For anyone who is looking to change their name during Covid I can give you a run down of what I did.
I was married 10/6/20 and I started the process about a week later. First I called SSA to see what documents I would need and if I could make an appointment. The offices in Maryland aren't taking in person appointments so you have to do it by mail. I mailed in a certified copy of my marriage license, my passport, my birth certificate, and the application for name change. I sent everything certified since you have to mail in original documents.
It was delivered to their office 10/17 and they processed it 10/19 (some offices are apparently letting mail sit for 2 days because of covid). In the meantime I went to the MVA website and made an appointment to update my license because I knew my local office wouldn't have close appointments and I wanted to snag an appointment.
I made my appointment around 10/20 and the closest I could get was the end of this month so I am glad I got that out the way. I first received my original documents from SSA around 10/28 - they sent me my documents back certified and I received my updated SSA card on 10/31 so the SSA process only took 2 weeks.
In the mean time I started changing other things (bank accounts, employers, health/car/life insurance, credit cards, beneficiaries, etc). I probably won't change my passport until sometime next year because I don't plan on going out of the country in the next few months. Up next is MVA but that should be easy since it's already updated with SSA.
I hope this could help someone!
