YOU might think deciding what name you are officially known by would be a simple, personal matter. It's not.
Excluding name changes after marriage, 50,000 people officially change their name each year, with many finding the process a frustrating, bureaucratic nightmare.
Yvette Standfield, nee Barrett, married overseas and, being a traditionalist, was keen to adopt her husband's name when the couple returned to Melbourne.
It took more than a year negotiating government red tape before she officially became Mrs Standfield.
''I had an absolute hell of a time,'' the 32-year-old marketing manager from Rosanna told The Sunday Age. Latest Victorian Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages figures reveal there were 12,939 people who changed their names in 2010-11, at a cost of $91.10 each. Nationally, there were more than 50,000.
According to the registry, if you marry overseas and want to take your spouse's name, you may need to officially register a name change because some organisations will not accept a non-Australian marriage certificate as proof of a new name.
Some new names are rejected by the registry on the grounds they are considered to be obscene or offensive, include numbers or symbols such as 1, @ or !, resemble an official title or rank recognised in Australia, such as a regal title, or are considered to be against the public interest and will cause confusion in the community. Names rejected in the past have included Batman and Jesus Christ.
Mrs Standfield married Michael Standfield in 2008 in Malta. The couple returned to Melbourne in October 2009. But when Mrs Standfield tried to get a new driver's licence and Medicare card in her married name, problems emerged. Both VicRoads and Medicare wanted a copy of her marriage certificate - but it was written in Maltese.
Advised to apply for a name change at the registry, Mrs Standfield was upset when told she would have to hand over her original birth certificate. In return, she was given a new birth certificate for the name Yvette Standfield. The back of it reads: ''Formerly Yvette Barrett.''
Authorities say apart from the people who change their name every year, 900,000 others use at least one alias. In most cases, there are legitimate reasons for having a second name. Many women go by both their married and maiden names, some performers have stage names, some writers have noms de plume.
But there are fears a small proportion of people changing their names or creating aliases are doing so for nefarious reasons, such as to commit fraud.
A federal Attorney-General's Department spokesman said all jurisdictions across Australia were pursuing measures to ensure name changes were not being used to obscure criminal activity or mask bankruptcy.
The move includes national bans on name changes by registered sex offenders, limiting the number of name changes that can be made and requirements that requests will not be granted unless a registrar is satisfied the reason is legitimate.
Some rejected name changes Prime Minister Pappa Smurf Motorcycle Feelgood Jesus Christ Smart Arse Batman Cu L8r
Source: Victorian Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages
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