An interesting item from Judge Theodore Chuang's opinion in Doe v. DeWees (D.M.D. 2020), which I just came across:
Plaintiff Jane Doe, a Maryland resident, has filed a civil rights action against various Maryland state and local government actors in connection with her arrest and detention on June 27, 2015 by Deputy Sheriffs of the Carroll County, Maryland Sheriff's Office after a traffic stop during which she refused to give them her name….
Defendants argue that Doe's claims should be dismissed because she has not demonstrated that she is the real party in interest to this action as required by Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 17, where she has failed to confirm her true identity by providing any government-issued identification or proof of a legal name change, or to satisfy the test outlined in James v. Jacobsen (4th Cir. 1993), for proceeding in a case pseudonymously. Fed. R. Civ. P. 17(a)(1) ("An action must be prosecuted in the name of the real party in interest.").
Where Doe argues that "Jane Doe" is not a pseudonym but instead is the name she uses in everyday life, Defendants' arguments that Doe may not use a pseudonym are not relevant. Although Doe has not shown that Jane Doe was her name at birth or that she legally changed her name to Jane Doe, "Maryland recognizes common law name changes," and "[n]either the statutory or common law method is … the exclusive manner in which a name may be changed." "[A]bsent a statute to the contrary," there is a common law right of any person "to adopt any name by which [a person] may become known, and by which [that person] may transact business and execute contracts and sue or be sued." "[T]his [is] without regard to [one's] true name." Such adoption and use of another name has been approved where it is "consistent" and "nonfraudulent." …
