LAKE STATION (AP) — A retired steelworker and longtime Indiana resident must change his name if he wants a driver's license, the state Bureau of Motor Vehicles says.

The BMV informed Francisco Mendez, 65, that he had to change his name to Francisco Mendez Vale to match his birth certificate even though he follows the custom of his native Puerto Rico and does not use his mother's family name. In many Spanish speaking parts of the world, children are given both the father's and mother's family names, but generally use only the paternal name.

"I've been Francisco Mendez for 65 years," said Mendez, who was born in Puerto Rico and raised in Gary. "I served in the military with that name. And I retired from U.S. Steel after 35 years with that name."

The BMV refused to issue Mendez a license because the name on his birth certificate did not match U.S. Social Security Administration records, which do not include the name Vale. He was required to present his birth certificate when he applied for an Indiana driver's license in December because he had an out-of-state license.

"The birth certificate is your name," said BMV spokesman Dennis Rosebrough. "It's the ultimate identifier. But you can go to court and change your name."

However, BMV officials were meeting to research the law, Rosebrough said. "We want to make sure if there is a policy change, it's one that can be practically applied and not one that's going to put our customer service representatives in a difficult situation."

Rosebrough said in 2006 the BMV notified 206,000 Hoosiers that information on their driver's licenses didn't match the federal database and some 60,000 of those discrepancies were corrected.

Mendez said records for property and cars that he owns are issued under the name Mendez. He has lived in Lake County for most of his life except a five-year stint in Las Vegas after his retirement. He moved back to Indiana in 2006, he said.

Francisco Mendez said the BMV branch office in Hobart gave him a handwritten note that said his application for a license was pending, but said the document might not be accepted if he was stopped by a police officer.

"I served this country under my father's name," he said. "It's not fair now that they're making me change my name for some bureaucratic reason."