My question involves name change laws in the State of: CALIFORNIA
hey everyone!
I have a weird situation. I am probably just making it more difficult for myself, but anyways. I have a daughter who is almost 5 yrs. Her father has not been around for 2 yrs, I am not trying to change her last name, because I have read the hassle you need to go through. I am curious to see what would happen if I started to use her middle name as her first, example: I just start putting it on her school papers, doctors offices, etc. What would be the long term effect of doing this. Everyone has always called her by her middle name since she was born, as have I. The reason we didnt put it as her first was because the father preferred that all his kids have his same initials, so i went ahead and let him have it his way, but even he used her middle name as well. And since I'm on this subject, even though she's young, she said she would like to have my last name (which is my married name) can I also start to use this new last name?
I read or heard somewhere about usage, where if her middle name is used enough and constantly, it automatically changes. Now is this true or was I mistaken? I would think to finalize her name change would be through court etc, but I dont have the money for that right now, plus the newspaper announcements you need to have.
Please help! Anything is greatly appreciated.

