I’m no expert but I’ve been on the hiring end where I had to review and compile candidates’ letters, profiles, applications and then send the summaries/compilations up to my bosses (the actual hire-rs). I’d say just actively use your preferred name everywhere on LinkedIn, letters, resumes, etc., then only after you get the job and HR needs your govt info for tax/deposit purposes, send them whatever you have that’s valid at the time.
this post was submitted on 25 May 2026
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IANAL, but I would imagine you should use your legal name where it asks for legal name and if it asks for a preferred name, put your preferred name. And once you do legally change your name, you can go to HR to update it.
Good luck!!
There is no legal reason not to use a preferred name, at least in the US.
I got better results when using my preferred name on my resume and cover letters--coincidentally a male-sounding nickname for my given name.
I put my legal name in all caps so it matches my passport and driver's license. I also provide my preferred name with normal capitalization. So if a computer wants to bother deadnaming me it'll have to scream while doing so, or a human in the loop will hopefully notice that my preferred name is capitalized normally and use that instead.