Humans are allowed to just change their names. It's not very common, especially in academics because your name is attached to your reputation, but it's not forbidden or even especially unusual. [And of course in several important cultures women are expected to change their name when they marry, although this seems like a terrible idea to me and in general I recommend against it]

So it is entirely possible that they went "I think I will take the name Crow White, that's hilarious" and a PhD later they're a professor running research on corvids.

Edited to add mention of cultural convention to change names on marriage.

Montana is home to the Crow Reservation so it might be indigenous.