Other Names Used

[kaukas 2]

It might be an irrelevant question, but I would like to cover all the bases.

When I was born, I was given my father's last name. After my parents divorced, my mother took her maiden name back, and changed my family name to match hers (I was 10).

I don't have any document in any language anymore indicating that I was born with a different name, and I have not used it in the US. My legal document (family registry) has no mention of my ever taking my father's name. I don't have my birth certificate either.

Do I need to disclose it, or is it irrelevant as I have no record of it in the US? And if I do need to disclose it, how am I supposed to provide proof of my original name? I am Japanese, if that information is pertinent.

Thank you.

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

Why not disclose it? You don't need proof of ever having used that name on on official document.

[VanessaTony 3,567]

You answered your own question, when born you were given your fathers last name. Then your mother changed it. I don't know the legalities in Japan but it's likely she didn't LEGALLY change it.

Where is your birth cert?

[kaukas 2]

Thanks for the replies. I guess I will have to go with Harpa Timsah's suggestion.

FYI, we don't have birth certificates as you know it. Instead, we have something called family registry, which keeps getting amended as individual goes through major life changes such as birth, marriage, divorce, and ultimately death. It's a little too complicated to go into, but mine implies that my family name changed from the time it was moved from my father's to my mother's.

I just wanted to know if the "other names" also applied to the time before I moved to the States, as there is no explicit official record of my other name existing.