Do you have to be U.S citizen to get a name change?

I've always been wondering about it. I hope someone can clear this up for me, thanks.

No, but if you are not, you have to change your name in your birth country first.

Since a citizenship certificate is practically the equivalent of a birth certificate, you get the option to choose your new name when applying for citizenship here.

Ok so let's see if I'm understanding you. In my future green card, it would say (for example) John Paul Reyes Lopez (with Lopez being the maternal last name) but when I become a citizen I have the option to make my name just be John Paul Reyes with just my paternal last name?

I don't think so. Sucks because I have two last names and some stuff in between. My name on my job is messed up because of it, there's a couple of different versions of my name floating around because no one understands it.

Lol I was the same way too. They were using my paternal last name as my middle name! I had to go to the SSA to get a letter saying that I dont have a middle name and that its a compound last name.

My school uses my paternal, my job uses my maternal (at least on my ID - internally they have my full legal name). I prefer my maternal, that's the way I have it on my Facebook too.

It's gonna suck having to explain that to every professor to whom I show my ID...

I'm gonna try to change it in school, but I'm scared I'll end up with two names floating around the school which is even worse...

Not to mention that some people spell my name with an "f" instead of a "ph".

Also, does anyone know if you can request to have your full name (if it's different than the one you have on record) on your diploma?

Yes you can change it. Same thing happened to me. The lady at the SSA told me once I get my citizenship, I can change my name to just one last name. But till now, we are stuck with our country's birth name.

I don't get why you guys don't force people to use your correct names, especially on paper where you can clearly separate your last names from your names. It just seems odd to me. I've been using both of my last names for years and I've never had problems, I've even been able to use the version of my name with only my paternal surname, especially on the less official stuff.

One question though, did you all put your preferred version of your name on the DACA application or did you use all of your name there? I was told by my DACA clinic trainer that this was one of the few times you could choose what name to go by, especially if you've never been dealing with DHS or USCIS

Preferred name. I have two last names and I gave USCIS only one. That is what I put on my DACA forms, that is what is on my EAD, and that is what is on my social security card and license.

so it is true!! yeah, I personally didn't want to do that, I'm one of the very few that like to use both of my last names, but I bet a lot of people would have loved to have known this info when they applied! lol