Can i get a passport if my name is different on my birth certificate

Q. I need a Real ID for work, to fly. When I turned 18 many years ago, I changed my first and middle names on my driver license, Social Security card, bank account and my school record. I just signed a document saying the change wasn’t for fraudulent purposes. But now I have a birth certificate that does not have the same name as everything else. Not even my last name is the same, because I was married many years ago. I do not have a U.S. passport to help me through this, either. I consulted an attorney friend and he said to just try and go through the process and see what happens. How do I make the connection between my original name and my current one? What do I provide to the Department of Motor Vehicles so I can get a Real ID?

– Katrina Shumway, Thousand Oaks

A. Dealing with a last name change because of a marriage is much easier, with a marriage certificate or other accepted document showing the switch.

But proving a wholesale name change is a bit tricky, and a U.S. passport or a birth certificate are the common documents used to identify who you are for the Real ID application.

Honk talked with several officials with the DMV and the Transportation Security Administration. Jaime Garza, a DMV spokesman up in Sacramento, said you have two options:

You can bring in a document showing a name change, say from a Superior Court ruling (which Katrina does not have). Or you can try and get the name changed on your birth certificate.

Honk did some fine gumshoe work, if he can say so himself, and learned that the California Department of Public Health is the agency that can modify birth certificates. A representative said the agency will look into the matter for you, Katrina, and see if it can help.

On the bright side, Katrina, like most residents in Honkland, is quite smart – she has begun trying to solve this problem a year before the Real ID, or another federally accepted document, is needed to get onto domestic flights.

By the way, before braving a DMV office to get a Real ID, ensure you have the goods and any conflicts tackled by first going to realid.dmv.ca.gov.

Q. Can a private citizen have a dash cam mounted on the windshield? If so, can it be mounted anywhere? I recently noticed several cars with the dash cam mounted just below the rear-view mirror. Seems like this would impair the forward vision of the driver.

– Scott Irwin, Fullerton

A. A dash cam, FasTrak device, a cellphone or even a decal with Honk’s handsome mug can be placed in two specific locations on the windshield.

Tino Olivera, a spokesman and officer for the California Highway Patrol, says such items can be placed in the seven square inches of the bottom-right corner, or they can be adhered to the inside five square inches of the bottom-left corner. Another place that stuff, usually a cellphone doubling as a GPS to map out a route, can go is below the top of the dashboard.

Officer Olivera offered up a tip: Don’t place devices where they would get hit by a quickly swelling air bag and then add to the chaos of an accident.

Honkin’ fact: Nationwide, 857 bicyclists died last year after getting struck by motor vehicles, a 6.3% boost from the year before, according to the National Transportation Safety Board. That agency, earlier this month, recommended that states require bicyclists to wear helmets. No state demands that all bicyclists on public streets wear helmets, but a lot do require younger riders to do so, according to the Governors Highway Safety Association. (Source: The Associated Press.)

To ask Honk questions, reach him at . He only answers those that are published. To see Honk online: ocregister.com/tag/honk.

When you apply for a United States Passport for the first time, you will be required to prove that you are a citizen of the United States of America. There are several different forms of identification that you can use as your proof of identity, and the following documents can all be used as primary evidence that you are a citizen:

Primary Identification:
• Drivers License
• State Issued ID
• Non Drivers Identification

Supplemental Identification:
• Learners Permit
• Social Security Card
• Marriage License
• Baptismal Certificate
• High School Year Book
• Voters Registration
• Work Identification
• Military Identification
• Prior U.S. Passport
• Tax Records
• Utility Bills

Proof of Citizenship:
• A certified birth certificate issued by an American city, county, or state
• A Consular Report of Birth Abroad or a Certification of Birth
• Naturalization Certificate
• Certificate of citizenship

You must submit at least one of these forms of identification with your passport application, and it is important to ensure that you submit a certified birth certificate rather than a mere copy. After you submit your proof of citizenship, the evidence will be returned to you. It may be returned with your US Passport or in a separate mailing.

If you have already had a U.S. passport in the past, you can use your old passport as your proof of your citizenship.
These forms are considered to be primary evidence of your citizenship. If you do not have any of these forms, you will need to submit secondary evidence of your citizenship. There are several different forms that can be accepted as secondary evidence of your citizenship.

Some applicants use early public records including birth records, baptismal certificates, or doctor’s records, but early public records are not acceptable when used on their own. These records must be paired with other secondary evidence of citizenship like delayed birth certificates, letter of no records, birth affidavits, or foreign birth documents with evidence of parental citizenship.

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