Whatislove said:
Long story short, I hate my name and I?m super nerdy, so as well as covering myself in nerd tattoos I am going to legally change my name to one of the names pictured.
I'm guessing that you're still rather young. If you're dead-set on changing your name, now is certainly the time to do it. The truth is that although some have said "it's like a tattoo (which you can have removed); just change it back later if you find out that it's causing you problems...", it's not that simple.
A tattoo exists only on your body: you can get laser surgery to remove them. Your name is heavily tied to your identity, and moving forward, just the process of moving through life is going to weave a web of financial, professional and personal connections that will all be impacted by a name change.
And honestly? You
will most likely want to change your name back at some point in the future, when you are no longer so enamored of being the 'out there' geek-type. Seriously, how many people who are even moderately successful in the professional or personal spheres do you hear of that have weird names (athletes being the edge-case)? You don't hear about Darth Cruxis the CEO, or even the middle manager, nor do you hear about Mithos Yggdrasil being in a great relationship with an attractive, intelligent woman.
You hear about him being the loner barista at age 38 working in your coffee shop. Still.
And I know that you say that you feel secure in your job, but you are literally making yourself unpromotable/potentially unemployable: people who don't know you are going to
immediately question your judgment- this will impact applying for other jobs, promotions within your job (you say you're cool with your boss, but he's not going to always be your boss if he has even an ounce of ambition; plus, in order to give you a promotion, he has to consider how it will appear to other people in the company, like his boss!). Then there are loans, applications for other services, what the cop is going to say when he pulls you over and gets your license...
I would strongly, strongly,
strongly advise you to select one of the more subtle options like #3 and #4: true geeks will "get it", and the strongest comment you'll receive is "that's an unusual name". Hell, it might even work in your favor like Arnold Schwartzenegger's did. But 'Darth'? I'm sorry man, that's just going to cause people to shake their head and pity you as the Star Wars nerd who refused to grow up.
Oh, and a PS: for those of you who say "the world is evolving, people/employers/girls/etc won't have a problem with it." I would put to you that unless you are older than 30, it is highly likely you lack experience broad enough to make that statement (with a few very, very rare exceptions).
; I honestly think all of them are silly, but you should do whatever you like), but you'll use your full name only to introduce yourself. At any other time, people will want to refer to you by your first name, or on formal occasions, by your last name. Titles like 'Prince' or 'Darth' aren't really suitable as first names, imo.
