How did you choose your name (if you changed it)?

[Alexmakenoise]

Just curious.

I decided to go one of 2 routes: either something that sounds like my legal name or something my parents might have named me if I had been born with a male body.

Then I decided that I'd like to go with something ultra-traditional for my family.  I'm descended from a long line of first-born sons, and they were all named Alexander except for my father and his father.  I've always wished that they had continued the tradition.  So, as the first-born son, I think I have the power to reinstate it by naming myself Alexander, so that the tradition will have only skipped 2 generations.

The downside is that it'll be harder for my friends to remember.  When I was in Australia, I thought of just keeping my current legal name (Kim) since there are plenty of male Kim's there.  But Kim's in the US tend to be female and I'm still an American citizen.  So I could go with Ken or something to make life easier for my friends.

I think I'll probably end up legally changing my name to Alexander, but letting my friends call me "Kimbo" as a nickname, as they always have.

[Janet_Girl]

Go with Alexander Kim.  Makes both worlds happy.  Just a thoughts.



Janet

[K8]

I agree with Janet.  Go with Alexander.

There's a male Kim here in town (in the US) but he's from Australia.

I recently hassled some more with my name change.  I've found that when I say my old name was *malename* and my new one is Katherine, they immediately get it that I'm now a woman.  It saves a lot of explaining.

- Kate

[Nero]

Are you planning to live mostly in Australia or the US? Kim is kind of inconvenient in the U.S. It will mark you as female to anyone seeing or hearing your name before meeting you and people meeting you face to face will wonder why you have a woman's name. So, unless you stay mostly in Australia, I'd advise against it if you are transitioning.

I tried to keep my first and middle initials when choosing a name. I just picked something I liked that met that criteria.

[Alexmakenoise]

I've decided on Alexander.  I've always wished my family had kept the tradition alive even when I didn't think of it in conjunction with transitioning.

This gives me an opportunity to do something traditional while I'm doing something untraditional.  I like that concept.  I also like the idea of claiming my identity as the first-born son.  Again, doing something untraditional is allowing me to work with traditions in a way that I find entertaining.

It also simplifies the whole name-changing decision process.  By falling back on a family tradition, I don't have to think about it.

I'll be spending most of my time in the US in the near-future, but I love Australia and hope to spend a lot more time there.  Fortunately, having a nickname (or many) that doesn't necessarily sound anything like your legal name is a very Australian thing.   

[Ryuu]

My first name is one of the names my parents considered for a boy before I was born. My middle name is a shortened version of my birth name. (Carissa)

[Alexmakenoise]

I'm taking the, "What would my parents have named me if I had been born as a boy?" angle too.

They seriously thought about Alexander but ultimately concluded that, since they both strongly dislike the nickname "Al", it wasn't worth it.  So I would have been "Christopher" just to prevent me from being called "Al".

So as long as I let them call me Alexander, they should be happy.

They've both not-so-subtly hinted that they know I'm tg, but always at times when it wasn't convenient to talk about it.  So I get to be nervous about bringing it up even though I've already been assured that they know and will be accepting.  Life is weird.  I bet they'll be happy that I'm being untraditionally traditional.   

[Vancha]

I sort of flip-flopped around about the name issue, and to an extent I am still on the fence about it.  However, for reasons altogether not as interesting as the ones already posted here, I will most likely be taking the name Vincent.  It was the name I gave to my "male identity" online.

I'm not quite sure why; I think I took to using the nickname "V", and then I had to have a name that started with V.  V is also a bit of an important letter to me, and happens to be the letter my last name starts with.  I thought it sounded a little weird, having a first name that starts with the same first letter as my last, but I have decided it's not too bad. 

I will most likely be taking my uncle's name as my middle name:  Michael.  I was considering taking it as my first, but we look and act so alike that it might scare off some people.  I will then honor him by taking his name as my middle name.

[Washu Chan]

I'm taking the, "What would my parents have named me if I had been born as a boy?" angle too.

They seriously thought about Alexander but ultimately concluded that, since they both strongly dislike the nickname "Al", it wasn't worth it.  So I would have been "Christopher" just to prevent me from being called "Al".

So as long as I let them call me Alexander, they should be happy.

They've both not-so-subtly hinted that they know I'm tg, but always at times when it wasn't convenient to talk about it.  So I get to be nervous about bringing it up even though I've already been assured that they know and will be accepting.  Life is weird.  I bet they'll be happy that I'm being untraditionally traditional.   

I have to agree with the whole what would my parents of named me if I was a girl/boy idea as well.

I asked my mother what she would of named me if I was a girl and she told me that for about 7 months until she got a test she thought I was a girl so my name was going to be Tina Cherie. I like this name so I am taking it as my new name and my mum likes it too.

[YoungSoulRebel]

As for the question, "Rowan" just sort of came to me when doing a round of names at the local TS/TG group a few years ago.  I later decided to research the name and settled on the Gaelic version, Ruadhán for two reasons:

1) putting fadas on things is cool
2) My father's father had a brother who died very young from scarlet fever before the family emigrated from Belfast.

...as a bonus, it means "red-haired", which I am, and I'm also a step-child and a Socialist. 

[Lachlann]

That's really cool that you want to keep up a family tradition.

For me, I was going to be named Maximus... which is kind of... obscure, I guess I'd be OK in a bigger city where the culture is more diverse. My given name is Greek as well, which is kind of odd considering I'm not Greek, but I guess it doesn't matter that much.

Right now the name Lachlann just feels so right. I think I might change my name here to fit that and test it out some more. I know it's probably just as obscure but something about it just really feels like it's me.

Also, I chose my middle name to be Alexander.

[K8]

ok, the court screwed up my name change order lol....it has some GUYS name on it.....something jamal sharooshi lol.....

boy, is he gonna be pissed to find out that his name is now tasha elizabeth 

already talked to the judge, who was like "oops!"  it will take a few days to get a new order, for the things i needed it for right away, well, they make photoshop for a reason

  Any human activity can get screwed up.  It's good to hear you're taking it in stride.

- Kate

[Vancha]

That's really cool that you want to keep up a family tradition.

For me, I was going to be named Maximus... which is kind of... obscure, I guess I'd be OK in a bigger city where the culture is more diverse. My given name is Greek as well, which is kind of odd considering I'm not Greek, but I guess it doesn't matter that much.

Right now the name Lachlann just feels so right. I think I might change my name here to fit that and test it out some more. I know it's probably just as obscure but something about it just really feels like it's me.

Also, I chose my middle name to be Alexander.

Lachlann Alexander is an awesome name.