In 1968 after my father passed away, I dropped my first name and took his middle name as my middle name and I did it through an attorney. Fastest way. I also had a boyfriend who hated his name so he dropped his last name and started using my last name and used if for over 15 years and had all his tax information under this name, He now goes by a new last name (of his current lover). You can change your name either legally or not, Legally you have to go to court and a judge will ask you why and usually there is not problems. The other way you just change it to what you want and use it all the time. Hope this helps. But I would still talk to a lawyer first, there could be inheritance questions involved also.