Best you make a cuppa before you start on this one.
Once upon a time a couple got married, had kids and gave them names (because otherwise it is just too confusing).
After a bit they got divorced and the woman married someone else. Lets call him newfather.
So the kids all changed their surname to newfather.
No big deal – this would have to happen to tens of thousands of people.
Life goes on and one of the children gets a drivers license and has to fill out a special form explaining about the remarriage and the newfather name.
Life goes on even further and the whole thing is never thought about….the kid has been a new-father since she was about 5. Banks stuff, house mortgage, university diplomas..everything is newfather
So welcome to the present day when Jodie –next bit, middle name, newfather decides she might need a passport. She figures she will need a full birth certificate, not just an extract and proceeds to dig out the extract.
Well surprise surprise ! of course Jodie is expecting it to read “jodie-nextbit, middle name, oldfather” but it doesn’t…..it reads Jodie, next bit, oldfather.
WHAT ? the next bit is not joined to Jodie with a little hyphen ??? really??? and where is my Middle name ???
As you can imagine this brought about some discussion with the mother. Apparently when Jodie was baptised the priest was not impressed with the Jodie, next bit, oldfather name as it did not contain any Saints names so he joined the next bit to Jodie with a dinky little hyphen and added the middle Saint’s name himself….
Thanks dude.
So I have been lugging around this great big overweight name for all this time when I didn’t have to.
Hurray….a legal name is in order to go back to Jodie, next bit, newfather (and then a passport)….however if I do that I would have to change every other piece of paper in my life. That just seems like a whole new can of hassle.
So now I have to legally change my name from Jodie next bit, , oldfather to ummmm, Jodie-next bit, Middle name, newfather, the name I have been using for thirty something years.
The first attempt was rejected by the office of pink polka dots because I was born under the jurisdiction of the office of green squiggles.
You know what, you can call me freakin’ Elvis if it will get me a passport.
I may be swimming to Portland.
oh f%^&k. And they wonder why I'm not really interested in a passport! I haven't heard a good story yet! Good luck!
ReplyDeleteOh I'm hearing you! It took me months, $$ and a really big pain in the you know where just to get a passport! My name was never legally changed when my mum remarried and even though I had school reports, ID and every other legal document in my new fathers surname I was unable to have it on my passport without going through a whole heap of BS to change it! However, I got my Passport after months...! Good luck!
ReplyDeleteWhat?????? Hmmmmm... paperwork nightmare!I am so confused...so I'll just say good luck!
ReplyDeleteAre you STILL dealing with this crap? I hope you get it sorted out very soon!
ReplyDeleteUgh! As someone who has a paperwork curse (it's true although not well-documented) and 3 legal name changes under her belt, I feel your pain.
ReplyDeleteKeep going Jod! What a nightmare. I told the kids that they can change their hypenated last name if they ever need to but it sounds like it may be more trouble than it's worth for them.
ReplyDeleteoh no! I had getting passports because there is always something wrong whenever I take the form in or I'm always missing one piece of paperwork.
ReplyDeletenow on to names, when emerson was baptised it was suggested in the paperwork that we give them a christian name that was a saints name. that was all news to me since I'd already had 4 babies baptised and was baptised myself and had never heard of that before!
Corrie:)
Awesome (albiet incredibly frustrating for you) story ... go to the office of blue clouds ~ they're way mellower about such stuff!
ReplyDeleteDon't you wonder why office of pink polka dots and office of green squiggles even gives a flip about oldfather/newfather/hypen? Best of luck 'cuz I really want to meet you. Happy New Year!!!
ReplyDeleteOh my god I was confused just reading that. Good luck, of course if you need someone to take you place I have no name changes so can get my passport renewed really quickly
ReplyDeleteAustralia doesn't cope well with middle name changes either. I went from Amy middle-bit oldname to Amy oldname husbandname when I married. The RTA informed me that changing a middle name isn't acceptable in Australia, and that I'd need to go back on P's as my driving history was no longer considered valid.
ReplyDeleteI do hope it's a bit easier for you from here on out.
Sounds like a lot of fun! Your issue regarding the middle name bit seems confined to Catholics and in the older days, the Anglicans as well, as the Anglicans gave my dad an extra name when he was christened and he already had his first, middle and last ones! :)
ReplyDeleteYou might have to get out on the lake with a kayak and start practicing, and while you are at it, get your sextant skills going, because without a passport, they won't let you row into the port at Washington state, either! You'll have to come in as an illegal through Mexico. Just a thought. ;)
Oh dear!
ReplyDeleteI know the feeling. I changed my surname to my husband's faily name when I got married (as we did in those olden days). It's hyphenated. DD was enrolled at school with first name, middle name, second half-surname but legal documents have full name! All sorts of confusion has erupted!
Make sure the name on your ticket is the same as the one on your passport. I once travelled overseas carrying an affidavit saying that Lynne B was the same person as Lynne F-B because the tickets were bought as a group thing and the person who ordered them d idn't know my full legal married name!
Having said all that, I bet you're getting a tad excited?
Too ridiculous for words but I do know how you feel as when we got our passports we discovered that our marriage certificate was not really our marriage CERTIFICATE just a pretty piece of paper the priest used. A real certificate apparently has a number and we didn't know our number? Caused us a bit of a chuckle and a large headache (and that was before trying to get passports for 3 little people under 5 - ever tried getting a passport photo of a 2 month old?)
ReplyDeleteIt will all be worth it in the end!
How frustrating! I once considered changing my first name, to the shorter version, but I figured it just wasn't worth all the paperwork. Good luck getting yours all sorted!
ReplyDeleteBoy love reading your blog, always something interesting going on
ReplyDeleteHere's a story ... nothing to do with passports though . When my sister was born on April the 1st (April Fools Day) my dad thought kids might tease her so he told everyone her birthday was April 2 . It all went well until she went to get her drivers licence as no one thought to tell her the real date she was born .
ReplyDeleteI was born in South Africa in the early 70's and consequently my birth certificate actually notes that I am a white person on the little line that says "race". Isn't that outrageous? Nothing to do with getting a passport, and I've never had a problem getting one, but I thought I'd share that little tidbit with you anyway.
ReplyDeleteIf you're legally changing your name you might as well have some fun I reckon. Shall I call you Your Excellency from here on in?
Oh dear and I thought my sister had it bad, not born on Aprils Fools Day, but for some reason we haf been celebrating her birthday on the 21st (for 16 years) only to find out when she got her full birth certificate that it was the 22nd. I'm still trying to get used to it.
ReplyDeletesort it all out properly now............it will come to bite you for a long time otherwise.........I know what others have gone thru...........also what name do you have on your kids birth certificates etc and marriage cert.........
ReplyDeleteGood luck with that!
ReplyDeleteI think I need a flow chart, a map, and possibly a large glass of Merlot.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry you're having passport problems, when i tried applying for mine and sent in all of my paperwork i was sent back a letter stating that all of them would be "on hold" until a real birth certificate was provided as all i had ever had was the funny certificate looking thing. Now you would think it would not be so hard to get a copy of a birth certificate you would be wrong, it took me and my father, whose name is on the birth certificate mind you, 2 years of frustrations putting in orders for one only for them to not send it. I finally broke down and asked my mother to do it and it arrived in 3 days. I hope you can get everything changed over fairly quickly!
ReplyDeleteThis must have been loads of fun to deal with following the re-issuing of all your various wallet contents!!! Hope the mess gets straightened out by the office of green squiggles rather quickly. Can Ernst help?
ReplyDeleteafter a terrible 1st marriage ended , i changed my name and my daughter used the new one from age 3. kinder, school, medicare ... she could not get her learner's permit and it was just too hard to explain why to anyone who asked. we made a memorable trip into the city just after her 18th b'day and now she is legally who she always thought she was! some things are just crap!
ReplyDeleteArm yourself with hippos I say and storm the offices! Anyway I hope it's sorted quickly and you get yourself to Portland in time. My first two children changed their names...so I'm thinking I must be a dunce Namer of Names. Mr First changed his first name to his second name or vice versa, then went to Taiwan and chose a Chinese name to be called instead of any of his other names..what the? Then Miss Second decided that she didn't like her first name so chose another completely different one and then kept them all...now she has her own first name then the two she was given by me, then surname. I get very nervous now if Misters Three, Four or Five start talking about their names!
ReplyDeleteOh and Happy New Year Jodie!
ReplyDeleteJust make sure when you get the Jodie - next bit etc etc sorted out you make sure you fill in the form in bloody black pen. They took great delight in rejecting me twice for that little mistake and if you make one teensy tiny error they'll make you fill in a whole new form!
ReplyDeleteoh wot fun.
ReplyDeleteI really wish your passport was going to be issued by the office pink polkadots. Co-signed by the dept of green squiggles, just for added security.
good luck with it all...reminds me of one of the girls I work with, when filling out her youngest daughters birth form(?) she wrote her surname twice, once in the surname part, but also in the middle name bit...so the kid is first name, middle name, surname, surname....made me giggle as she didn't realise until she was applying for a passport to take them all on a holiday.
ReplyDeleteLife is never easy in the land of pink polka dots and green squiggles. Good luck with the pass port it is most probably easier to just get a dodgy one from some old fellow in a back alley.
ReplyDelete"A rose by any other..." and all that rot. ;)
ReplyDeleteBut wow, what a hassle! I hope you get your name sorted out to your liking quickly and painlessly.
Faaaaaaark dude!
ReplyDeleteWhat a hassle you're having to go through Jodie! My stepdaughter (an Aussie) is going to marry her fiancé (a Kiwi originally but has lived here for ages) in NZ in May. Because the Marriage Act of NZ is not recognised in Australia, because she wants to take his surname, she has to pay a motza to the Aussie govt to change her name legally...????
ReplyDeleteWhat a right royal pain in the posterier! When I divorced I went back to my maiden name, my boys kept their name and when I remarried I did not take his name so we are a three surname household... confuses the postman on a daily basis!
ReplyDeleteThat is definately toooo much for the red tape brigade to handle! Good luck.
ReplyDeleteJust been through a similar thing with our eldest daughter! She was born right here in Sydney, grew up here of course but travelled, as thousands do, to the UK when she was 21, stayed a while and eventually married her man (he's british but we've since forgiven him) in the UK. She has both Australian and British passports both of which had expired, went to renew the Australian passport and was told that they don't recognise a British marriage licence.....hello!!!!! She had to change her name by deed poll before she could get her passport. She thought that she would just travel on her Brit passport to save time (and money) but they told her that she wouldn't be allowed back in the country and could be extradited to the UK........stuffed system or what...??
ReplyDeleteLizzie
xxx
I hope you get it sorted out soon Jodie.
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year.
Gosh, and I thought a birth certificate with a day earlier birth date on it caused problems!
ReplyDeleteOnce I furnished all the paperwork to prove three name changes (last one back to maiden name by deed poll)my passport was processed and back to me in a week...good luck with yours! It will be worth it to get to Portland...loved loved loved that place when I was there a couple of months ago.....!
ReplyDeleteI love that when I spell my first name 'Margret' information processing people take it upon themselves to correct my spelling. As if I don't know how to spell my own name! At the end of my first marriage one bank teller tried to tell me I'd need a divorce certificate to change my surname back to maiden name. I was young, and my Dad worked in the family law courts and told me I'm entitled to use my maiden name whenever I choose. I had my birth certificate and marriage certificate, luckily the teller got over herself and changed. I don't imagine the clerks at the office of pink polka dots are as easily swayed unfortunately. Good luck!!
ReplyDeleteOoooh, good thing you're on top of this -- you've still got time. 'Cause NOTHING better interfere with Portland!!!
ReplyDeleteI had to get a new passport about a year ago and had a very similar nightmare. I was married in the UK in a registry office... cant get any more legit than that. I returned to Aust and have ALL my docs in my married name. When I go to get a passport I am told that my marriage cert isnt legal here WTF??? Arent we part of the commonwealth??
ReplyDeleteSo now I have to change my name by deed poll..... am I pissed off? hell yes. Do I have a choice? no. I even went to see my local MP and he just said "so what do you want me to do about it" in a really sarcastic tone... he then told me I had to write it all down and send it to Canberra.... if he didnt care, they wont.
sounds like many of us have had a similar experience. I understand being careful about who gets passports etc but when you have an Aussie birth certificate and have lived here AND had a previous passport you would think it wouldnt be so hard.... *sigh*
OH MY. This is EXACTLY the same issue I am facing. Seriously. 30 years of legal documentation (including at least 4 previous passports) and suddenly it is noted that a hyphen is missing from my middle name. What?? I second the 'thanks dude' to whoever it was that let that through in the early 80s. Mother is unabashed. Renewed passport has been on the to-do list for two years now. 2013 - it is time. Good luck with your name change!
ReplyDeleteOh those buggers at the Passport office. You can't trust anyone who thinks smiling in a photo is a sign of terrorism xo
ReplyDeletePS happy New Year!
If you end up swimming...let me know....I'll meet you out in the Columbia river in an unmarked boat...under cover of darkness
ReplyDeleteSeems like you are not alone, Jodie! Take heart and I do hope it is all sorted in no time, and yep; make sure you complete their bloody paper work exactly like they ask you to so there are no slip ups. Renewals on a passport that is not expired is a lot easier than one that is way off, as you need less info to get the job done.
ReplyDeleteGood luck!
That just gave me a headache! Good luck sorting it all out Elvis
ReplyDeleteoh thats a real tongue twister hope you manage to sort it out
ReplyDeleteHmm, and I thought your name was Mrs. Ric Rac! You've been toying with us all along! ;p If you are gonna do a name change...put Ric Rac in the middle to mess with border patrol's head. ;p
ReplyDeleteWIsh I lived near Portland...
Ho Ho I am still laughing.
ReplyDeleteAnd don't forget the bit where you have do all sorts of stuff online before the let you in the the States. Don't leave that till the last minute. Good luck
A passport is so very worthwhile. The world has so many great places to visit. Hang in there.
ReplyDelete