In re Willhite

“What’s in a name?” Shakespeare asked. Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, Act II, Scene ii. “An individual’s name is important because it symbolizes familial lineage and heritage and represents one’s legal identity.” Kennedy-Sjodin, Keegan v. Gudahl: The Child’s Surname as a New Bargaining Chip in the Game of Divorce (1996), 41 S.D.L.Rev. 166.

As Justice Snell’s dissent in In re Marriage of Gulsvig (1993), 498 N.W.2d 725, 730, so aptly summarized, “The importance of names in society is of ancient origin. * * * Elsdon C. Smith in The Story of Our Names (1930) observed that except to the most…