Would renaming Social Security require new legislation or can an executive agency change the name administratively?

1. What the SSA itself says about changing an individual’s name — an administrative action

The SSA’s public guidance and forms make clear that changing the name on a person’s Social Security record is an administrative process: an individual applies (typically using Form SS‑5 or the agency’s online tools), supplies proof of identity and evidence of the legal name‑change event, and the agency issues a corrected card and updates its records ^{[1] [3] [6]}. The Code of Federal Regulations reiterates that the agency may issue a replacement card when a name change is a “verified legal change” and may update the Numident (SSA’s master file) accordingly ^{[2] [5]}.

2. How regulation and procedure differ from changing the program’s name

The sources provided concentrate on administrative procedures for individual records, not on renaming the Social Security program itself. The SSA’s policy manuals (POMS) and CFR sections cited describe how names on cards and Numident entries are changed for people, not how the statutory program name would be altered ^{[5] [2]}. Available sources do not mention any authoritative administrative pathway for an executive agency to rename the Social Security program’s official statutory title without congressional action.

3. Legal and practical distinction: records versus statute

Changing a citizen’s recorded name involves agency action under existing regulations and forms; that is a routine administrative function ^{[1] [3]}. By contrast, the official name of a federal program (for example, the Social Security Act or program labels in federal law) is created and altered by Congress. None of the provided materials describes an SSA rule or internal guidance that purports to change the program’s statutory name on its own ^{[5] [2]}. Therefore, available sources imply—though do not explicitly state—that renaming the program itself would involve legislation; however, explicit statutory‑change procedures are not covered in these materials (not found in current reporting).

4. What regulations do show about agency authority and limits

The CFR excerpt demonstrates the SSA’s authority to make administrative exceptions (for example, issuing replacement cards despite general limits when a name change is verified), illustrating the agency’s discretion within its statutory mandate ^[2]. SSA’s POMS (program operations manual system) documents the agency’s internal rules on “Legal Names and Changes to the Numident,” which govern administrative name corrections and recordkeeping ^[5]. These internal authorities govern day‑to‑day record changes but do not equate to the power to rewrite statutes.

5. Practical takeaway and competing perspectives

Practically, if you mean “can the SSA change a person’s name in its systems?” — yes, administratively, with proof of a legal name change ^{[1] [3]}. If you mean “can an executive agency rename the Social Security program (the law or the program’s official name) by administrative fiat?” — the provided sources do not document such a mechanism and focus instead on individual record changes; they do not show any example where the SSA or another agency unilaterally changed a federal program’s statutory name ^{[5] [2]}. Absent reporting or statutory text in these sources about program renaming, the stronger inference from standard separation of powers is that changing a program’s legal name would require legislation, but that specific claim is not documented in the current sources (not found in current reporting).

Sources and limits of this answer: This analysis uses SSA guidance, CFR provisions, and SSA operational material about name changes and Numident updates ^{[4] [6] [5] [2] [1] [3]}. It does not attempt to interpret or quote statutes beyond those documents, and available sources do not address any one‑off instances of an agency renaming the Social Security program itself.