I can honestly see how this happened.
I didn’t see my birth certificate until I was 17 and applying for my first driver’s license.
Shock of my life - the name my mother had taught me was NOT my legal name. I called her on it and she said that she ‘liked the other spelling better and the nurse wouldn’t let her use it, so I just came close to what I really wanted.’
So ALL of my shot records (became a MAJOR issue when I moved to Germany) and ALL of my school records (became a MAJOR issue when I applied for college) were different than my birth certificate.
To make matters worse, she put down a completely different spelling on my social security card. (I honestly think that it was a matter of bad handwriting on that one.)
I don’t know how the IRS didn’t come down on my entire family for that because I know that she put down her preferred spelling of my name on the tax forms and that it didn’t match either my birth certificate or my social security card.
When I graduated I had to go with my birth certificate and UN-screw three separate, serious documents to put my life together.
To make matters even more insane, my diploma didn’t even have the correct LAST name because she ‘liked’ my step-father better than my birth dad and just put his last name as mine from jr high through high school. Officially, I never went to school after I was eight years old - then I graduated. (Should’ve seen me in the counselor’s office trying to explain that mess the week after graduation.)
No. There never was an official adoption. She just changed it when we moved.
I didn’t even find out that the last name that I’d been going by for almost a decade really wasn’t my last name until I was almost out of high school.
“No... Mom... You can’t just put down whatever you feel like... these are legal documents... It doesn’t matter what you WANT it to be...”
I still don’t know who the hell I am. Sheesh.
But later you found out your Mom did that so you would learn a very valuable lesson...