"legal name" is such a poorly defined concept in the US. what i got today was a judge's order for other agencies to update their record of my name. i have to tell several different parts of the government about the name change myself. i have to personally tell social security, the county i was born in, the dmv, and the passport fascists if i want any of those places to consider my name changed. theres no proper centralizing of it and no communication between departments.
so im rachael "legally", but that doesnt mean shit if i dont tell anyone. lmao