Barack Hussein Obama did not legally change his given birth name; rather, his full formal birth name has always been Barack Hussein Obama II, matching his father, Barack Obama Sr. During his childhood years growing up in Hawaii and Indonesia, he frequently went by the familiar childhood nickname "Barry," which friends and family called him for short. As he matured, entered his college years at Occidental and Columbia, and began his professional career as a community organizer in Chicago, he intentionally chose to use his formal given name, Barack, fully embracing his heritage and establishing the historic identity recognized worldwide today.