Crestfallen...Utterly Crestfallen

I am crestfallen...utterly crestfallen. I went to visit the Social Security Office to have my name changed on my social security card (one of the many "name change" tasks) only to find out that my name ISN'T really my name.

Some of you may know that Jennifer is actually my middle name and not my first name. Yet, my parents have called me by this name since I was born. When I entered school, it started to become a little bit of a problem because the computers would instantly spit out "Rebecca" on the roll sheet, and each year (with each new class), I would have to raise my hand and politely explain to the teacher that I go by "Jennifer".

By the time I reached college, it began to get a little tiresome, and so in certain classes (the classes of 300 students taught by a graduate student), I wouldn't bother to correct the teachers (which also caused confusion, but that is a story for another post).

When I began to work as a public school teacher, I would grow frustrated because my school district email address would always read "Rebecca.Reinsch" at certain school district dot org. And I would explain to the computer tech who set up the email accounts that I go by Jennifer and couldn't we possibly make my email address read Jennifer.Reinsch? To which I was told in no uncertain terms that that was completely impossible to do. So, I would have to explain to all of the parents of my students my whole Rebecca/Jennifer issue.

Needless to say, after years of this, I have grown quite weary. (Although, I do have to admit that there is a plus side. When my phone rings and the person on the other end asks for "Rebecca", I know they are most likely a telemarketer, and I tell them she is not home and ask to take a message.) Therefore, when the realization that I was going to get to change my name hit me, I was E.C.S.T.A.T.I.C. Finally, I was going to be able to simplify my name situation.

**Let me pause right here in the story to explain that my parents really didn't realize that it would be such an issue when they named me and called me by my middle name. They really had the best of intentions.**

Anyway, fast forward to the Social Security Office, where I sit down in front of the lady and hand her my paperwork. She tells me that my submission (Jennifer Reinsch Schroeder) cannot possibly be done because Jennifer is not my legal name. I explain (probably with a little hysteria in my voice) that Jennifer is indeed my name. It is on my birth certificate. It is what I am called. She says that she doesn't care what I am called, it is not my name. To which I pull out my birth certificate and insist that IT IS my name, because it is on my birth certificate.

She was not sympathetic or understanding. She tells me I can drop Jennifer or Reinsch, but Rebecca is my legal name and so I must keep it. (Apparently, your middle name is a throwaway name that NOBODY cares about even if you have been called by this name for your entire life.)

In the end, I had to drop Reinsch, and I spent the rest of the day crestfallen. Plus, I had to explain to the husband that he had indeed NOT married "Jennifer" since she does not exist according to the U.S. government, and I wasn't really sure who he was married to.