Legal Question in Administrative Law in California

Re: Name change for US Citizens Overseas

This is a rather difficult question, and while I don't know the answer, I can offer a couple suggestions.

First, I suspect without knowing that the laws of Italy, rather than the laws of any U.S. jurisdiction, may govern. Consider the analogous situation of a woman who is a U.S. citizen getting married in Italy. The marriage will be governed by Italian law (getting a license, who is entitled to perform the ceremony, etc.), and a name change will ordinarily result. This name change will be a consequence of the laws of Italy and will be recognized as "legal" if and when she returns to the U.S.

Being Italian is not essential to marrying there, and this involves a name change, so perhaps name changes can be accomplished by local authority in other circumstances as well. (It's possible this is because marriage was once considered purely an ecclesiastical matter, of course, so the analogy may not hold).

So, I suggest approaching the civil authorities in Italy and obtaining information from them.

I would also ask at the nearest U.S. consulate or the embassy in Rome; they have officers who are responsible for matters of this kind. They can also assist in matters such as re-issuing your passport, visa if any, and notifying the IRS and Social Security Administration.