There are no. of reasons people change their names and every reason has its merits and a story behind it. There are no right or wrong reasons for changing names. But one must remember that part of your identity also changes with the change in your name.
We all have two things which differentiate us from others, the first is our face and the other thing associated to our being is our name. In a way, we are unique from others because of these two things. No other person in this world will have your face (unless you are identical twins, please ignore if you are) and your name other than you. Perhaps this is why all acceptable identity documents require your picture and your name becuase that's how everyone identifyies you.
Here are the top 5 reasons for which people change their name.
-The birth name is too long - It is a common practice in some cultures to use father & grandfather's name in the name or place where they were born.
-The person changing the name doesn't like his birth name because it is easy to pronounce in native language but difficult to pronounce in English or other languages.
-The person is commonly known in the society with some other name so the person decides to adopt the same name than the birth name.
- As the marital status changes, the last name usually changes such as after marriage or divorce.
-Some people change name because of spritiual reasons, if they change religion, or if someone gets adopted by parents from different religion or culture.
It is important to remember that the change in the name will trigger other changes such as change in your other identity documents ex. Driver's License, Citizenship documents, PR Card, and other government issued documents at Provincial and Federal level. Although you will have the basic certificate for your name change in few months, the complete overhauling of your old identity will take some considerable time.
So my advice is that before you jump into the decision of name change give it some thoughts, and if you decide to move further, then plan ahead to get through the process without hiccups.
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