NJ drivers licenses: when reality conflicts with computer systems, reality must change

Posted on: Sun, 01/05/2014 - 02:13 By: Tom Swiss

It's not like this is a new problem. But the government and corporate entities who keep the records on us don't really care about the dignity of our names, they need just enough of them to keep tabs on us.

New Jersey Suggests People Change Their Names To Fit With Antiquated Driver's License System (Consumerist)

The people of New Jersey represent just about every racial and ethnic group you could imagine, so not everyone is going to fit into the standard mold of first name/middle initial/last name. And even though state authorities are well aware of this fact, they would rather have drivers legally change their names than update the state’s outdated license database.

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...Just ask the woman who recently moved from Pennsylvania to New Jersey only to find that her first name, Hao Ling, had been changed to “Hao L.” because in spite of all the Mary Anns and Ann Maries in New Jersey, the MVC’s computers still haven’t figured out that some people have two parts to their first names.