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PaperclipPerfector  7mo ago (text post)   2727 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for October 13, 2024

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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Why don't more Americans change their names? It's very easy to do so, procedures are simple, and unless you have a felony there's few restrictions.

And there's a lot of people out there saddled with TERRIBLE given names.

So why is it so rare?

I'm guessing some of it has to do with the commitment and consistency bias. People want to appear consistent. If they've lived one way, they're likely to just continue living like that even if it's not beneficial. Same reason why many people can't admit to mistakes. Cognitive dissonance may be involved. They may think that their name, being part of themselves, is inherently wonderful, and it's society that is being shitty when discriminating against their name. Thus if they were to change their own name they would go against their belief in themselves.

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