Judge: Michael Shultz, Case: 23CMCP00140, Date: 2023-10-10 Tentative Ruling
Case Number: 23CMCP00140 Hearing Date: October 10, 2023 Dept: A
OSC:
[TENTATIVE]
ORDER DENYING PETITION FOR CHANGE OF NAME
Petitioner,
PAUL ANTHONY SCOTT, requests an order to change the capitalization of his name from
all capital letters to initial capital letters (“Paul Anthony Scott”). The Court has discretion to deny the
petition where “there are substantial and principled reasons for denying
[it]. … (In re Ross (1937) 8 Cal.2d 608,
610, 67 P.2d 94 [need some substantial reason for denial]; Lee v. Superior
Court, supra, 9 Cal.App.4th at p. 515, 11 Cal.Rptr.2d 763 [court may properly
deny petition if name adopted to defraud, intentionally confuse, or intrude
into someone's privacy or violate recognized public policy.” (In re Arnett (2007) 148 Cal.App.4th 654, 661).
At common law, a person’s name consists of
a given name and a surname or family name. A person’s name "is the
distinctive characterization in words by which he is known and
distinguished from others.” (In re Ritchie (1984) 159 Cal.App.3d 1070, 1073). The requested change in capitalization alone is not
a name change and is also confusing. (Matter of Yates 2022 ND 11, ¶ 5 [Changing a name from all capital letters to initial capital letters
followed by lower case letters is not a change from one name to another name.])
Accordingly, the application is DENIED.