Researchers may have past works published under a name that isn't correct for them anymore or misspellings of their name. Not only can this be personally painful, but it also makes it hard to have all of their research identified with them. This page covers:
Because there are multiple reasons for and outcomes desired when altering your name on a profile, not all of the options described will be relevant to everyone. Choose what options work best for you.
The Name Change Policy Working Group has compiled and maintains an open list of publishers with name change policies in place.