Okay, so I have my own business. My business is filed under a fictitious name that is basically my first and middle name and then the word consulting. I go by my middle name as my last name. I have been in the process for about a year of making this legal.

I had my mother proof a proposal for a contract for me recently, and in the proposal, after introducing myself as First Middle (Last), and then referring to myself throughout the contract as Ms. Middle. My mother does not like that I go by my middle name versus my father's name. Note, she is not married to my father and is re-married so it's not even her name.

I have an EIN and registered with my state to do business under this name. Any contracts I sign are on behalf of my business. I prefer that my clients refer to me by my DBA because hopefully, within the next six months, I will legally be able to change my name. I sign legal documents with my legal name.

I do not think this is any more confusing than a woman who gets married and changes her name legally but continues to use her family name as a professional name. I discussed this with an HR representative once and they said it's not a big deal.

I think she's mostly upset because she sees I'm not using my family name. And this just makes me uncomfortable. I know it's confusing for people when someone is going through a name change.

My clients seem to understand easily. One of my clients simply asked me, what do you go by? And I explained legally my name is X, but I go by Y professionally, so please refer to me as Y. No problem from her.

This is really not an issue, so it bothers me that she brings it up. Lots of people have professional names that they do business under.

It's just irritating. I went through a lot of abuse at my father's hand. I have dealt with a lot from my FOO. Is it so wrong that I want the right of self determination, including my own name?

She is lucky I didn't change my entire name, and only dropped my last name. LOL.

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