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Legal difference between "David" and "Dave"?

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relic180

Junior Member
Me and my fiance went to the courthouse today (Fort Lauderdale, FL, Broward County) to attempt to pick up a marriage license. When we got there, I was told that since my birth certificate reads "David" and my ID reads "Dave" there was nothing they could do for us because the names did not match. Therefore we could not get a marriage license. Period. :eek:

A little research online suggested that it would cost me roughly $300 dollars to legally change my name from "David" to "Dave". Or the other option is to get a new drivers license, new social security card, new passport, contact my insurance companies, mortgage company, other creditors, friends, family and anybody else that has my name on file as "Dave" to notify them that I'm now "David". In fact, to my knowledge, my name is not listed as "David" anywhere on the planet, except on my birth certificate. The primary reason for this being that I guess, in my ignorance, I simply assumed there was no substantial difference between the two.

I guess my primary question is, are "Dave" and "David" the same name from a legal standpoint? I've never encountered a situation that they were not 100% interchangeable (aside from individual preference). And further, is a marriage license so unique that the DMV doesn't distinguish between the two, the social security office doesn't distinguish between the two, neither does the passport office or the IRS. But this lady is telling me that for a marriage license there IS a legal difference?

I'd like to not spend $300 OR go through the hassle of replacing all my personal documents because of this.

Thanks for any help.
 
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CourtClerk

Senior Member
I guess my primary question is, aren't "Dave" and "David" the same name?
No, they aren't. They aren't even spelled the same.

If it makes you feel any better, my mother had the same problem when attempting to get a passport, only the problem wasn't Dave and David, it was a different name.
 

Zigner

Senior Member, Non-Attorney
No, they aren't. They aren't even spelled the same.

If it makes you feel any better, my mother had the same problem when attempting to get a passport, only the problem wasn't Dave and David, it was a different name.
I'm glad your mother wasn't named David or Dave!
 

relic180

Junior Member
No, they aren't. They aren't even spelled the same.

If it makes you feel any better, my mother had the same problem when attempting to get a passport, only the problem wasn't Dave and David, it was a different name.
All jokes aside, I was hoping for something a little more in depth than "not spelled the same".

You see, I DO have a passport, and it says Dave. So apparently the passport office doesn't see a problem between the difference in spelling. Neither did the Social Security office. The IRS doesn't mind that I pay taxes under the name Dave. So, spelling aside, why would all these government entities not recognize the difference if they are legally different names?

On a semi-related note, I found something on wikipedia about "The usage method of name change" that is Federal law, but not necessarily acceptable in every state. How would I go about finding out if Florida recognizes this law?
 

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