I'm semi-stealth. Basically, I'm not out to anyone who doesn't already know me, unless I meet that person at a trans meeting of some sort.
I had a very unusual surname that I loved because it was so uncommon. But it was a link to my family, and I didn't want to have anything to do with them, so I changed my last name. My new name was kind of a package deal, anyway--the new first name actually went with a particular new last name because they were from my old alter ego, a name that my family didn't know about. Once I decided to go with the first name, the last name automatically followed.
It's just a personal choice. But one interesting side effect of this choice is that somewhere along the line, some entity appears to have linked my old first name with my new last name, as if my legally female self had married my legally male self. Let's say I was born Susan Callahan and changed my name to Fred Smith. Now when I do a people search, Susan Smith comes up with one online search agency. But that agency does not link my old name, Susan Callahan, to my new name at all.
Now it looks like my old name and new name are linked by marriage and aren't the same person. If I forget myself and mention that I was once legally married and someone looks me up, I can be vague on the details and let the person assume that my male self once married a girl. I suppose this might reinforce the notion that I've always been legally male and that I was designated male at birth. Since there's no court-ordered name change on file, even my name change is a bit stealth.
Mainly, I just wanted to sever all ties with my parents, and the full name change accomplished that.
