Getting married- ? do I change my name

[Grog]

Does custom permit me to go by his last name in my personal life, without it actually being my real name???

I'm not a lawyer, in fact I am not even American. But my somewhat educated guess is: yes. You can call yourself Bozo the Clown socially if you want (unless you make money out of it and the real Bozo doesn't find it funny, I guess), but don't expect to sign contracts under that name.

This being said, I will let authorities speak out on this!

[Tuckervill]

I read up on it once, and of course the law is different from state to state. But the general consensus I remember is that as long as you are not trying to defraud anyone, you can call yourself anything you want.

Karen