How did you come to picking your name?

[bethany]

In a conversation I had with my parents years ago, I was told that had I been born a girl I was going to be named Nancy. In fact they did not think of a boy name for me until it was time for me to leave the hospital. I was named after a mutual friend of theirs. Who's name begins with the letter B.

I wanted to keep my initials of BDT which my parents gave me. I choose Bethany because "Beth" from the band kiss was my favorite when I was a child. It was on the first album I ever owned and to this day I still love to listen to it.

My given middle name was Donald so this choice was pretty easy; Dawn is what I decided to go with. Not so much because they are a homonym, but because of the definition of dawn, which means "A new beginning" 

So that's how I came up with my name.  How did you come up with yours?

Hugs
Bethany

[Cassandra Hyacinth]

There's no interesting back story to mine, I'm afraid. The name Cassandra just felt so... right, somehow. I can't really describe it any other way...

[septuagenarianTurist]

My middle name was easy; I took the middle name of my late father. Plus it goes well with my first name.
My first name was more difficult. Initially, I chose Gareth; I'd always loved Wales, and it was such a Welsh name. And for a while, it seemed to fit. Then a lot of things changed, including a move to Canada, and I could be more open about myself. I also decided I wanted to keep the same initials. I stumbled upon Arthur, my love of Arthurian legends was reawakened, and (King) Arthur was born.

[Edge]

Victor was suggested to me by Madeline. I chose it for the definition, but I also think it's cool that it's the name of Dr. Frankenstein and Dr. Doom. I'm keeping my former, unisex first name and changing it to my middle name. It means bright fame and is a name associated with Puck.

[spacial]

Mine happened is quite a strange way.

I was about 5 or 6, sent out the class for some reason.

There was this full length mirror in I think the bathroom. I stood in front, looking at the image back and hating it. That boy had gotten me into so much trouble, it had lost me all my freinds and made me seem so bad. (I'd figured out at about 4 that there was something terribly wrong, but obviously didn't understand it at all).

Anyway, I looked at the image and tried to see it as it should have been. It worked. I recall a voice asking me, 'Well young lady, what's your name?' I replied, without thinking, 'Jill'.

That's who I am. And I appreciate how utterly corny that sorry sounds, but it just happens to be the way it was.

[Shang]

Aaron = A version of the name "Arawn", which is the name of a Welsh god of Death.  It brings in my ties to the British Isles while at the same time tying in my enjoyment of mythology.

Gabriel = The name of an angel, specifically an arch angel.  I have always had an affinity for Gabriel and the name.  It dates back to when I saw "The Prophecy" with Christopher Walken.  I fell in love with the name then and I've been unable to shake it so it's becoming my middle name, which I will probably go by as I enjoy the nickname of "Gabe".

[Jayr]

Me: ''Mom! I need to ask you something.''

Mom: ''What?''

Me: ''If I wasn't born with this medical condition, you would have picked a male name and that would have been it, obviously. But it
        didn't happen like that and you know I want to live as ordinary as possible so can you pick my name like you would have normally 
        done? Please.''

Mom: ''Sure. No problem.''

Months Later.

Mom: ''Is J******* good?''

Me: ''Sounds good to me.''

The end.

[Constance]

I was originally going to use Dana Willow so I could keep my initials. But then I decided that I wanted something that was completely my own. I began researching what were common girl's names for my birth year, 1969, and I almost chose Monica.

But I always liked the name Constance and its diminutive Connie. So I chose that on a whim. I chose Anne as a middle name because it sounded good with both Constance and Connie. Then, I looked the names up. Constance means "steadfast" and Anne means "grace."

I thought that "steadfast grace" was a good omen.

[AscendantDevon]

Devon has been an important name in my life. When I was a kid one of my best friends had the name Devan, but a series of events ripped her out of my life. She left a huge impression on me, she accepted me for who I was. So when I was thinking about what my new name should be, I figured I should pay a little homage.
In addition, the name my mother would have given me if I was MAAB was Martin. Lets just say I'm not fond of it. -__-

[sylvannus]

Well, I have really poor understanding of English names, and I have no idea how to choose a right one for myself. But if I keep using the English version of my birth name (which is in Chinese) it should be fine, since its Latin transcript is completely gender-neutral or even sounds a little feminine in English. I think as I stay longer in Australia, I will have better understanding of English names.

[Adrian_Michael]

Honestly? I'd always been drawn to "Aiden, but it didn't quite fit right, so I decided to change it up a bit and go with "Adrian".

It feels right and fits so well!

[Sarah Blomsterhatt]

How I ended up as Sarah is a quite cute story I feel.

At a time where I had just about gathered the courage to try and start transitioning on some level, I had decided to go see a therapist about it, it was a start. A friend of mine at the time matched me with a friend of hers, and this friend of hers, Sofia would later become one of the most important persons in my life.

Anyways, shortly after being introduced and talking for about a day over Facebook, Sofia asked me out for a cup of coffee. We met and had a wonderful time, after the cup of coffee we walked down the street together and she told me how I had very good features for becoming more feminine, which was wonderful to hear. After we both got home, she continued the "praise" in a similar manner over facebook but went into even more details, details she wasen't sure I would be comfortable talking about in the middle of the street. And in the end she said "you'll turn into a nice little princess someday".

So that is where I got Sarah, meaning princess. And even though I'll never look like a princess (wouldn't want to.), in a way I still ended up a princess like she said.

[Rachel]

Loved the name Cynthia.

Twin of Apallo, priested of the moon.

The moon and night is stelth and hiding. 

[Kevin Peña]

Well, I like to use longbows. Diana is the Latin name of Artemis, the Greek goddess of the hunt, and Wonder Woman, an excellent Amazonian archer. Therefore, I chose Diana. 

[JulieC.]

I like reading how everyone choose their names.  It's very interesting.

I picked the name Julie over 30 years ago when I decided I needed a name for my alter ego but I don't remember why I chose that name.  I think I just liked it and it seemed to fit me.  As I was reading what some others had written about how they picked there names I realized I have never picked a middle name.  I'll need one if I ever officially change my name. 

Judging how my parents named their kids I think I would have been named after my grandmother if I were born female(I was name after my grandfather instead).  I thought maybe I should use her name for my middle but Julie Carmela C.... doesn't work so well.  Any suggestions? 

[JohnnieRamona]

My birth name is Johnny, but my mom always told me that if I had been born a girl, I would have been Johnnie. That's one reason I'm just changing the spelling of my name from Johnny to Johnnie when I transition. Another reason I chose Johnnie is symbolic: I'm not becoming a 100% different person when I transition, just a better & happier one

[Beth Andrea]

I like the sound of that. "Julia Carmella C..."

Abbreviation  would be JCC...not a problem there. Yeah, I approve.

[JulieC.]

Oh, Julia instead of Julie.  It does work better like that.  Is Julie the informal version of Julia?  Like James is to Jim.  Or are they two different names?  like James and Jamie.  I guess I'll need to do some research.

[Gen88]

I wanted a name that would be easy for my friends and family to remember, but preferred something french to go with my last name (kept that). Since I always liked the name Jen, and my friends growing up called me Gene, I started looking through french names and found Genevieve...voila, my name.

[Sam/Gabriel]

I'm FAAB, but my birth name has a male equivalent. So I took that. Now, a few years later, I very much regret it. I figured it would be easiest for other people if I simply took the male version of my birth name, but now I dislike the connection to my former name, so I usually go by my middle name instead.