Hello Graham, Having read the below comments, I hope you head your will: "Graham X, commonly known as Grahame X" to save difficulties for your executor and beneficiaries !!!. (Been there, coped with that!) At 11:59 13-11-03 +1100, you wrote: >I am sending this message again as Bigpond had some problems on Wed 12 Nov >and I suspeck this did not get through. > >Hi Shirley > >My guess is that a lot of people change their given names but dont do >anything legal. I have always used GRAHAME but my birth was registered as >GRAHAM. This has only caused two problems, first getting a passport and >second lodging a claim for life insurance, both I simply used GRAHAM. But I >am GRAHAME on the electoral roll, land titles, marriage registration, bank >accounts, enlistment in the defence forces etc. > >You can call yourself anything for most purposes. > >For both NSW and VIC if you wanted to legally change your name it was >usually recored by Deed Poll with the Registery of Deeds which is part of >the Land Titles Office. (These offices could be called by a different name >in some States). Also on ocassions the Deed may have been lodged (and since >the 1980s for all cases) with the Registery of BDMs. > >Generally speaking these kinds of questions can be answered by consulting >Nick Vine Hall's book "Tracing Your Family History in Australia." Your >local public library should have a copy if not ask them to get it. > >cheers > >Grahame regards, Ada Ackerly, Melbourne, Australia formerly Ackerly DocuSearch