Last Name, Middle Name in AOS, EAD & AP

[CPAV 1]

Hi,

 

I am finalizing my AOS , EAD and AP  (K1) and came across with this question. 

 

Should I use my married name as my new last name and my maiden name as my new middle name (like the below)?

 

Maiden Name : Jane Smith Doe

Married Name : Jane Doe Peters

 

 

[Illiria 980]

That’s not the normal way of doing things in the US here it would be (using your examples) Jane Smith Peters. I have only ever seen people from the Philippines doing this but your profile says Canada. Most states only allow for the changing of last name using a marriage certificate, if you want to change your middle name you would most likely need to get it done through the courts.

Edited April 30, 2019 by Illiria

[Cryssiekins 976]

If you have a legitimate middle name, and are using both surnames, you would put first middle last last.  If you did not change it with the marriage, you would petition the court.

[Dashinka 24,786]

I don’t think the marriage certificate allows you to change given names (first/middle(s)).  As to the family name, if you chose to adopt that, then fill out the AOS forms with that name.  There were a few recent stories of people not doing that.

 

Good Luck!

[CPAV 1]

11 minutes ago, Illiria said:

That’s not the normal way of doing things in the US here it would be (using your examples) Jane Smith Peters. I have only ever seen people from the Philippines doing this but your profile says Canada. Most states only allow for the changing of last name using a marriage certificate, if you want to change your middle name you would most likely need to get it done through the courts.

Hi! I am Fil-Can.   Just want to follow the Philippine way if it's possible

 

Thank you.

[Dashinka 24,786]

I agree then with @Cryssiekins, in this case two last names which is perfectly acceptable with a marriage certificate.

 

Good Luck!

[Illiria 980]

6 minutes ago, CPAV said:

Hi! I am Fil-Can.   Just want to follow the Philippine way if it's possible

 

Thank you.

To follow exactly the Philippine way you will need to do a court change then, dropping the current middle name and taking the existing maiden name as a middle name. I know that this is what you will have to do with your phils passport if you update that so it would make sense that you would want to have the us stuff in the same format.

[CPAV 1]

1 minute ago, Illiria said:

To follow exactly the Philippine way you will need to do a court change then, dropping the current middle name and taking the existing maiden name as a middle name. I know that this is what you will have to do with your phils passport if you update that so it would make sense that you would want to have the us stuff in the same format.

meaning I need to have the court order before I can file the AOS?

[payxibka 10,047]

Thank God Minnesota allows any name to be changed by either party upon marriage 

[Mollie09 1,543]

This is county-specific. Some counties doesn't consider middle names part of your "official" name so you can change those to whatever you want.

[DaveAndAnastasia 2,096]

18 hours ago, Bill & Katya said:

I don’t think the marriage certificate allows you to change given names (first/middle(s)).

At least for middle names, this varies by state.

 

In California, you can change middle names within certain limits (you have to explicitly say the name you want to be known by after marriage on the marriage license application if you want to change it). I believe New York is like this too, though this isn't how most states work.