The Great Gatsby Quotes
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Source: The Great Gatsby
Author: F. Scott Fitzgerald
"James Gatz—that was really, or at least legally, his name."
James Gatz—that was really, or at least legally, his name. He had changed it at the age of seventeen and at the specific moment that witnessed the beginning of his career—when he saw Dan Cody's yacht drop anchor over the most insidious flat on Lake Superior.
Context
By Chapter 4 of The Great Gatsby, we already know that Jay Gatsby is putting on a show. We don't know just how much of one, though, until we find out that he's even changed his name. In order to get ahead, he gave himself a shmancy name and, in the process, changed his entire identity.
Where you've heard it
People change their names all the time now for all sorts of reasons: distancing themselves from a family member, traumatic associations with their name, sharing a name with a serial killer...
But Gatsby does it for the reason that lots of celebs do it today: to make it sound flashier. Just Google "celebrity name changes"—and enjoy falling down the rabbit hole.
Pretentious Factor
If you were to drop this quote at a dinner party, would you get an in-unison "awww" or would everyone roll their eyes and never invite you back? Here it is, on a scale of 1-10.
The only reason you'd drop this quote at a dinner party would be to show that you could quote The Great Gatsby.