security Office to change my name.  I asked if was possible to drop “Cristen” and use Heath as my middle name.  The person at the counter said I could, and for eight years I was known by Leann Heath Atkins.

When I got divorced, the judge signed a decree saying I could take back my maiden name of Leann Heath.  I took my divorce papers over to the Social Security Office once again to change my name.  This time, I was told that my legal name would be Leann Heath Heath.

Yes, you read that right.  Leann Heath Heath.  I had my birth certificate, marriage certificate, and my old social security card all stating Cristen as my given first name.  The person at the counter this time explained I’d legally dropped Cristen when I got married, made Leann my legal first name and Heath my legal middle name.  The judge only said I could take back Leann Heath, with no word written in about taking back Cristen or changing my middle name.  So, according to legal documents, my first and middle name had to remain the same, and the only thing the federal government could do was to change Atkins back to Heath.

Leann Heath Heath.  I laughed so hard, the other people impatiently waiting in the social security office turned to stare.  The counter person looked relieved that I wasn’t going to hit him.  I found it so hilarious that I have never bothered to file for a name change back to Cristen Leann Heath.  

Now, I may have to.

I went into the passport acceptance office with all the paperwork I was supposed to bring: the unsigned application, my driver’s license, my birth certificate, and my divorce papers.  I also brought all three social security cards in case they needed proof of the name change, and several other documents to prove current name and address.

Not only was the name change an issue, the federal government says my divorce decree doesn’t count as proof of my name change back to Heath because it doesn’t have Cristen written on it AND they won’t accept my federally issued social security card as proof of the federal government changing my name.

This name change thing is no longer hilarious.  In our society, it is still expected that a woman will change her name when she gets married.  (I won’t get into the entire institution of marriage here.)  We don’t stop to think about the proprietary implications of giving up our name to be “owned” by our husbands.  The last name changing used to signify a transfer of property.  Quite literally land, or gold, or cloth, or cows.  Whatever.  The woman was a bonus.  Over the years, it changed to signify a transfer of virginity.  Our fathers protected our purity, and our husbands took it.

As I’ve come into my feminism over the years, I’ve often wondered if I would have changed my name back then if I’d really stopped to think about it.  Likely not.  But it was expected.  It’s more common now to keep one’s name, but it when I got married it was a given that I would take my husband’s name.

When I got married, it was an easy change.  No court.  I barely had to show paperwork.  All I had to do was flash my new ring and say “I got married.”

When I divorced, I had to jump through numerous hoops to make the change.  Nine years later, and I’m still getting mail for Leann Atkins.  I still get phone calls for Leann Atkins.  I have been changing my name back to Heath for nine years, and I’m sure it will go on for nine more.

A man is not expected to change his name.  A man does not have to present documents for years on end in order to live up to an outdated societal standard.  Women still do.  At the passport office, I had present tax documents, credit cards, bills with my name, my employment and student identifications, all to prove my name change while the person at the counter ignored my divorce papers and three different social security cards issued to me by the government she claimed wouldn’t accept them.  

Misogyny is built into the fabric of our system.  What I went through to apply for a passport is discriminatory practice in a society that still expects its women to change their names after getting married.  I have more than enough proof of my citizenship and my name change, but it wasn’t accepted.  And after collecting additional documents all with the name Leann Heath Heath on them, I have been warned my passport application may still be rejected.

It’s one more system to fight because I am a woman.  And I will burn this fucker to the ground.