Using a person is questionable at any time.
In addition, a copyright notice is not required for protection.
Such symbols are called entities. For the copyright symbol, use "©" (including the ampersand and the semicolon!)
The copyright symbol © is used to demonstrate that a work is protected and permission must be sought before use by a third party.
Similar to the (R) symbol, the (C) is a handy indicator that what follows is a copyright notification.
© is a symbol indicating copyright; it has been in use for a little more than 100 years.
The copyright logo, ©, was created by Henry Wheaton, a U.S. reporter of decisions for the U.S. Supreme Court, in 1831. It became widely accepted as the universal symbol for copyright.
The copyright symbol © is used to demonstrate that an original work is protected and permission must be sought before use by a third party.
In Word 2000-2003, use the Insert>Symbol command. The copyright symbol is below the number 4, fourth row down. In Word 2007-2013, click on the Insert tab of the Ribbon, find the Symbols group at the right end and click on Symbol. The copyright symbol is usually in the top row. You can also type (c) and Autotext will change it into the copyright symbol automtically.
You would not be able to copyright your surname; if you are using it in commerce, you may be able to register it as a trademark.
Materials are not required to have a notification on them in order to be protected.
We use symbols in excel when we need to add a symbol of copyright, trademark symbols, and Unicode symbols etc.
Prince's former symbol is not copyrighted or trademarked; you are free to use it if you have some use for it. Prince himself no longer uses it.
Copyright exists in an item as soon as it is rendered into "permanent" form. The copyright symbol (©) is not needed, although placing it does give the copyright owner an easier time when trying to legally enforce a copyright infringement claim in the US. Before 1978, the symbol was needed to establish copyright under US law. Before about 1960, if you neglected to include the copyright symbol in a published work, it went immediately to the Public Domain. After about 1960, there was a way to remedy that defect, but anything published without the copyright symbol in the US before then was and is free to anyone to use as they see fit.