Does a person have a common law right to change their name without a legal proceeding?

Perez filed his petition under the name that he has used for years. A person has a common law right in California to use a different name without the necessity of any legal proceeding. (Lee v. Superior Court (1992) 9 Cal.App.4th 510, 514; see Fam. Code, 306.5, subd. (c) ["Nothing in this section [concerning a formal change of name by means of a marriage license] shall be construed to abrogate the common law right of any person to change his or her name"]; Code Civ. Proc., 1279.5.)¹¹

Apart from this common law right, use of a fictitious name to seek relief in a legal proceeding does not necessarily deprive a party of standing to assert his or her rights. Code of Civil Procedure section 367 requires that actions "must be prosecuted in the name of the real party in interest, except as otherwise provided by statute." However, the "question for purposes of standing is not the name used by the party suing but whether the party suing is the party possessing the right sued upon." (Doe v. Lincoln Unified School Dist. (2010) 188 Cal.App.4th 758, 765

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