@Nbravs
Ditto advice from primary, official sources.
I do have some unofficial thoughts based on the experiences I had because of a middle name mis-match.
My birth certificate has the short form of the name, which was done by the hospital administration based on what my parents were calling me during an exciting time. No doubt the doctor asked “What’s her name?” and my parents happily told him what they would call me. My parents always told me my full legal name was the one with the full, long form of the middle name, which is what they had put on my SSN card when they registered me for that. For years, that is what I used. Then I had a heck of a time getting a passport in college because of what I had put down as what I THOUGHT was my full, legal name (with long form of middle name), and it was then I realized my birth certificate had the short form. My parents had never noticed it. My mom was waving my baptismal certificate around at the passport office (full long form), but the passport folks weren’t buying that. It was another round of problems with entering the Navy, because of all the secondary and tertiary cascades of name mismatches. I came into the Navy with my birth certificate (short form) name. The sight of that name on my commissioning certificate still upset her, as I was named after both grandmothers, and the middle name was her mom.
Fast forward to now, and personal information security and the data repositories that abound. Your name on your airline ticket/boarding pass has to match your driver’s license, which has been driven to comply with the Real ID Act, which requires things like passports or birth certificates, root forms of ID. Additionally, airline rewards accounts want that same name on your account, so your frequent flyer account is properly credited with miles, cash, credits.
Later on, when it’s time to do security clearances, you will have to list all your “AKA” names.
This is the perfect time in your life, before your personal data starts to exponentially grow with tax returns, legal documents, bank accounts, credit cards, school records, employment records, Social Security earnings records, to manage your names smartly.
I have had to work very hard to untangle the mess that got started in my life before computerized records started.
Your birth certificate is the root. Your SSN card is a close second, along with passport and driver’s license. That birth certificate name is probably what legal folks would call your legal name. If you can consistently use that for employment records (Social Security tracks your earnings from every employer required to report, and they are much happier to deal with one name associated with one SSN), driver’s license, military applications, credit history, military ID, tax returns, legal documents (car title, property documents, house title, marriage/divorce certificates, all the important stuff), college transcripts - all the critical items where there should be complete clarity on one name, one SSN associated with that name, across the data set you are beginning to build.
You can still “go by” the name you have been accustomed to. You just have to ensure you tell people who are preparing important forms and documents what name you want on the document. When it’s security clearance time, you list your “go by” as you AKA. Investigators will be able to do their online searches of key records, and the legal name will be consistent and easy.
One of our USNA sponsor mids had a mouthful of a legal name: First Name Middle Name Fam A-Fam B. He had also learned the hard way to get everything aligned with his legal name on important records and documents. His “go by” was First Name Middle Initial Fam A, which he used socially.
Put some thought into it, seek the advice of those adults in your life who advise you, lay eyeballs on your documents, confirm with the Service Academy they do indeed want the name on your birth certificate.
Good luck!
