How did you choose your new name?

[YoungSoulRebel]

Besides, it means 'butterfly' in Greek (stemming from the name of the Greek Goddess Phanessa), and I love butterflies! 

Not to rain on your parade, but that's not actually true.  I'm an hellenic polytheist, and there is no Goddess in my pantheon by that name.  A search on theoi.com (a primary-source repository of Hellenic divinity -- even including obscurities like the Boeotian City-Nymphe Thespia) gives nothing in a search for Phanessa" -- absolutely nothing, which for that site, is a little odd.

Now, "Vanessa" is a specific genus of butterfly, but it's likely to be derived from the name of the deity Phanes (or "Phanes-Eros" / "Eros-Phanes") from the Orphic cosmology.


I chose my name, Ruadhán Jarlath (I'm keeping my surname), cos of a few reasons:
1) I've always given myself the initials "RJ" when I was in junior high and high school and writing under pen names.
2) When I first attended the local TS/TG group, the name "Rowan" just rolled off my tongue, and I later went to go look it up on behindthename.com -- one of the definitions was "m, Anglicised form of Ruadhán", and following that (and other sources) learned the definition of "little red one" or "red-haired boy".  Which I found entertaining as I have hair that's naturally on the reddish side of auburn, am a Socialist ("Commie Red" -- LOL), and have always felt I looked best in reds and coppers.
3) I rarely have ever had a full name for the middle initial (so it was kind of like Michael J Fox, whose J is just J), but in searching behindthename.com for more Irish boys' names, found "Jarlath", which sounds a lot like "Jareth", and if you've seen Labyrinth as much as i have, you may just associate than name with having a large penis, like I do -- or at least with looking as hot as David Bowie.

[Dorothy]

My mum's idea.  Maria Pia.

[Elijah3291]

fun question!

Ok well I am a young FTM guy

My birth name is Maggie.  I don't hate it.. but It isnt good for passing.


I asked my parents what they would have named me had I been born male, my mom said "We never thought of one, we KNEW you would be a girl" so, no go on that approach.

So I just made a list of names I liked.. My top names were Edmund, Edward Edwin, and Silas.. I actually went on yahoo answers, posted my picture and asked people what they thought.

some answers I got where, Silas, John, Alex, max, ryan, james.. then someone suggested Elijah.. and I love that person!

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=Ak9FnW8J.nMXoAPMytwoJL7ty6IX;_ylv=3?qid=20090720005418AALWPsZ
(thats THE question)

You can see that when someone suggested elijah.. so many people started agreeing too, saying I looked like an Elijah.

So I decided to go with that, I am still testing it out ya know.. I could change it, But I think it fits.. Also I was told that I look a tiny bit like Elijah Wood.. so maybe it is a sign.

anyway, thats my first name.. and all fo my new friends at college call me by it.

and as for my middle name.. Its O'Neil. amazing right? anyway that name was passed down in the family and obviosly its very masculine so I GET TO KEEP IT, which makes me very happy.. cause I love love my middle name. and it means I can stay connected to the family.

[K8]

and I later went to go look it up on behindthename.com

Thanks for the link, RJ.  It points out that Kate is the character referred to in the title of Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew.  I had forgotten that when I told my friends to call me either Katherine or Kate.  (They liked Kate better, and somehow it is more fitting.)

So until my own Petruchio turns up, I will remain happily untamed.

- Kate (and you better believe it)

[drippin]

Hi everyone! I am new to this site. Just checking things out so far... But this post sparked my interest. I'm a mtf. I'm 18 5'9". Very passable (although i haven't started transitioning ft jussst yet, a little nervous!) but i'm getting there. Anyway, about my name... I'm fortunate enough to have been named with a gender neutral name. Obviously I can still go by my name while transitioning, but when I finally do get my surgery, am I required to change my legal name? Or can I keep it if it is gender neutral. It always has comforted me knowing my name was gender neutral and I could keep it when I finally transitioned. Anyway, any advice/information would be appreciated!

[YoungSoulRebel]

Hi everyone! I am new to this site. Just checking things out so far... But this post sparked my interest. I'm a mtf. I'm 18 5'9". Very passable (although i haven't started transitioning ft jussst yet, a little nervous!) but i'm getting there. Anyway, about my name... I'm fortunate enough to have been named with a gender neutral name. Obviously I can still go by my name while transitioning, but when I finally do get my surgery, am I required to change my legal name? Or can I keep it if it is gender neutral. It always has comforted me knowing my name was gender neutral and I could keep it when I finally transitioned. Anyway, any advice/information would be appreciated!

This generally depends on what you and your therapist may decide is best for you, but it may also be a requirement of the region where you live.  Sometimes, it's as simple as just changing the spelling (like from Aaron to Erin [even though those two names are technically supposed to be pronounced differently, but whatever, most people don't], or vice-versa), or changing the middle name ("Marie" is a common middle name for girls, so FTM men who might be named something androgynous for a forename, like Jessie or Jamie, but name an obviously gendered middle name like "Marie" would obviously want to change that) -- if your state (or province, country, etc...) requires a name change, you can probably get away with just a simple spelling alteration or just changing the middle name.

Not knowing your name, an example I can readily think of is "Lynn" -- which is technically androgynous, but you can further feminise it as "Lynne".  "Merideth" is also an androgynous name I can readily think of, but I have a friend whose parents named her "Merrydeth" because they thought it looked more feminine.  I know "Rowan" is often enough considered androgynous, but I guess if where you live requires a change, you can either just change your middle name to something explicitly feminine (I like the way "Rowan Deirdre" looks in my head, as an example) or change "Rowan" to "Rowena" and just go by "Rowan" to your friends and such.

So, back to your question -- if you and your therapist decide that your forename or even your whole name is fine, then you may not have to change anything, but some (most?) regions require some alteration to one's name before allowing one's documentation (like driver's license / identification card, etc...) to reflect a gender change.  If your forename is truly androgynous and you're that attached to it, you can probably get away with changing the spelling just slightly or only changing your middle name.

[r.morgan]

Let's see, my name...
Well, my screen name R. Morgan is close... I'm just not 100% sure what the "R." will be yet.
My immediate family has a kind of a joke - all of our names start with "R." So when ever something comes we would all sign with just an "R."
I want to keep that connection so I want to keep the R.   
I'm considering:  Rachel (or Rachael?), Regina, Roslin (or Roslyn?), Rosabell and Rose.   

Morgan as a middle name was the easy part for me.  I always though of myself as Morgan - To the extent that I have a hard time responding to my given name in a timely manner. Additionally my dad grew up in Morgantown, so it's kind of a built in link to my family.

[Eva Marie]

Mine is rather stupid 

When I registered here I intended to mainly lurk, and thus didn't really care about my name. The line "I am riven" came to mind from the flashdance song, and it seemed to fit my condition, but riven was already taken as a board name, so I went with riven_one.

I REALLY need to change that name, i don't like it at all.