In Re Arnett

This is an appeal from the denial of a petition filed by a federal inmate seeking to change his name from Timothy Wayne Arnett to August Damian Kokopelli. “One’s name is a signboard to the world. It is one of the most permanent of possessions; it remains when everything else is lost; it is owned by those who possess nothing else. A name is the only efficient means to describe someone to contemporaries and to posterity. When one dies it is the only part that lives on in the world. [Citation.]” (In re Marriage of Gulsvig (Iowa 1993) 498 N.W.2d 725, 730 (dis. opn. of Snell, J.).).

PROCEDURAL AND FACTUAL HISTORIES

In 2005, petitioner Timothy Wayne Arnett, a federal inmate, was incarcerated in Fresno County Jail while waiting to be resentenced in federal court on a number of federal convictions. Arnett filed a petition in Fresno County Superior Court to change his name formally because he does not like the name his parents have given him. Arnett alleged that he wants to use the name August Damian Kokopelli for all prospective legal purposes. In filing his petition, Arnett has followed the procedures set forth under California law for a legal name change. (Code Civ. Proc., §…