At what point did you legally change your name?

[Jake25]

Did you change your name before you actually "became" the opposite gender you were born or wait until you go all your surgery done?

[Mariah]

My surgery isn't don't yet and my name was changed shortly after going full time and everyone had been notified of the new name before was officially legal too. Hugs
Mariah

[FTMax]

I submitted my paperwork in February and it came back in March. This was 6 months after coming out, 2 months after starting hormones, and 2 months before top surgery.

[BenKenobi]

I've not changed mine yet. I have told others of my preferred name but i haven't come out to my parents yet. I feel like there are other things i need to do before i do the legal runaround.

[Tossu-sama]

I was done with the obligatory therapy part of transition when I got the paper from the doctor siding with my name change back in 2012. I hadn't even started T yet at that point nor did I had any surgeries done.

[suzifrommd]

Did you change your name before you actually "became" the opposite gender you were born or wait until you go all your surgery done?

Well, I "became" a woman long before I had my surgery.

I got mine started a few weeks after I went full-time. I wanted to wait just a few weeks in case I'd made a horrible mistake.

[rosinstraya]

About a month before starting hormones, which was about 6 weeks before going full time and 7 weeks before transitioning at work. It was a busy few weeks.

[Jake25]

So it seems most of you have changed your name early on in the process. My surgeries and hormones might take longer and be spaced out because I'm financially limited.

[LizMarie]

I changed mine and that was my final "go" signal for full time. I'd come out to HR, and they were willing to work with me, but here in crazy Texas me being 100% legal gave them a lot more coverage than me just presenting but still carrying male ID. That was nearly a year ago and my gender surgery will be in July. I had FFS in April.

[AndrewB]

I, too, got my name change done early into my transition. I think I was about 2.5 months out to myself and parents, 1.5 months out to friends, and a month on testosterone. No (trans) surgeries to date, but I'm progressing toward top currently. I changed my gender through the courts just a few weeks ago.

[synesthetic]

I've not changed mine yet. I have told others of my preferred name but i haven't come out to my parents yet. I feel like there are other things i need to do before i do the legal runaround.

this is about where I am as well

[Tiffanie]

   I want to ... don't have the money 

In Ca I've met the criteria to change name and gender for almost 2 years now.

[jessical]

My legal name and gender update was done one month before going full time.  Having it done before going full time is a huge help.

Tiffanie, if you are in California you can get the fees waived if your income is low enough.

[cindianna_jones]

I changed mine when I came out publicly. There was a sense of killing the guy in me which I liked. Of course, I had much further to go with many trials and tribulations. I look back on that and think of it as the "beginning of my transition" even though I had learned to pass well before that and had my face cleared two or three times by then.

[Jenna Marie]

Surgery had nothing to do with whether I was done transitioning; I had surgery (once and final) a couple of years after I was officially done by my own standards, and after I'd been living as a woman for ~3 years.

That said, I waited until about 18 months after I started transitioning - and that was also six months after I was done, because it took me about a year to transition fully - to change my name, for unrelated legal reasons that held everything up. I waited to do the gender marker until I'd gotten the name change, too, so that I could basically deal with all the places that needed changing only once.

Yes, that means I lived as a woman with a male name and gender marker for a good six months at least, and it sucked.

[Felix]

I didn't change my legal name until I'd been living as Felix at least part time for 2 or 3 years. I have a kid and I had various professional licenses and academic stuff so I dragged my feet. I did have some problems because of the mismatch, and at least once I felt unsafe when an angry cop from the suburbs was uncomfortable with my gender presentation and how it didn't make sense to him.

I'm read as male fully now and I have both my name and my legal sex changed by court order, but because I was born in a state that only does amendments and my daughter was born in a state that won't recognize parent name changes, I tend to be known by my female name at least half as often as my male name. Plus when anyone does a background check or looks at any part of my paper trail they learn my old name. I'm sure younger people might be able to walk away clean(er), but the main benefit to changing my legal name was just being allowed to use my real name on paperwork and not having to use the girl name anymore.

[Tiffanie]

Tiffanie, if you are in California you can get the fees waived if your income is low enough.

My income is too low to afford living here but not nearly low enough to qualify for any assistance ... I'll make it eventually.  Thanks

[Tiffanie]

that means I lived as a woman with a male name and gender marker for a good six months at least, and it sucked.

Yes it does.  I'm full time 18+ months.  I was going to change it last year but hit some issues.  This was the year until we hit multiple financial issues in a one month period.

[Jake25]

I'm glad that you have all shared your stories with me. I like to feel not alone.

[David27]

Right before I graduated college (7 months on T). I was out to some friends and family in town. I had told the department head and the senior capstone teacher in February because my team had to present at a conference. I came out to most people I know after top surgery a month after graduation. I would advise changing it when you are in the androgynous zone of transition. However, if you have the money and resources you could do it earlier. I would just worry about your job stuff as they need your name to write the check to and other HR stuff.