How did you pick your name?

[D'Amalie]

I'm saddened at the moment, realizing I'll never hear my name falling sweetly from my mother's lips.  She loved me and I adored her.  She's been gone 22 years now and still pains me with loss.

[Melody Rich]

My first name, Melody, is from an old film called "Melody", Britons might know it as "SWALK". 

As a boy, she was a girl I wanted to be.

Last name is my dead first name.  This way, should anyone call me by my dead name, it would not be so strange for me to reply.

Middle:. Alexandra, which is the name of a friend of mine who we call Xie.

[JaneL]

According to my parents they called me my dead name because it was my Dads middle name.

I had always called myself Jane when I cross dressed when I was younger, As this had the same initial as my dead name and I liked the simplicity.

My wife knew that my cross dressed persona was Jane.

My Mum's middle name is Mary, I wanted to keep both.

So technically I should have chosen Mary-Jane, but I didn't think that would have been such a good idea

(Even though I love that name and wish it is what I was actually called)

So I went with Jane Mary.

However the annoying thing is that my wife's middle name is Jane. Which is a bit weird. But I was Jane before I met her and I feel like it is common enough

[D'Amalie]

In my psychology reading at uni some 40 years back along the track of my timeline I learned, "The most grounding, the happiest, sound in life to any person is the sound of their own name."

Now, I'd like for that to be true, although many situations come to mind where that likely isn't so.  Yet I want it to be true, because from the right person and in the right situations it puts me over the moon!

Richelle

[Jessica_K]

I'm saddened at the moment, realizing I'll never hear my name falling sweetly from my mother's lips.  She loved me and I adored her.  She's been gone 22 years now and still pains me with loss.

My mother I had spoken of BC'24 and I should do so again at some point, I only knew for the first 22 years of my life when she passed away near 50 years ago and you never forget she lives on inside me. Her name was Iris Katherine, Katherine was my grandmothers name so should I ever decide to add a middle name, my name is long enough as it is, it would be Katherine giving initials JKK-H

Hugs
JKK-H xxx

[Naomii]

Mine comes from a strong female character I attached to whilst growing up. I wish it was something deeper than that but not really. Something about the name resonated with me so many years ago and for some untangible reason still does to this day. Found my name before I knew it I suppose

[Nadine Spirit]

Ahh, the name question......

I tried several names before settling on my name, Kelly. I know my username here isn't that, but I'll get to that in a moment.

Names I went through.........
Brook
Bobbie
Nadine Spirit

I really thought that Nadine was going to be my legal name and I used it all over online and I loved it. However once things in my life started getting real and I began getting out as myself Nadine never really worked for me. People would ask me my name and I would tell them Nadine, and they could just never get it right. It was weird and I wasn't sure what was going on. Maybe people just weren't used to that name or something? One day I tried a different name, Kelly, and everybody I said it to picked up on it right away. It was kind of like nobody could see me as a Nadine, but as Kelly, they totally went with it. Maybe I just never really owned the name Nadine. 

Hmmm..... anywho.... now, at places like this site, I tend to stick with Nadine for the memories, though I do try and tell people my IRL name is Kelly.

[ChrissyRyan]

I like my name but sometimes I wonder if it should be something else.

Has anyone else (MTFs) wanted to change their female name at some point during transitioning? 

I mean, if you have a birth name that could be interpreted as male or female in some form (shortened, lengthened, nicknamed) perhaps you have thought you might want a name that no one would ever think is for the other gender.

Chrissy

[Gaby_Doll]

I tried to keep as close to my boy name as I could, down to attempting to feminize my given middle name. Mostly I wanted to not change it too much as a peace offering to my parents, who had already expressed disapproval of my "cross-dressing." It didn't really work, as they found out I was using it before I got a chance to come out to them directly and they reacted negatively. Honestly, my first choice of name if I had been starting completely from scratch was Amy. I felt like it resonated with me as a plain, down to earth Midwestern gal, with bonus points for the Amy Winheouse connection. I went through a lot to be Gabrielle though, and I'm happy with my choice.

[Nadine Spirit]

Has anyone else (MTFs) wanted to change their female name at some point during transitioning? 

I've pondered changing my name. Someone asked me once if I picked Kelly because it could be both a boy's and girl's name and I almost barfed. Since then I've considered what name would call myself if I had to pick from a list that nobody would ever conceive as belonging to the male category. I haven't come up with anything and besides, I like my name!

[ChrissyRyan]

I like my name but sometimes I wonder if it should be something else.

Has anyone else (MTFs) wanted to change their female name at some point during transitioning? 

I mean, if you have a birth name that could be interpreted as male or female in some form (shortened, lengthened, nicknamed) perhaps you have thought you might want a name that no one would ever think is for the other gender.

Chrissy

There are some advantages of having a name that could be for a female or male.
It lessens some difficulties until a legal name and birth marker changes are done.

[Sarah B]

Hi Everyone

I like my name but sometimes I wonder if it should be something else.

Has anyone else (MTFs) wanted to change their female name at some point during transitioning? 

I mean, if you have a birth name that could be interpreted as male or female in some form (shortened, lengthened, nicknamed) perhaps you have thought you might want a name that no one would ever think is for the other gender.

Chrissy

All things considered, I have had my legal names for 35 years and to be honest I'm happy with them.  If and only if I was ever to change my name I would drop the third christian name as I never use it.

Would I reconsider using Sarah, to honor my mum's choice? no I think it was too common and I still don't think it suits me personally, still to this day.

I suppose it would be nice to go through a list now and see what one would like.  What with all the possible variations that can be created now, one would be in "name heaven".  However, as I have already said, changing my name would be horrendous in changing all my documents to a different name.

I hope you love and enjoy your name like I do.
Sarah B

[LoriDee]

My mother told me that had I been born a girl, my name would have been Beverly Ann. Instead, as the oldest "son" tradition called for me to be named after my grandfather. He never went by "Lawrence", always "Larry". I never liked the name and, in my mind, they were just mispronouncing my real name "Lori". In my mind, Lori is short for Lawrence, like Harry is short for Harold. My name isn't Lawry. That is not how it is pronounced.

I got into online gaming and just started using the name Lori Dee. In 2022, I went to court and legally changed my name to Lori Dee (last name). People still think "Dee" is my last name. 

[ClaireBlooming]

I thought about just using my would-be AFAB name but that was also my ex-wife's name.  That idea came to a screeching halt 

--Claire

[Jessica_K]

I must admit when I chose Jessica I never thought that it could be a male name when reduced to Jess as in Jessie, as it is not common in the UK. I will never change my name as it is my legal name, well as legal as the UK has as there is no legality to names or titles (except honorary or heredity) you just write a document (deed poll) get two people to sign it (anyone random) and you can change most of your ID and accounts. Only exception is passport that requires a doctor's letter and the very odious GRC that allows birth certificate change.

Hugs
Xxx

[Colorado Girl]

Shawna is simply the female variation of my name given at birth. I've always loved it, especially when I found out that my mother was really hoping for a daughter when I was conceived, and that Shawna was to be my name. I wish now that i's been brave enough to tell her before she passed that she had her daughter Shawna all along!

[TwilightSophie]

I really liked Claire. I thought that would be the name I would use. However, I know some other Claire's now, and there are too many people in my family with the initial C, so it just wasn't going to be practical.

Sophie occurred to me as like a 4th choice. Then I started looking at the meaning of names. My deadname has some pious religious reason. Not me. Sophie means wisdom, A quality I respect and would rather be remembered for. It's also feminine, and was popular around the time I was born. *

So it jumped the queue, and I'm Sophie now. It's come to feel natural because of it not being something I really dreamed of, it's just a name, but it fits. No middle name yet because I want my parents to chose it, but I haven't come out to them yet.

*I wanted an age appropriate name, girl's names come and go like fashion. Where are the newborn Rebeccas? 30 years ago it was the #1 name! (My ex's name, so was off limits for me, but it makes a point). Sophia is a lot more popular now, Sophie is a bit more dated, and I like that.

[MFaraday]

In my psychology reading at uni some 40 years back along the track of my timeline I learned, "The most grounding, the happiest, sound in life to any person is the sound of their own name."

Now, I'd like for that to be true, although many situations come to mind where that likely isn't so.  Yet I want it to be true, because from the right person and in the right situations it puts me over the moon!

Richelle

I have always hated the sound of my name, because I have always hated my name.  One pleasure of online spaces has been the ability to go by a comfortable name of my own choosing.  Finding a new name has been a real challenge.  It didn't help that for decades, I was barking up the wrong tree, meaning considering names of the wrong gender.  At least that much I understand now.  I prefer to keep my initials for professional reasons, which limits choices.  I have not come out yet outside of with close family and friends, which means I haven't really needed a new name yet, but I would like to start the legal name change process over the summer, so time is getting short.  Usually when I need a name for something, if I wait patiently, just the right name will come along.  Now that it is time to name myself, well, I'm still waiting, and getting a bit impatient.

[Senkusha]

I chose Kaitlyn because it's pretty.  I first spotted the name looking through my high school year book, and my name was between three others, Matilda, Kimberly, and Erica.  However, Kaitlyn won out, and I specifically chose the American spelling because I have a thing for Ks and Ys. LOL.

[Jessica_K]

"The sound of your own name"

It took a short while to get used to my name when I started to use. But now and not surprising if someone shouts my deadname (not meant to me) I don't flinch or lookup as I did in the early days.

I do like the sound of my name and hate the sound of my dead name.

Jessica
Xxx