Random thoughts....
Of those listed, I LOVE Kira and it would have been on my short list had it been appropriate for someone in their 40's
(I also love it because it was ONJ's name in "Xanadu")
Tina is the other name there that really "suits" your look IMO
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when I was making my short list, i had maybe a dozen or more names I REALLY liked and I thinned it by looking at these factors:
1. unintended consequences - i.e. the accidental "soundalike" factor such as "Anita Morehead" or accidental combination of initials.
Also, things that just didn't sound right together, for instance two names with many syllables is an awkward choice. Try introducing yourself as "Britnnyanna Elizabeth" - that's clumsy. Or phonetic similarity. My last name ends in "Y" and has a long e sound. My middle name at birth (the name my parents chose to call me by since my first is the same as my dad's) also ends in the long e sound and i always hated the way the two sounded when spoken together.
2. for me, I didn't want to mimic the name of anyone I was close to, because I thought it might make them uncomfortable. for instance, "Tammy" is one of my favorite names - but between the "long e" issue and the fact that one of my closest cousins has the nickname Tammy, I crossed it off because I didn't want to "creep her out"
the flip side of this is if you have a friend who has a name you really like, and this friend is open to or supportive of your transition, you might ask her how she feels about you honoring her by adopting her name - she might feel very good about that.
3. Don't be afraid to ask those who know you and know about your status for suggestions. I was talking to an assistant at my dentist's office Monday and she made a big production out of how good the name Gina would have been for me - so much so that I kind of regretted not having ask for suggestions because now that it's in my head, I can see how it should have been on my short list because it does "work"
4. this is one I didn't think of early on and should have. If you don't use cursive writing much (I never do except for signatures) then spend some time "signing" the names you are thinking about. You'll probably have a hard time getting comfortable with a new signature if you are not comfortable with the cursive letters that make up the name.
A perfect example for me is that "Laura" will be much harder for me to get used to than Gina would have been in that regard.
If I had thought of this before, I'd probably not have used the "L" because now that I'm practicing I'm finding that the L doesn't come easy to me for some reason.
