How do you choose your girl's name?

[Alisha]

Is there any story to your girl's name? do you pick it by yourself? how many times do you change name before you find the perfect one?

I just find my perfect name that suits me well. It was emma before, but it is too western for me.. now it's alisha, i like it very much and it fits well with my last name.

[Christine167]

Easy enough for me. Christopher is my birth name and growing up many of the other kids in my class would pick on me and call me Christine or Christina. So in addition to it being nice to keep my nick name, Chris, I am so going to own Christine as a name. Most of my surviving former class mates live in my area now so it should be a nice shocker for them here in Conservative Bible Thumping Town USA.

[Cindy]

I was Cindy from when I identified a name. It caused a certain amount of angst so I hear, I was a child and boys were not called Cindy. Particularly in kindie when asked by the teacher! So I was told.

On reflection with all I now know, my parents went through Hell with no support, nowhere to go for advice, no one to ask.

My love for my parents increases as I understand their predicament.

[Kaylee]

I spent quite a while pondering names with the same first letter (I was Paul), but nothing really resonated with me.

I was watching Firefly and saw in front of me a cute, geeky, brunette (the reds new!) tomboy that was technically skilled, exactly the image I wanted to present :-)

Didn't bother with replacing my old middle name (Brian), no one ever uses those things anyway, it's just extra stuff when you're filling in forms!

(if you don't get the Firefly reference, go now, watch and be merry!

[Northern Jane]

I guess I was lucky in that regard.

A new girl moved into the neighbourhood when I was about 3 or 4 - don't remember my age but it was before starting school - and I thought her name was the prettiest name I had ever heard so I adopted it for myself and never considered changing it. After 60 years I have become quite attached to it 

[MaryXYX]

Keeping the same initial makes some things easier but I didn't.  I just knew that my name was Mary.  Don't tell the shrinks!  That could be too much of an "interesting case" for them.

[Danielle Emmalee]

I've always been drawn to names starting with the first 4 letters of the alphabet for some reason.  All of my names, the many different chosen first and middle, given first and middle, and family fit into those criteria.  I went with Casey for my androgynous name because it is a pretty unisex name and there was a girl I had a crush on with the name.  Alice is my girl name, from Alice in Wonderland.  Danielle is just a female version of my middle name.  I've also gone with Cordelia (from King Lear) as a middle name and Desiree (another girl I had a crush on) as a first name.

[Sammy]

Was I born as a girl, I would have been named Emily

[Antonia J]

After coming out to my mom, I asked her what she would have named me if I was born a girl.

[marikvulpina]

when i was small, me and my dad saw a bunch of katydids on the screen door. he then related to me an anecdote stating that if I had been female, I would have been named Katherine, at least partially so he could make a silly joke whenever I got in trouble; i.e., "who took the last cookie? Katie did!"

I rather did like that name, and that moment stuck with me, even from before i realized i AM a girl. so for a long time I've been Katie to myself.

my boyfriend's having a lot more trouble deciding, though. there's a nice list of boy names he's thinking about, but i think he's  a little uncomfortable yet, even trying one out for a day.

[FrancisAnn]

Mine was easy, as a boy "frank" so Francis Ann seemed so normal. I love receiving magazines such as cosmo addressed to Ms. Francis Ann ......

[Bijou]

I was named William after my grandfather when I was born, middle name Ernest, but was always called BJ for Billy junior (my dads name was Billy). There is no feminine version of William that I liked, so I went with Bijou as a form of BJ. I'll also be changing my middle name to Elaine.

[Zoe Louise Taylor]

I really liked the name Zoe from when i first heard it and its nothing like my male name, which is what i want as i want to get away from my male persona totally. I could have gone for the easy option and have named myself Michelle, but i don't like that name!!!! I just think Zoe is a really pretty name!!

i used to have Paige as my middle name! but a couple of years ago i changed it to Louise, i just think that it sounds right, goes well with Zoe, and its also quite a pretty name!!

i don't have a clue why i chose Taylor for my Surname!!! i suppose its just a common name, which actual last name isn't!!!!

It's really weird how i chose my name, as Zoe is the only girls name i've ever gone by and i really do feel that i am Zoe Louise Taylor, it just feels right and i can't wait to see it on my official documents and stuff!

Xx

[MaryXYX]

i don't have a clue why i chose Taylor for my Surname!!! i suppose its just a common name, which actual last name isn't!!!!

My surname is quite rare.  Like there are two in the county - me and my ex-wife.  When I did the TV interview about the need for the "gay Pride" events somebody got them to censor my surname.  Must have been my ex.

[Carrie Liz]

I've always just done variations on my birth name, Charlie.

Back in high school when I first started experimenting with alternate personas, I called my female self Cheryl, (based on the story of a famous intersexual from the "nature versus nurture" infant-gender-assignment case that I saw on PBS once,) but I never really liked that name very much. To me, I couldn't separate that name from the image of a 40-year-old woman with too much makeup on for some reason. I wanted something that sounded younger and cuter.

People always teased me by calling me "Charlene," so that was out of the question from day 1.

I asked my mom what my name would have been if I was born a girl, and she says that it would have been Sarah Elizabeth [Last Name], after my two grandmothers. And she would have called me "Liz" as a nickname, because she liked the name Elizabeth. I agreed with her on that one, but never really liked the name Sarah. Probably because to me the image of "Sarah" was very "plain and tall." And again, I wanted something younger and cuter.

Next I considered "Charlotte," but for some reason it just didn't feel like me. It felt too much like a certain E.B. White book character, and yet again, I couldn't separate the name from that image, and thus couldn't picture it being used on me.

Then finally, the name "Carrie" came to me. I don't really remember how it did. I just know that it was another variation of "Charlie." And to me, it sounded cute, it sounded young, and for some reason it just clicked. So I started calling my female self "Carrie," and I liked it, so I've stuck with that name ever since.

When it finally came time to seriously consider that I'd possibly be changing my name in real life, I assumed that I was just going to go with "Carrie" legally. But then I had this odd dream one night where this middle-aged woman that I had never met before was offering me emotional support in a semi-condescending manner, and addressed me as "Caroline, dear,". At first I didn't think anything of it, but then the idea of Carrie being a nickname for Caroline grew and grew on me, because it would be kind of like the same thing that the name "Charlie" always was for me even though my legal name was "Charles." And while I still haven't completely decided on this, I think I'm pretty sure now that I'm going to go ahead with using Caroline as my official legal name, and go by Carrie. And since I also really like the name "Elizabeth," which was my maternal grandmother's name, (and my mom always tells me that I have her mother's eyes, so I think it's appropriate,) I believe that I'm legally going to go with Caroline Elizabeth [Last Name]. I REALLY like the way that name sounds. And of course, it's this name that gives me my username, Carrie Liz.

[Tyler92]

I've been trying to decide on one for quite awhile now. So far, I kind of like Rachel Valerie. Valerie being my middle name. For me it rolls off the tongue. But I guess my sister hates a girl named Rachel and so she doesn't want me to have the same name. I'm thinking about going ahead with it, and just talk to my sister and tell her we may have the same name but we're not the same person. I've also thought about Skyler, a name closer to my male name. It's kinda hard to pick one for me. Cause, I want it to be similar to the name I have to make it easier for people, but I also don't want it to be an obvious change.

[abbyt89]

From a long time ago I always thought that if I ever had a daughter I'd name her Abigail. I don't know why exactly, I don't know anybody named Abigail or have any connection to the name but I always thought it was a really pretty name and also fairly unique without being too "out there" or anything. So when I came out I figured I would take it for myself, future daughter be damned. It may be a bit old-fashioned but I changed my last name as well to something that flows well and I love it.

[Kaylee]

I've been trying to decide on one for quite awhile now. So far, I kind of like Rachel Valerie. Valerie being my middle name. For me it rolls off the tongue. But I guess my sister hates a girl named Rachel and so she doesn't want me to have the same name. I'm thinking about going ahead with it, and just talk to my sister and tell her we may have the same name but we're not the same person. I've also thought about Skyler, a name closer to my male name. It's kinda hard to pick one for me. Cause, I want it to be similar to the name I have to make it easier for people, but I also don't want it to be an obvious change.

Go with what makes you happy, it's your name, not your sisters :-)

[Amelia Pond]

I've had three legal name changes as an adult. The first two were male names and were of favorite science fiction characters of mine.

When I was choosing a female name, I wanted to choose a name that was based on a fictional character that I liked. I was set on four different names before I decided on Amelia/Amy and then it took me a little bit of time to decide on Rose.

I feel that, out of all of the names I had thought of, Amelia Rose fits me the best. Besides, that way I get to be named after two sci-fi characters. 

Amy

[Yukari-sensei]

My wife picked mine actually. She hated me using Michelle or the femininzation of my middle name. She wanted to make my name Micaela as it's more Latina. As a Latina of mixed heritage I told her it clashed waaay too much with my last name (which is very German). "Well then how about Mieke?"

And the rest as they say is history.

Although I do get the occasional jokes about the movie Eurotrip , but I still like it!