Name Change Process Advice?

[KimmieElise]

Okay,  I have a bunch of business out of the way, I am going to get my name change done, finally.  As I was born in California, I can simply submit some paperwork to get my gender marker changed on my birth cert.  I am figuring on doing my name first, so I can do full name change and gender marker on my birth cert all in one shot.

 

Any advice about name change.  I live in Georgia.  Any particular advice on doing the name change process?  I am kinda nervous about stating a reason for my name change.  Should I keep it vague and say something l like, "I was never comfortable with my old name."  Or, should I come right out and say, :"I am transitioning and want a name more suitable to my new gender?"

 

Any tips, advice, etc. would be appreciated.

 

BTW, with Minnesota considering a bathroom bill where you have to use the restroom which matches the gender marker on your license, I thought getting my marker changed was prudent.  I have relatives in MN I might want to visit.

[stveee]

I hooked up with the local LGBT Org that has name change clinics over Zoom and and the lawyer and I went over the forms. Was helpful because the exact forms sometimes depends on county, and these go through revisions every year, etc. and not published publicly if I DIYd it was our Judge bypassing the publishing announcement for risk of personal harm due to "Political Climate". 

Definitely suggest getting both name and gender, here everything is submitted at once anyway. 

As far as the reason, I also asked this, and my lawyer suggested, "This is the name I have been using for several years as it better fits my gender."

You also may need a witness or two to sign and attend when you go to get the documents notarized. I am feeling like this is sort of getting a blessing on a personal level, and might be very special to ask a couple of my friends to "christen" me, and hope they would be honored.

But mostly it's a lot of crossing t's and copies of copies....at least our court has online submission. I'm getting it done ASAP before the fascists take over completely here.