Androgynees and Names

[Nero]

Good evening, my darlings.

Today's topic: Names

Do you prefer your given name or have you chosen another one? If so, do you plan to legally change it?

Would you prefer a male or a female name? Or a unisex one?


Always yours,
Nero

[sd]

Ahh Nero, always the bringer of thought provoking threads.

Not sure yet.
I am still finding my way, but I think my family would you know what if I did anything drastic.
Mine was not a family name, but it was the name of a friend of my moms who died in Nam shortly before I was born.

I have been giving though to changing my last name to my moms maiden name. It would offer the perfect opportunity if I did.

I have given thought to just start using my middle name. My dad and grandfather used their middle names, my middle name has a unisex version and nickname, my first does not. I could swap them around when I did the name change if I wanted to go official, but I could get away with that without an official name change just as they did. Would probably not raise any eyebrows either.


Here is a good list of unisex names here with explanations regarding spelling.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unisex_names

[NickSister]

I don't really like my name being Nicholas. But I don't mind some people calling me Nicholas. Sometimes I really prefer Nicole but I am not entirely comfortable with that being my full time name. Mostly I am just Nick, or Nicholai, or Nickskin, of Nicola or more rarely Nicky.

My wife calls me Nick most of the time, Nicky when she wants me to get something in the middle of the night or take away the cats kill, or partial kill, from inside and Nicholas when I've been bad.

I guess I am all of the above and I really like that. It allows whomever is speaking to me to pick one they relate to me best as. Socially I will most often be Nick. I suppose I could legally change my name to Nick, but it seems like too much of a hassle over a couple letters. I've also considered becoming legally Nicholas-Nicole. I don't think one name really will do. I would get a thrill from having a double barrelled that mixes a male and female name.

[RebeccaFog]

Hello,

      With gendered names, I'm fine with variations of rebecca or robert now.  Most peoples use derivatives of Robert, of course, because they don't know any better.

     I really prefer the non-gendered name.  I am considering changing my name to Rebis, but being the slothful baboon that I am, it will not happen soon.  Maybe 20 minutes before I die or something.

    I think I'd also be okay with Nic's wife calling me Nick.   But I'll stick with Rebis.   



Have fun, not babies,

Rebis

[Shana A]

I changed my name legally to Zythyra when I transitioned, and later changed it back to my birth name when I de-transitioned. My partner and other people who know me as trans/androgyne use Zythyra or Z, I use my birth name for my profession and life in the "real" world.

Z

[Caroline]

I have changed my forenames legally from James William (ick!) to Andra J.  Andra is a 'female name' but it feels 'me' for some reason anyway.  I might leave the middle name ambiguous or might start using Andra James depending on how my appearance turns out and how people read me...

http://www.arafel.org.uk/~mandel/newcard.jpg ^.^

[Simone Louise]

I was named after two greatgrandfathers and discovered, with delight, as a child, that adding an 'E' to the end of each name feminized it (if only feminizing the body were as easy).

Some friends do call me Simone; close family uses Si. My wife sometimes calls me Oafie, which she thought implied I was a good egg.

I would only change my name legally if I stopped being androgynous.

Simone

[Calyx]

My middle name is Paige, and I would be happy if I could drop my
first name entirely.

[Jaimey]

I HATE Jessica.  My family mostly calls me Jessi and my friends call me Jess, which are improvements, but still not great (though if a friend calls me "Jessi", it's kind of endearing).  I have NEVER liked that name and it's never felt right at all.  I have had a couple of people call me "Jay" and I liked it a lot and thought it was really cute.  I prefer Jaimey because it's unisex.  I even picked a spelling that I felt was more androgynous.  "Jessica" is so stiff and strict, kind of harsh sounding to me.  Or maybe I think that because it makes me feel confined.

If I ever start making friends outside my normal circle, I think I'll have them call me Jaimey.  I don't care so much about the people who've known me forever...it would be weird to ask them to change all of a sudden.

[RebeccaFog]

so you claim to have a 'normal' circle, eh?   >

[Jaimey]

maybe 'regular' would have a been better word...you're right.  they are NOT normal. 

...how did you know? 

[RebeccaFog]

No one is normal.

[Jaimey]

No one is normal.

that's a good point...instead of saying they are abnormal, we'll just say they're weird.  some of them extremely weird.  ...i need new friends...

[RebeccaFog]

...i need new friends...

or just better used ones. 

[Jaimey]

or just better used ones. 

hehe. 

[Kir]

My name is alright I guess. It's too common for my tastes, and is clearly male.

A lot of my friends are Native American (primarily Lakota Sioux), so I always kinda liked their version of naming. First option is to pick an actual traditional name (such as Wambli or Numpa). But the other option is to combine words to create a name. Often times it's a noun preceded by an adjective (although on rare occasions it's a noun preceded by a verb). Often times they are picked due to a piece of imagery that someone in the tribe saw.

Examples: Yellow Knife / Many Horses / and of course let's not forget the famous ones: Red Cloud, Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse (which all three happened to be Sioux).

So as such, I have two names that I commonly use for myself.

I sometimes go by Blue Sun. (I picked the before Firefly came about if any of you geeks out there are wondering, although Firefly did make it that much cooler). It does not suggest anything about my gender, but it says a bit about my personality in my opinion.

My second name is much more private to me. It is my chosen surname. But it basically means "to create with nature". It is rather androgynous (and is a nice cross between english stuffiness and witchiness).

I don't think I would actually change my legal name, it's too much work. But maybe some day I will.

[Alison]

I started using "Cobalt" elsewhere... It seems to fit, but I don't know if I'd ever -change- my name to that..

Alison works... It's feminine but... *shrug*  It's my name... and thats all it is.. just a name. (with ONE "L" Goddammit!!   it gets misspelled all the damn time! hahaha)

[RebeccaFog]

we can call you Al.

[Alison]

we can call you Al.

Only if I can call you Eddie

[RebeccaFog]

so that's what he's singing.   I've never understood until now.

You can call me anything.  Thanks Al.


Eddie