Transgender Names

[Jo]

Since looking into Transmen and Transwomen on here, Youtube ect. I've seen that a lot of pre-op and pre-T people use a name that's correct to their transitional gender instead of their physical one (duh...) , and I was wondering how you would go about choosing one. Was it one you've always called yourself, or did you pick a name that was similar to your name and chose the male/female option of it?
As you can probably guess, I don't have one yet, and so any suggestions on how i'd go about choosing a name that i'm both comfortable with and yet is a change from my Female name (ie. I don't like the idea of identifying as Joe, since it's too close to my Female name).

I'd love to hear your experiences in choosing a trans-name, i'm really stuck on this one xD

[LordKAT]

Listen to your dreams/heart.

[JungianZoe]

Some choose the opposite-sex variant of their birth names, some pick other names that have meaning to them, some go into uncharted territory.  It's all very personal!

In my own experience, I ran across the name Zoë when I was 7 and that's what I called myself in my head ever since.  A friend of mine swears I let that slip once while we were in high school, but I don't remember... as far as I know, it wasn't anything I told anyone until I came out in February.  I saw the name while my mom and I were on vacation in California, just a week after I nearly drowned in the ocean and after three blissful weeks away from my dad's house (and my severely abusive stepmother).

The name Natasha came a couple years later when (believe it or not) I first saw Rocky and Bullwinkle on cable TV.   Natasha was that refined, dark, and slightly twisted woman I imagined myself growing up to be.

[Gingertrap]

Like Zoë said, it is entirely up to you how you choose your name. Just make sure it is something that you will be happy to live with for the rest of your life.

When I chose my name I wanted something that started with the letter A because my male name also did. I always admired the character Abbey Sciuto from NCIS for her style and that is what partially drove me to my name. I chose to spell it Abbey because I liked how it was different and as a homage to The Beatles. I still haven't chosen a middle name but I have been thinking about Cass.

Here is the tsroadmap guide to names, one important thing it points out is to try and pick something that will somewhat fit in, in particular avoid stripper names like Candy, Luscious and all those other ridiculous names.
http://www.tsroadmap.com/reality/nameindex.html

[Cindy]

A very rough rule of thumb. Choose a name appropriate for your birth age. Choose a name that is relatively common, otherwise you stand out and get silly questions.

I have called myself Cindy since I was nine, named after a rival doll to Barbie, called----Cindy. My sister had one and I kept stealing it.

Also something easy to pronounce and spell. If your surname is Head, don't call yourself Richard.

Common sense

Cindy

[Donnie]

I've always gone by Donnie, but its only a nickname. I changed my first name to the female version of my birth one. But choose the middle and last ones sort of randomly. Just names that I liked, I poured over baby name sites for ages. I'm not committed to the middle name I have chosen, and you could say I am sort of testing it out to see how it fits. I've seen other people go to their parents and ask what they would have been named if they were born the opposite sex, and allow their parents to name them again.

Remember, don't commit too early because you want something for someone to call you that better fits your identity. I've seen many trans people regretting the name they choose, but felt it was too late to change it because people were already calling them by their new name.

[rachel_eliason]

You can name yourself anything you want. The only real warning I would give is this, It's easy to get a legal name change done once. the second time they put you through the wringer because they assume you are up to no good. (At least in the U.S. that's the way it works) So choose something you are going to okay with having in all walks of life and for the rest of your life.

[Lynne]

I always liked the name my parents would have given me so I didn't really think about it much at the beginning. I never really looked for other names, there were other names I liked but I wasn't sure at that time. A few years ago somebody was looking for a coworker and she started shouting her name(one of the names I liked), and I almost replied to her instinctively, but I realized what I'm doing and just pretended that I didn't say anything. From that moment that name is my middle name

[pebbles]

I made a suggestions which came from my dad... my friends hated it and I asked them for a list of names they'd suggest.

A few names came up repeatedly using my power of veto to pick the one I liked the most that came up on alot of peoples lists I picked Alice. Apparently it fits me.

[Janet_Girl]

Mine came from a movie of all things.  I love The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Susan Sarandon.  SO I took Janet from her character in that movie.

Later I found out it is a feminine version of my old <male name>.

[Aiden]

Actually had looked at baby name sites lol.  I knew wanted to keep my intials and was thinking an irish first name.  Aiden had popped out at me almost immediately, it was of irish origin but a more modern varient of Aodh/Aodhan the name meaning to being little fire was almost fitting in a way to lol.  I later spoke to my mother and old her the name and she claimed that was what she thought about calling me if had been a boy. (of course I am but I get what she means, and not an easy thing for any parent to handle I imagine).  The middle name though I had picked one liked but wasn't entirely satisfied for how it sounded with the first and last name.   I kept looking over the past year or so and just recently settled on one, of course interestingly my mother helped again there.   She still has hard time calling me by Aiden but feel lucky she still tries to be supportive even if she don;t understand it entirely.

Of course fact we live several states away from each other probably helps in keeping the name thing from being much an issue in public.

[Northern Jane]

I guess I was lucky because I heard a name when I was 4 or 5 that I thought was the prettiest girl's name ever so I took it as mine. That's 57 years ago now LOL!

When my birth mother told me what she was going to name me, I told her I was glad she put me up for adoption because I HATED that name! 

[Sephirah]

Was it one you've always called yourself, or did you pick a name that was similar to your name and chose the male/female option of it?

I just didn't like being called "Oi you!"

The reasons behind my chosen name are twofold: a public reason, which is that I've always liked it, and variations of it... and I love signing it with a really swirly 'L' at the start... but also a private reason that... I keep to myself.

[wannalivethetruth]

I've always gone by Donnie, but its only a nickname. I changed my first name to the female version of my birth one. But choose the middle and last ones sort of randomly. Just names that I liked, I poured over baby name sites for ages. I'm not committed to the middle name I have chosen, and you could say I am sort of testing it out to see how it fits. I've seen other people go to their parents and ask what they would have been named if they were born the opposite sex, and allow their parents to name them again.

Remember, don't commit too early because you want something for someone to call you that better fits your identity. I've seen many trans people regretting the name they choose, but felt it was too late to change it because people were already calling them by their new name.

:0

[harisu4444]

well i was kimball when i was still male, so as i decided on my new name my mom tot shortening it to kim was feminine enough, and i liked the idea of people calling me kimmie too. however, since the shortened version of "kimball" is "kim" too, i tot it more appropriate to have a proper female name. i settled for kimberly, after all my dad did say i would have been kimberly if i was born a girl back then. my middle name was changed frm alan to anne, which was my grandmother's name.

for my family and me, we wanted smtg that everyone at home would have no problem adjusting to. i suppose i was pretty lucky since "kimball" was an easy switch to "kimberly", and the folks at home still refer to me as "kim" and sometimes "kimmie".

[JadeS]

I chose mine due to a (cool) coincidence. I was trying to decide on a name and I had a few in mind, but i decided to try out "Jade". I asked my parents about it and apparently it was the name they'd have given me if i had been born as a girl. I found that funny and decided to keep it. I also decided to keep the same last name

[BillieTex]

Some how someone misspelled my name when I was a small kid one Christmas. The y was an i. I was a little embarrased and never knew who did it. Maybe they found me out? Inside I was Billi from my earliest memories. A lifetime of knowing my inside and outside were not a match. still a struggle to which one will win out. But after over 6 years on hormones the inside is slowly making known to all. Billi lives

[Kendall]

My given name, Kendall, is gender neutral. I know other "Kendall"s who are female, and no males (directly - I've heard of them). At this point I plan on keeping the same name - my self-awareness is changing, but who I am is not; if that makes sense? (Well my body is changing, but it is not me). I sometimes think it is permission from the universe to transition my public presentation to fit my experience of my self. There is change within continuity. I do not hate my name or for that matter my mistaken gender assignment. The assignment as male was incorrect, but the name seems fine.

I sometimes wonder if I am missing out on something not changing, but I feel comfortable as a female Kendall.

Kendall

[silverarrow]

Well my name Taylor is gender neutral, actually my whole name is. But I also like the name Silver. I randomly had a dream where my name was Silver and I liked it. I'm stuck between my super common name and Silver. I still have time to decide

[April Dawne]

For the heck of it, try this: http://www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/

Just put your birth year, how many results you want, and you will get a list of names that were popular when you were born. I checked my first name against a list like this one before I decided on it. I also considered Jenifer, Nicole, Kathryn, and Deanne. While you can of course come up with a name as different and unique as you want, I am of the mindset that if you are 35 you don't want to choose a name that only came into existence 5 years ago; however, some don't care about that and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that.

Ultimately, it's YOUR name. You will live with it for the rest of your life. You can also go to a bookstore and browse through baby name books. I have one, and it not only gives tons of names but variations on spelling for each.