[Avodah] name change

[Zev Sero]

On 18/1/23 23:03, Joel Rich via Avodah wrote:
> On Thu, Jan 19, 2023 at 12:11 AM Zev Sero wrote:
>> The only case I know where it was a total name change was not due to
>> illness.  The person simply wanted to change his name, so he did so.

> TY. Do you know if there was a formal procedure as there is when illness
> is involved? Rabbinic involvement in the decision/procedure?

The person was Rabbi Zalman Gaffney, currently of Tzefat.  He is a ger 
(the Gaffneys are a good Irish family), and when he converted he chose 
the name Avraham.  But he soon started to feel uncomfortable at the 
attention he would attract every time he was called to the torah, so he 
asked the Lubavitcher Rebbe whether he could be called ben someone else. 
  The Rebbe advised him that he could not change his father's name 
because it's not his, but his own name belongs to him and he had every 
right to change it if he wanted to.  So he changed it to Shneur Zalman, 
and has been known by that name for the past 55 years or so.  May he 
continue to use it in good health for many years to come.

As far as I know there is no formal procedure for a name change, whether 
for an illness or any other reason.  One simply announces it in public, 
e.g. by saying a mi sheberach for the person, giving him an aliya, or 
simply banging on the bima and announcing it.  Or I suppose one could 
place an ad in a newspaper.  Once it is in public use for 30 days, it's 
legal.  (Though if it's for an illness then it only sticks if it 
"worked", i.e. if the person recovered.)

It's my understanding that the common law is exactly the same.  A 
person's name is defined as what he is publicly known as, and all it 
takes to change it is to let the public know, and wait for them to start 
using it.  Deed polls are useful but not legally necessary, except in 
those jurisdictions where statutes have imposed such a requirement.

-- 
Zev Sero            “Were we directed from Washington when to sow
zev at sero.name       and when to reap, we should soon want bread.”
		    –Thomas Jefferson: Autobiography, 1821.