"Early Changes of Name in New York"

According to the compiler, John Austin, a petition to officially change one's name required a legislative action from 1803 to 1870. Several laws were enacted for various reasons during these years. An amendment to the 1860 law required each county clerk (except in New York City) to make an annual report to the Secretary of State. Additionally, records were to be published in the report of the Session Laws. Indexes to these Session Laws were compiled in 1857, 1865 and 1902. These indexes (of all years previous to publication) are the sources for Mr. Austin's article and information. His article provides the page number in the report of that year's Session Laws and some additional data on circumstances, family members and reasons for the change. 

Several observations can be made after abstracting Mr. Austin's article. While the majority of name changes involved individuals, there were instances of whole families changing their surname. Sometimes the applicant simply wanted to add a middle name. Such is the case with the noted author, James (Fennimore) Cooper. He petitioned to have "Fennimore" added to his name in 1826 in New York City... 

As can be imagined, a good many entries were for the reasons of adoption. What is curious is that in some cases, the child who now carried his adoptive father's surname also carried his biological father's surname as his middle name! Also curious are the instances of a complete name change such as Benjamin HOOK to William WHITE in 1850 in New York City with the notation 'rigger.' No explanation is given for the meaning of  'rigger'.' 

Compiler Austin states that "…in 1847, a procedure was established for any adult to make application to a county judge… for an order authorizing assumption of a new name…. If granted, the order had to be published in a newspaper in the county and both filed and recorded in the county clerk's office..."  In my research, I found an example of such in the Utica Sentinel and Gazette, a newspaper of Oneida County, New York, Vol. 1, No. 32, Tuesday, January 17, 1826. A paragraph reported the transactions of the New York State House of Assembly on the previous Wednesday, Jan. 11th. Included in such was this petition: "The bill of John Hoar to change his name was read the third time."  In Mr. Austin's article, one John Hoar of Covington, Genesee County, wished to change his name to John Davison.

Finally, Mr. Austin notes that "additional un-indexed changes of name may lie buried in the session laws; only a page-by-page reading would detect them, a task not undertaken by [him]." For those who research in New York City, take heart. Mr. Austin reports that "... significant for research... in the New York metropolitan area is a. publication ... by Dr. Kenneth Scott (1984) in which ... more than 900 individuals who sought a change of name" is given. (See Mr. Austin's article for more details.)