I want to change my surname and need help!!?

Question

my name is anthony hess and I want to change my surname because everyone asks me if i am a n**i and my was in a bali jail for drugs. so i was thinking of keeping the hess part but adding something like hess + anski, or hess + ?? if anyone could help me out I would be most grateful!!!

Answer 1

I'm the type of person that considers their surname as a part of themselves. It's passed on through generations before you, and tells others a little about what family you come from. If I were you, I would stick with your name, and be proud of who you are and where you come from. In 2008 I like to think that nazism is far in the past, and these people are really just finding any excuse to pick on you. You shouldn't let them. I'm proud of my heritage, and I would defend it to the death.

You've asked this in the genealogy forum, so of course you#re going to hear it from our perspective. I think it's unfair for future generations to change your name unless you really have to. It makes their job harder and much more time-consuming. They may NEVER find your parents, rendering their search impossible.

However, I know that this is just my personal opinion, and if you want to do this, I'm not going to stop you. If you're considering changing your name by adding something, like you suggested to "Hessanski", it would then sound Russian. If you changed it to "Hessalucci" it would sound Italian. And people would assume your nationality before asking you.

If you want to avoid future troubles, make sure you research the nationality of the name sound you're taking, because you may find you're lumbered with a worse stigma than your German sounding heritage.

Just promise me you won't change it to "Hessalon"

Answer 2

You didn't say what country you were in, and we can't tell. The phrase "I would be most grateful" sounds British. You folks use deed poll, I believe. Search the resolved questions in this category for "name change" or wait for one of the UK answerers to tell you.

I second the suggestion of mother's maiden name, and the caution that you should think about it for a long time.  If your mother's maiden name is "Ramsbottom", maybe "Hass" would work. It is close to "Hess".

("Ramsbottom" was a character in one of the Horatio Hornblower novels. Admiral Lord Hornblower though he had at last heard a surname that was uglier than his own.)

Your other option is to lie so outrageously that people realize what a stupid question they have asked.

Yes, your father was Rudolph Hess. He dallied with a Scottish milkmaid after his plane crash-landed and before the authorities picked him up.

Yes, you were in jail for drugs in Bali, but some friends of yours, former SAS soldiers, snuck in, blew up the wall, killed 30 or 40 Balinese jailers with their bare hands and you all paddled away to Singapore in rubber rafts in the dark of the moon.

Answer 3

This is the genealogy forum.  You did not ask a genealogy question.  Your question is a LEGAL issue.  You need to contact the courts in your area for your local laws and fees on this.  Laws and fees will vary state to state, and even county to county in some areas.  Here in Hernando County Florida, the fees are $94 and no lawyer is needed.  Just fill out a petition form with the court and pay $94.  My husband did it.

However, might I suggest that you pick a name that still has meaning to you, like another family name.  Maybe your mother's maiden name.