File taxes with a name mis-match?
Just to follow up: I changed my name when I was 17 or so but didn’t do the actual, legal name change until I was in my late 20s. The only thing that prompted me to follow through and get it done was a letter from the IRS stating that they would not refund my money until the name I filed with them matched the name at SSI. A big difference I’ve noticed between the OP (and I) and some of the replies: we’re male, we didn’t get married, we changed for our own reasons. That was almost 10 years ago. Maybe the IRS has become more relaxed in the interval.
