Re: Question About Names

Holly Huckeba wrote:
>
> My question: What rights does a person have to their own first and
> last name? I would think that as long as I'm using another person's
> name not to impersonate them or make money from it's use it would be
> okay.

This is not my field of expertise, but I think the use of names is governed by both common and legislative law.

My belief is that in Canada one has the right to use/assume any name one wants, without a deed poll, as long as it is not used for the purposes of deliberately confusing others (by impersonating someone with a reasonable chance of success) or for criminal purposes. The "a.k.a." name can become the only name over time.

Ron B. Thomson
thomson[_at_]chass.utoronto.ca Received on Thu Oct 31 1996 - 14:11:33 GMT