In re Cohen

Petitioner, a youth of nineteen, by means of his father’s petition, seeks to change his name from Emanuel Voltaire Cohen to Emanuel Voltaire Conason. Under the common law a man may change his name at will for an honest purpose. (Smith v. U. S. Casualty Co., 197 N. Y. 420.) As Judge Vann further observes in his learned historical review of the subject, the statutory provision* for a change of name “ is simply in affirmance and aid of the common law to make a definite point of time when the change shall take effect. * * * It does not repeal the common law by implication or otherwise, but gives…