How did you choose your name?

[Rae321]

Lol, is my laundry getting on nerves yet?  I swear i didn't drink all the booze and i have nothing to do with that mess in the bathroom! 🤣
Actually i have. 
https://www.susans.org/forums/index.php/topic,245864.0.html
Im going to post my progress and thoughts there as i go. 

[V M]

Let's try to stay on topic friends

Thank you

V M

[Rae321]

Let's try to stay on topic friends

Thank you

V M

You are quite right, thank you for reigningme in a little.  I recognized that i was hijacking the thread and apologized but you know how sometimes you start creating a trainwreck and yet can't stop...?

Soooo on topic. I didn't quite get from your post, when you worked out your female name did you assume the name of that girl from church? And if you did, did she ever know?  I have wondered about how cis freinds and family feel when we name ourselves after them. They're always so happy when children are named after them but an adult assuming their name feels like it would be treated differently.

[Canerfice]

I chose the name Zoey, because of a YouTuber/Twitch streamer that I really admire. She is very open about being a lesbian and highly supports anyone in the LGBT community. Her and her partner are super cute together. She has a very bubbly personality and I am always cheered up when watching her streams or videos.

[Chloe]

I was fairly practical about it. I chose a name that:

- Shared the same initial letter as my birth name.

- No-one else I knew already had.

- Looked at popular girls names for the year of my birth  . .

@CuriousCat94x I did somewhat similar but you must keep in mind things change, and choices can too . . . 

        Both my 1st and middle names have feminine equivalents after starting there one can look at " babynamewizard dot com" and see historically related names in their "Sister & Brother Names" tab. I decided to keep initials and perhaps just change middle to "Chloe" ?

[RileyWolf]

I'm a bit of a nerd, lol, and I named myself after a Dungeons & Dragons character I made up.  I created a non-binary character named Riley and had a great time roleplaying them...sort of subtly testing the waters before finally coming out to myself and my friends and chosen family.  It's silly to some, that I would choose a name from a fictional character I created, but in a way that character was actually me far more than even I realized at the time.  When people started asking me if I had a new preferred name I didn't even hesitate and simply said, "Riley".

[F_P_M]

I'm agonising over this.

on the one hand, keeping my initials would be waaaaay easier and part of me likes the idea of just masculinising my birth name (both first and middle) and rolling with it because it'd be "familiar, just a little different" which appeals to me and would be a lot easier for everyone to adjust to.

but another part of me wants to incorperate the name my parents would have given me had I been a boy. Problem is, that has the same first initial as my husband and he doesn't like shared initials because it makes mail really confusing.
And Mr R and Mr R really WOULD be confusing.

So right now i'm leaning toward "The same but different" approach

[IWish]

Just always loved the name Carrie.....and so does my GF , go figure.

IWish

[F_P_M]

I brought this up with other half, he vetos Ryan because Mr R and Mr R is too confusing ahahahaha.

I'm leaning toward Jenner Marin purely because it's SO CLOSE to my birthname (Jenna Marie) that anyone accidentally deadnaming me I probably won't even notice and because the short form is identical, it should be easier for everyone to adapt.

Gotta love the lazy approach to renaming hahahaha.

My parents always said they'd have called me Ryan had I been a boy (I asked when I was young apparently. I wonder why, a lot of my cis friends haven't a clue what their parents would have called them because they never asked but I did and loved that I knew my "boy name" )
I assume, as my grandfather did this EVERY grandson that was born, would have suggested Samuel as a middle name (the name he went by, not a clue why as it wasn't his birth name or his middle name or anything, he just liked it and decided to go by it)

So Ryan Samuel is likely to have been my name.

And I like it, it's a nice solid name but yeah, Husband doesn't want two Rs and his middle name is S too so it'd be R S and SUPER confusing.

He does have a point. Also I figure it'd be WAY harder to get everyone to swap to a totally completely different name. It'll be SO MUCH easier to just stay "Jen"

[Kalandrina]

I choose the name Kalandrina when i was looking for a name for an online game i played 20 years ago tho it was spelt Calandrina at first. But over the last 20 years the C gave way to a K and has since stuck and is the name i now go by. Its also highly unique as i only every seen 1 person use it and its easily shortened by friends as Kally. My 2 middle names, and yes i went for 2 probably because i had 2 male middle names i choose Kayleigh Emilia.

[Anil]

I asked my partner to name me.  I figured that's how most people get named - somebody who loves you decides and you have no choice in the matter.  My partner is Indian, and so he chose a Sanskrit name for me: Anil (pronounced "Uneel").  It means Air, and is the name of a God of the Wind.

[Wendy Lindsay]

Fairly simple for me, I'm Wendy as that was the name my mother had chosen had I been born a girl. I decided early to keep it as it was in my opinion correct as I obviously believe I was born a girl and also as a out of love to my mum.

[Lori Dee]

Fairly simple for me, I'm Wendy as that was the name my mother had chosen had I been born a girl. I decided early to keep it as it was in my opinion correct as I obviously believe I was born a girl and also as a out of love to my mum.

I love this! My mother told me that I would have been Beverly Anne. I just don't see myself as a Beverly. I was named after my grandfather (family tradition), but I never liked the name. In my mind, people were just mispronouncing my name saying "Larry" instead of "Lori". Now everyone knows me as Lori or Lori Dee. I even have a niece who calls me "Auntie Eldie" (LD).

[NikkiM]

I always loved the name Nikki,a good friend of mine suggested it thinking it up

[Robbyv213]

I feel I need to figure out my name. I have been struggling with it trying to find a name. I feel almost as if it's not as real until I have a name.

I have been struggling to accept this part of myself and I'm hoping once I find my name it solidifies it for me, and helps make it easier for me to accept myself being trans.

Has anyone else felt this way?

[Lori Dee]

I feel I need to figure out my name. I have been struggling with it trying to find a name. I feel almost as if it's not as real until I have a name.

I have been struggling to accept this part of myself and I'm hoping once I find my name it solidifies it for me, and helps make it easier for me to accept myself being trans.

Has anyone else felt this way?

For many years, I used "Jessica" as a screen name in online gaming. It was an okay persona, but I didn't feel like it was me. The feminine version of my given name would be "Laura", but I have an aunt and a great-aunt with that name. I wanted to be different.

The first thing I would do is make a list of names that you like. You can do an internet search of female baby names. You can also see what names were popular the year you were born. Write down every name that you like. Don't be picky about if it's you, just that you like it. Now you have a short list rather than a gazillion names to think about. You can also search images by each of those names and see what people with that name look like.

Then when you are in girl mode, look in the mirror and see if any of those names describe the person looking back at you. Just focus on your face. Rinse and repeat. If nothing on your list is working for you, start again with a new search. You might even meet someone who has a name similar to one on your list that fits better.

You will know when you hit the right name because when you say it out loud while looking in the mirror, you will smile. It is a subconscious reaction to being recognized. Let us know how it goes!

[Robbyv213]

Thanks @Lori Dee. I have a few names. Im leaning towards keeps my same initials at the very least for now.

Right now for my first name I have Robby, Robbie, Raelynn, Robin, Robyn, Rebecca, Rosalyn, Roseline, Rachel,

For my middle name I have Andrea, Ava, Alex, Alexa, Ann, Anna, Amanda, Amy, Ariel, Alexandria, Arora, Athena, Ashley, Allison, Addison, Angelina

None seem to fit though. Like you said maybe I need to be all dolled up and try these names out.

Again I feel once I land on a name for her, I'll be able to accept her and myself more easily.

[Lori Dee]

Thanks @Lori Dee. I have a few names. Im leaning towards keeps my same initials at the very least for now.

Right now for my first name I have Robby, Robbie, Raelynn, Robin, Robyn, Rebecca, Rosalyn, Roseline, Rachel,

For my middle name I have Andrea, Ava, Alex, Alexa, Ann, Anna, Amanda, Amy, Ariel, Alexandria, Arora, Athena, Ashley, Allison, Addison, Angelina

None seem to fit though. Like you said maybe I need to be all dolled up and try these names out.

Again I feel once I land on a name for her, I'll be able to accept her and myself more easily.

Focus on the first name first. Once you have that you can see what works to go with that so it flows off the tongue. Like Rebecca Ann just sort of go together. But that isn't critical. My grandmother was Audrey Juanita which I thought was odd. No Spanish blood here, just a bunch of Brits. So you could go with an exotic (foreign) name, or invent one. Aleen or Aileen would go with those too.

Don't rule out just a middle initial instead of a middle name. My daughter has no middle name, and neither does Cher or Madonna.

You'll find it eventually. Take your time and make sure it suits you. You could have that name for the rest of your life.

[Sephirah]

I feel I need to figure out my name. I have been struggling with it trying to find a name. I feel almost as if it's not as real until I have a name.

I have been struggling to accept this part of myself and I'm hoping once I find my name it solidifies it for me, and helps make it easier for me to accept myself being trans.

Has anyone else felt this way?

Don't try to find a name, sweetie. Let your name find you. The more you search for something, the harder it is to find. Originally my name came to me in a dream. A very vivid dream. It was the name of a ship, as weird as that sounds, lol. One of those old fashioned 15th century schooners. With a load of sails and rigging. The name was emblazoned on a plaque on the hull. The dream was about undertaking a journey towards the unknown. It's certainly been that, lol.

For me it just was what it was.

We know even when we don't know that we know. Pay attention to your inner self, and the imagery you get to see. That's where you will find your answer, in my opinion. You know you know, even when you don't know you know, you know?

[SoupSarah]

I didn't choose my name - I suffered from Dissociative Identity Disorder and had multiple personalities for most of my life, 2 of these personalities, the female ones, called themselves Sarah. Yeah it was confusing to have them BOTH called the same - but it seems they got that name from the multitude of kids at school called that name - it seemed like a good 'disguise' name that would blend in - that was around 1982..
So, when I finally got through trauma therapy and merged the personalities together, I had to 'choose' my name - I knew I was female, so I only really had Sarah to choose from the other personalities - and, as they basically saved my life and in honour of their sacrifice to give up themselves so I could be me - I picked it.

I did ask my boyfriend (now hubby) when I came to officially change my name if I should stick with Sarah.. I quite liked Hannah or maybe Amanda.. but by this time everyone (Including my bf) knew me as Sarah.. so it was a bit too late.

I am glad it is nothing like my Birth name - I would of hated that. I know people try and keep initials and maybe use feminised versions of their names, Harry -> Harriette and Antony -> Toni for example.. but for me, the memories of the suffering was all too much to be reminded by a name.. So, I even changed my surname too.  I picked the maiden name of my grandmother - the only person whom actually cared for me as a child and did not abuse me - And in honour of her more-so - I also picked her first name as my middle name..

I guess with names it is better to look at something that is personal to you and not just try and pick something cool and appealing - maybe look at honouring a female in your family, past or who had a close connection with you - maybe a teacher or the like.. Your name is too important for it to be flippant..