How do you just...pick a new name?

[Aidan_]

No really, we clearly can't pass as girls with names like "antonio" or "Mitch", so we have to change them...But how do/did you decide on a new name? Did you change your last name too?

[V M]

I've noticed that it is difficult for some to decide a name... Mine is based on girls I liked at school...
It was a toss up between Virginia and Evelyn for a first name, but I wanted to be most like Virginia and I liked the way she pronounced it (She was from France)

Marie was another girl a wished to be like

[Lexine]

It's tough to find a name, considering it's going to be something that will stick with us for a very long time. I knew why my parents picked my biological name (they were too lazy). But, it formed the basis to my femme name.

Since my female side plays things close to the chest, is somewhat cutesy and relatively drama free, I felt that the name should reflect it as well. So, I choose the name Lexine - which is a variant of what my friends named me as a girl, Lexi. And for those keeping score, my biological name is Alex.

[Susan Baum]

Aidan_
Some folks are just lucky enough to have names which go either way - Dana, Adrian(ne), Stacy and Tracy come to mind - while others pick a variant of their given name: Marie for Morris/Morrie, Dani/Danielle for Daniel and Lexi. 

My original femme name was Maureen for a tall beauty I fell for in 8th grade and it has little in common with my male name except the initial.  My sweetheart named me early on because she liked the name and said I looked like a "Susan" to her.  I liked it too, so it has stayed with me for 35 years or so. 

Now if you like opera, Aida or Ida could be good starters based on your real name.  Try names of girls you admire, days of the week or seasons (Sunday, Autumn, Spring and Winter) or browse through a list of baby names.  I didn't stay with my first name and I know of many who have used two or three names until they've hit the right one. 

Susan

[DNaraku]

I'm also having a hard time picking a name.

I was hung up on Naomi for quite a long time, but over the past 2 years I have started to latch onto about 4 different names.

[MasterAsh]

A first name wasn't difficult, since "Ash" was a nickname of mine since my senior year of high school. I've noticed there's quite a few "Ashley"s, but I think that will help me to blend in more. (I haven't legally changed my name yet.)

The other two I took a while with. I picked "Lynn" for a middle name because I think it sounds very pretty with "Ashley," and because it uses the same middle initial as my given middle name. I'm still not 100% on the last name (which I'd rather not share) because it sounds very abrupt behind "Ashley Lynn," but I think that too works with blending in. Really, who's last name normally flows well behind their first and middle names? 

[DNaraku]

My current name actually flows fairly well with all 3 names. :p

Brandon John Langford.

[Rock_chick]

In the end, my name ended up picking me and it fitted so well I just couldn't imagine not being Helena.

[Vanessa_yhvh]

I literally kicked around names with friends for weeks based on old census data about names in use when I was born. We settled on one that's not terribly common, but not unheard of.

However, people can't spell it right. :/

[Jillieann Rose]

Yes you just pick a name you like.
My really name is easily changed from male to female by adding a (ie) on the end although there is some crossover. I like the name and for me it was that simple.
Here at Susan's I go by the name Jillieann. Two of my favorite women. Jill my sister who we called Jillie when young.  Ann the middle name of my lovely spouse.
Jillieann

[Emmanuelle]

Guess it just grows on you. I went a bit in all directions and ended up taking the obvious: "Emma" is what people at work have been calling me since ever all because Emmanuel was too long. For me, it took me years to like (and eventually love) the name I was given, so I ended up deciding I would turn it into the female version: Emmanuelle. Officially it will be Marie-Emmanuelle after my mother whose name also started with Marie-...

Emma

[Northern Jane]

I chose my name when I was 5 - it was the prettiest name I had heard. There is no male form, it is classic, and it fits with my ancestry. That was 56 years ago so it has been with me my whole life (and no, it isn't "Jane")

[Cindy Stephens]

If and when I transition, my wife and I will both be changing our last name to Stephens. A mutual decision.  Her first name is Sharon, so to keep with the sibilance theme I went with Cindy, a name I love for both sound and meaning.

[Amy85]

I just started using Amy just because I liked the name and I really wasn't considering it to be permanent, but it slowly started to feel like me and after enough time has passed it just stuck.

[Elijah3291]

is it ok for me to post?

I figured out my name based on a few things.

1) my female name didnt really have a male alternative ex - samantha changes to samson

2) all of my favorite names started with the letter E. (edward, elias, elijah, edmund, edwin)

3) I liked how Elijah was spelled, and how it looked

4) i was told by people that it suited me, suited my appearance

[Keroppi]

1) my female name didnt really have a male alternative ex - samantha changes to samson

Sam ?

[Elijah3291]

Sam ?

sam, samson, samwise(LOTR!!)

[blondwidowspider]

I ended up picking a name that I liked, was fairly common, and it fit.

[pebbles]

Well I struggled with it for a long time, Thinking hard about it doesn't help at all. At first I was hoping my mother would name me but she doesn't like me much anymore thus refused to not only name me but also refuses to call me anything but my male name no matter what ¬.¬

I asked my dad he suggested several names randomly half joking I didn't think he was very serious but never the less I intended to pick one of the names he suggested the one I liked the most when I started telling my friends they were all universally said. "Ugh no don't pick that." so I asked "what would you suggest then?"

They all made a various suggestions however everyone of them seemed to suggest 'Alice' it came up in every single time I asked the question different groups different times, Eventually I responded with "Yeah whatever... lets go with that then" *changes name*

I tell people that and they respond with "Shouldn't you have put abit more thought into that?" Nahh.
But equally I'm told by people it suits me, :| *shrug* intelligence of the masses I spose.

[juliemac]

Your name is blondwidowspider? Wow.
(sorry 

I chose Barbara, but my mother said I should chose a name "out" of the family.
So I sat with a baby book and wrote names out.
I wrote out lots of names in differnt ways and settled on the one that A0 I liked the meaning of and B) could write quickly (like I had done it a million times 

Julie: Soft of hair