Georgia Attorney General Opinion No. 75-49 provides:
“any statute of this state which requires a person to supply his 'legal name' requires a married woman to state her husband's last name as her own.” 1975 Op. Att'y Gen. 75-49. The Attorney General also stated that the statutory proceeding for changing a person's legal name “is not the exclusive mechanism by which a person's legal name can be changed. At common law a person could change his legal name at will through usage of a new name. . . . A married woman may also change her legal name by usage.” SSA PR 02720.012 Georgia

For the following reasons, it is my official opinion that a married woman's surname is that of her husband but that she may change her name for all legal purposes, including issuance of a driver's license, by judicial decree or by consistent usage of another name without resort to judicial proceedings

For these reasons, it is my opinion that a driver's license must be issued to a married woman in her maiden name if she has acquired it again by usage or otherwise after marriage.

Georgia Attorney General opinion 74-33 holding legal name of married woman is her name followed by name of her husband superceded by 75-49 holding all persons, including married women, may change names by usage, and without court decree, for all purposes, including issuance of drivers license

Fulghum v. Paul, 192 SE 2d 376 - Ga: Supreme Court 1972 states:
Hence, in the absence of a statute or judicial adjudication to the contrary, there is nothing in the law prohibiting a person from taking or assuming another name, so long as he does not assume a name for the purpose of defrauding other persons through a mistake of identity." 57 AmJur2d 289, § 22; 65 CJS 25, § 11 (1).

IN RE FELDHAUS, 796 SE 2d 316 - Ga: Court of Appeals 2017 states:
The Supreme Court of Georgia has long held, moreover, that "in the absence of a statute or judicial adjudication to the contrary, there is nothing in the law prohibiting a person from taking or assuming another name, so long as he does not assume a name for the purpose of defrauding other persons through a mistake of identity." Fulghum v. Paul, 229 Ga. 463, 463, 192 S.E.2d 376 (1972) (citation and punctuation omitted).

O.C.G.A. § 1-1-10 provides:
(c) The following specific laws and parts of laws are not repealed by the adoption of this Code and shall remain of full force and effect, pursuant to their terms, until otherwise repealed, amended, superseded, or declared invalid or unconstitutional:
(1) An Act for reviving and enforcing certain laws therein mentioned and adopting the common laws of England as they existed on May 14, 1776, approved February 25, 1784. (For the adopting Act of 1784, see Prince's 1822 Digest, p. 570; Cobb's 1851 Digest, p. 721; and Code of 1863, Section 1, paragraph 6.)

Affidavit