Did you let your parents chose your name?

[Michelle S.]

I wish I've wanted to so badly but my mom is so weird about my transition, she avoids any conversation about it like the plague. My boy name was Michael Christopher so I chose Michelle Christina. A pretty simple name conversion

[sneakersjay]

No, I named myself. I did like the name they picked out if I had been a cis boy, but ultimately that ship had sailed for me. I already had a name that chose me.

Same here.

I wanted to keep my initials, and the name they chose didn't fit that.


Jay

[Shang]

My mom said she wanted to name me when I came out, but I don't know...I'm not feeling very happy towards her.  And I like my name.

[Bastian]

I named myself =) the name I chose is waaaay different than my birth name, but I suppose they are similar in that they are both slightly uncommon. I chose my name cause I like the way it sounds. I also like how it can be shortened. I let my close friends and family call me Sebby, just friends and colleges call me Seb and people I don't really know call me Sebastian or Bastian. With my old name there was no way of making it shorter than it already was, so I like that people can call me by what they like. I have one friend who calls me 'tian (che-jen).

I also like the name because for some reason it reminds me of the sea. Diving and spending time underwater is one of my greatest joys in life. I love the ocean so much, words can't describe my love for the water. So having a name that reminds me of the sea brings joy into my life daily.

Plus my first and last name (which I also changed) sound great together

[Tossu-sama]

Nope but I'm pretty sure my Mom would have gone with some very basic Finnish male name like she had planned had I been born cismale.
My current name is basically just the masculine form of my former name while my new middle name is completely different.

[A]

I wanted to, sort of, but I sort of had already chosen my name before I mustered the courage to come out to her, so I waited for a bit. At some point, I asked her to choose my middle name (because I was past the point of no return in the choice of name), and she declined, saying I didn't need a middle name.

A few months later, she asked me if I could change my name, because she didn't quite like it. She said she really liked names that fit both boys and girls, like my sister's name. For one, it was way too late to say it at that point. And, well, when what you fear the most is to be taken for a guy once transition is done, picking a name that might give someone an impression that you're a guy is probably not the best idea. So I'm sort of happy I didn't have her choose my name, because of her tastes.

[Northern Jane]

I chose my name when I was 4 because I thought it was pretty and my parents didn't really know what was happening yet. That will be 60 years ago this spring 

I met my birth mother when I was 40 and she said she was going to name me Sheila. I said I was glad she gave me up because I HATE that name LOL!

[Bastian]

It's a shame that we can't really have complete freedom when choose a name because of the worry you mentioned A. I saw a young man yesterday named Sasha. I love the name Sasha for a boy and while i'd never consider the name for myself, it's a shame that society would not be kind to those of us with interesting names like that... dunno just something I was thinking about. Or like Jo for a girl. Beautiful names that would cause us to probably be rejected as the correct gender. Maybe it's different in the places the names originate from. I'd be curious to know if a trans-man in Russia, with the name Sasha, would still be seen as a male or not.

[John Smith]

The only chance my parents had of influencing my name, was if they had remembered what they had planned for me had I been born a boy. If they had remembered, I would have added it to my list of possible names, that is all.

I can fully understand  people who wish to have their parents rename them. I do however not understand parents that get upset because they don't get to rename their child. If my son was to tell me he was transgendered and transitioning, I'd offer my input -  if he asked for it. Parents get to name their kids because they can't do it for themselves, and when they are old enough to do so, they're pretty much used to what they already have. :p

[AdamMLP]

I think I might have the same given name as you Joey, because I considered finding something that was similar to it and Joey/Joe was what came up.  I wanted something beginning with 'A' though so I didn't run with it.  I quite like the name that my parents would have called me, Matthew, shortened to Matt, but they've given me so much grief over the years that I don't want them to have any power over my life anymore.

If they're exceptionally accepting of the trans thing and seem like they've turned over a new leaf then it might become a middle name. They should be happy that I'm keeping their awful surname.

[Joe.]

Ah I think I know what your given name was now. Its not the same as mine haha, similar though.

Thank you everyone for your input on this subject. I just don't know how to turn round to my parents and say look I wanna be called Joey now and I'm changing my name to Josiah.

Joey

[Mohini]

During the earlier part of my transitioning, I actually allowed my mother the choice of electing a new name for me, but unfortunately she didn't take me seriously. She kind of brushed it off with things like 'Apple' or some other fruit. 

I wasn't quite happy with the non-seriousness of my own mother, so I ended up choosing my name for myself: my first one out of religious affiliation, and my middle name, Raquel, to honour my Filipino  Christian roots and background!

I've played around with hyphens, such as Mohini-Raquel, Raquel-Mohini, or just Raquel... to the chagrin of ALL of my friends!  But in essence, a name is identity, a moniker that brings our selves to mind.

We trans people are kind of blessed in this way: since our parents gave us our names, we now are put into this situation in bringing about the identity that we always were; a name may be not as important as 'passing,' and to many others, a conjuncture between the old self and the new.

[Kelly J. P.]

Sorta.

I'm using my birth name, which just so happens to be extremely common for both guys and girls at my age.

[A]

I never knew Kelly could be a guy's name. You learn new things every day.

[Chaos]

My parents have distanced themselves from me and even if they hadnt,no i would not have let them.I sat alone and with some *inspiration* i finally found the name that fits me and am looking forward to making it offical.I even had a dream about this name believe it or not and how i knew it was mine lol i dreamed it was apart of me *literally but you get the understanding* and i felt proud,happy and whole.so that is the name i choose for myself.

[cynthialee]

No. But I should have.
When my mom found out I had already changed my name she was a little bummed out. She figured it was her place to name me as she is mom and she has been so supporting. But the name had been changed and made legal.

If I could go back in time I would ask mom to give me a womans name.

[pretty pauline]

I voted yes, my birth name was Paul which my parents chose, so I didn't really change it much, just added ''ine'' at the end of my birth name which had 4letters, now it has 7letters Pauline, my parents would have chose Pauline if I was 'female' at birth, then I discovered I was transgender in my teens, started my transition which is now complete, Im now completely female and my name is Pauline.

[Shodan]

So when I came out to my Mom last weekend, I asked her what she would have named me. She confessed that they were dreading that I would turn out to be a girl because they couldn't figure out a girl name they liked. The best they could come up with was Britt.

Eugh.

I, personally, have always been partial to Katherine, but I may just wimp out and go with the feminized version of my given name: Erika.

[Simon]

Yeah, I was having problems picking out something on my own so I gave my mom a list of names I liked. She chose Simon. I picked my middle and last names to go with it.

[Nero]

So when I came out to my Mom last weekend, I asked her what she would have named me. She confessed that they were dreading that I would turn out to be a girl because they couldn't figure out a girl name they liked. The best they could come up with was Britt.

Eugh.

I, personally, have always been partial to Katherine, but I may just wimp out and go with the feminized version of my given name: Erika.

Don't 'wimp out'. If you're Katherine, you're Katherine. Not Erika.
Here's a Katherine for ya: