I blame mom.

[Skip Miller]

We practiced yelling each name under consideration.
"Can I yell this across the block so they hear me?"
Can I yell just the first name and sound effective?
Does the first, middle, last allow enough bellowing that I get through to them?"

My wife and called this the "Back Porch Test". The kids' names had to be shoutable from the back porch with no embarrassment to the shouter.

-Skip

 

[Sundancer]

See it all the time. Stage names, nicknames etc. My dad goes by Duke. I certainly hope that Sting, Slash and Flea are not their given names.

As you say - - our situation was a kid deciding he'd take a new name, and had no obligation to get it blessed by a court. Hoops to jump, for us, as his supporting documents had another name (birth certificate, driver's license, etc.).
My surprise was that he was correct - he didn't need a legal blessing to use his "new" name on contracts, etc.

 

[WannFly]

I know someone whose name is Torpedo, given by his dad whose name is Marine

 

[Zeldman]

I always thought about changing my last name to Whight, then run for public office with the slogan, "Vote Whight''.

 

[MadseasoN]

I don't mind people inventing names for their kids. HOWEVER, they need to realize that writing letters in sequence means something to the reader.
IOW - You are not allowed to invent your own spelling.

... also, I shed a tear when I run across a transcript for a high school kid named "Infant" or "Baby Girl". That kid was doomed from the start.