At first, I chose the name Dana Willow for two reasons. First, it was a unisex name and I still identified as genderqueer at the time. Second, I would have been able to keep my initials (my legal name is still David William).
After realizing that I'm TG, I had at first planned on keeping Dana Willow. But, then I decided that I wanted to really start over and claim a name for me. I began by researching common girls names for my birth year, 1969, and I almost settled on Monica as my first name.
But, I've always loved the name Constance and its diminutive, Connie, so I chose that. Then, I randomly chose Anne as my middle name. I looked up the meanings of these names and found that Constance means "steadfast" (shocking, I know) and Anne means "grace." So, I've gone from David William (beloved protector) to Constance Anne (steadfast grace). I figure that if anything is going to get me through transition with my mind and soul intact, it will be steadfast grace.
When the first letter of my last name, M, is added my new initials spell Cam which gives me a cool nickname, too.
So, yes, I am happy with my chosen name. I like the way both Constance Anne and Connie Anne sound together, I like the nickname Cam. But most importantly, it's mine. My mom had told me what she would have named me if I was a born a girl like I should have been, and I think she's a little saddened by the fact that I'm sticking with Connie. I think she wanted to name me.
But it was important for me to name myself. To me, doing so was a key point in my transition.
