[Coda]

Originally Posted by Anna Claire

mm, actually, that's not true. There are states that will amend your birth certificate for certain types of legal name changes. One example is adoption; both of the children my parents adopted have birth certificates now with their new, legal names, not the ones they were born with.

Oh, it's totally true, because I said "that I know of." :P

That said, adoption is something of an exceptional case. Marriages and cosmetic name changes don't get the birth certificate treatment. And ultimately, it's tied to the same issue -- things wanting a birth certificate as a form of identification, which it really shouldn't be.