His family were allowed to identify themselves as Ashikaga in public because they were a family of good pedigree, and it was apparently his great-great-grandfather Ieuji or Takatsune himself that described themselves as the Shiba family.
名門ゆえに足利姓の公称を許されており、斯波氏を称するのは高祖父の家氏とも、高経ともいう。