So, currently my last name is 'Foresman'. When I turn 18, I want to change it to 'Sykero'. There is ultimately no specific reason for this name change except for the fact that I want to be rid of my current last name. I do not have the same last name as my mother. I have my father's last name because all of my siblings took their fathers' last names. My mother is currently single, but she is still using the last name of the last man she married. Since he is not my father, I do not want his last name. Also, I have never met him, but from what I have heard, he has been in and out of jail for the last twenty years or so and I do not want to be associated with that by having his last name.

I do not want 'Foresman' because 1.) I do not feel like a Foresman-- I have not seen my father in almost fifteen months, and I haven't heard from him either. I was never very close to him to begin with. Another reason I would like to change it is because, for whatever reason, people seem to mishear my last name.. A lot. Last school year, there was a kind of phase where one teacher has an accent, and when he had said my last name, it sounded as if he had said 'Foreskin'. Of course, this became quite the joke on me. That was not the only time it had happened and it will not be the last. 'Foresman' is not a name I want to be attached to. So, if I had to go in front of a court to give a valid reason for my name change, what would I say? How would I phrase it for the courts to accept it as 'valid'?

When you are an adult... You could change it to Limburger Cheeze if you wanted. Do you think the Musician Meat Loaf was given that name? Nope he legally changed it to that.

Just be aware as it does complicate things as your birth certificate will forever have a different name than your new one. And you will always have an AKA (the old name) with anything government related etc...so it won't ever simply go away.

At least you won't have to deal with Credit histories and a lot of other things that would be made more difficult because of it... being 18 you have none established yet.

And also..the real world isn't like High-school. People have jobs and too much to worry about (plus the maturity thing) than play child's games with what your name can be twisted into.

What about his SS number and a name change?

I think it's fine. I was in court once and the name changes were practically an assembly line. You do have to go to court, pay a fee, and notify every conceivable agency, bank, provider, you name it.
And of course you have to be 18, unless your parent does it.

Yep.. those too.. forgot about those

And it is not why you don't want your old name.

If there is a question at all, it will be why you picked the new name.
Seems very hard to say also.

For the judge, that wouldn't be a deal breaker either. But I would be curious why OP picked "Sykero".

Not hard to say at all, unless perhaps for those of you from places like Georgia.

I'm guessing it would be pronounced "sigh" + "care" + "oh".
Or perhaps "sick" + "hero" (minus the "h").

I too wonder about her choice of a new surname. People can definitely mutilate and misspell and make fun of that one as well.