What was it like when you found the perfect name for yourself?

[Andy]

My female name was always a pain--people mispronouncing and misspelling it my whole life. Always having to correct people. YUCK. 

I wanted to make up for that "curse" with my guy name. Easy to remember, easy to pronounce, easy to spell. Just wanted it simple. And it seemed to fit as soon as I thought of it. I remember sending an email to my gf with some possible ideas, and she liked my number one choice, so that sealed the deal.

And she never forgets to call me--Andy!!

[Devyn]

The name felt right when I chose it. It is a bit embarrassing to tell people who know me as a girl because they always ask why I picked that name.

I've gone by...six other names, I think. If I counted right. I tried to go by Alexander because that was the name my mom had planned to give me because she thought I was going to be born a boy, but the name didn't fit. Actually, I didn't even really like the name Devyn until I started to use it.

My female name is so girly. >>

[sneakersjay]

I think the name chose me, it was my one and only choice.

Pretty much this.  I did consider others, but always came back to the one I chose.


Jay

[sneakersjay]

I just fell in love with the name after seeing Rocky Horror.  I have always like Susan Sarandon.  Even my ex thought it fit me.

My middle name is an honor to my ex.

Janet Lynn was also an olympic figure skater.


Jay

[Zack]

I knew Zack was the name for me as soon as I thought of it, and my mate even text me out of the blue a day later saying I'd suit the name Zack, I tried it out for 6 months around close friends and still loved it and it felt right, so I legally changed it about a week ago.

I was tempted to change it to the name my Mum would have chosen because she's been so supportive ever since I came out but unfortunately the name she would have chosen is one of few names that I can't stand haha.

[Aikotribs]

There was this student at work, they jelled NIGEL at him and I went 'ho, yeez how could I'v been so dumb, thats needs to be my name !'
I found myself a moron because the name had been under my nose all the time. I'v had a character named Nigel since I was like 16 or so. Atm I'm still choosing, I have a list but meh, Nigel keeps winning.

I tried Aiko and my friends love it, but I became unsure because its a japanese girl name. Now there are 2 things I currently do not want  ; any connection to wapanese (besides what my avi looks like I'm not a big anime/manga fan) and a name thats actually for a girl. 

Online, I do like Aiko. Odly enough I was supposed to get that name if I where biologically male. So I would have still been a boy with a girls name !

... only a slightly less irritating name then I have now.

[Tad]

I didn't want to change my first name, so I just mascilinized it to Terrence. Middle name was the real kicker, spent months and months going over options, then one day Daniel hit me, so tht's it unless parents suggest something different in the next week.

[Lee]

I originally thought that I wanted the name Chase, but it never felt right.  I changed it to Lee after a few days going off of my given middle name (Leigh), as I couldn't come up with a masculine version of my first name (Kimberly).  I'm still stuck on a middle name, and I think I'll give my parents a vote on it.

[Bahzi]

I'm still deciding on what to change my name to.  Once my mom told me that had I been a boy they had planned on naming me Jacob, and I do like 'Jake', so I'll most likely change my first name to Jacob and keep my current first name as my middle name. 

I'd thought about keeping my first name as it is, but 'Lindsey' is pretty much an exclusively female name in the states, and my middle name has to be changed anyways, it's 'Leigh'.  Aside from being a very feminine spelling, I always thought 'Lindsey Leigh' sounded remarkably hillbilly-ish.

[Sharky]

I've wondered this myself. My preferred name is short for my birth name and people already call me it. So I don't know. I've thought of changing my last name, but no clue to what. Right now it's long, very German, and I've never met anyone else with it.

[Nikolai_S]

It was a long, long process. At first I wanted a slightly gender neutral name, so I could still use the name even if I wasn't passing mid-transition. So I compiled a list - Ashton, Logan, Jordan, mostly.

Then mom gave me a long list of what names she'd like me to have. I was presented with a bunch of crazy names that would have gotten me beaten up in school. Ramses, Nigel, Salvador, Aimhirghin (pronounced Ae-ver-gin), Picasso. I narrowed it down to Nikolai, Trevelyan, Alastair, Harrison, and Kieran. Strangely, I went with the odd one out - though Alastair was a very close second. And my middle name was then Sebastian, that just came naturally to me for some reason.

It took a while for it to feel completely right, partially because it's not accurate to my heritage, but now I'm happy with it. I'm just picky because I've used too many pseudonyms for too long.

[JerkBoy]

I've always loved one male name throughout my life, and before I ever embarked on transitioning, it was the only name I'd ever consider naming my son. My originial name was unique and everyone loved it, but it was terrorizingly feminine. I hated to see it written or hear anyone say it out loud, it never felt like me (The name is Jandi. I've never had the pleasure of meeting anyone with the name, but I know they're out there).  For me, the only name I could ever go by was Jackston. I love the simplicity of the name Jack, and Jackston sounds so perfect for me.

Not to mention, my first initial will stay the same so I keep the lineage of J male names in the family.

[Marcelo Caetano]

I've always loved Caetano, who's a famous singer in my country. But I talked to some friends and we start to say a lot of name to see if I could see myself being some of them.
Then someone said Marcelo and I really liked it, it felt like me, for the first time, 'cause I hate my birth name.
It feels really good to say to people that my name is Marcelo Caetano, and even more amazing when people talk to me and say my name. I feel truly happy!

[GnomeKid]

I went by Gus for a while, but no one but me and my [now ex] gf seemed to like it, and she may have only liked it for my sake.  I'm pretty sure I'm still in her phone as Gusgus, and if she were to call me that today I'd respond.  I'd definitely consider it as an alias in the future.  Seeing as my family despised the name I decided to continue my search.  Eventually I came across Rowan.  It was the perfect because its uncommon without being weird.  It also conveniently was similar to my old name [Rosey which I still willingly and gladly go by (yes I'm odd in that way)] although that was not a direct aspect in my decision making process.

When I first called myself Rowan in my head it just clicked, and I felt kind of like an ancient gnome warrior of sorts.  Proud in some odd way.  [proud may be the wrong word, but it was a similar such feeling.

I didn't feel weird telling people my new name except that I didn't want them to think I chose it just because of its similarity to my "old" name. 
Everyone thinks my name is awesome, and so do I.

[Farm Boy]

I didn't want to change my first name, so I just mascilinized it to Terrence. Middle name was the real kicker, spent months and months going over options

Me too, I just used the masculine form of my first name.  I wanted to keep my initials and it was kind of a pain to think of a middle name that started with the same letter.  I've finally found one that I like, though.  At first I had thought of my favorite names, because I have favorite boy names and I'd used to think "If I'd been born a boy, I'd wish my name was _______!"  But when it came down to it, much as I liked them, they just didn't seem right.

[tvc15]

Then mom gave me a long list of what names she'd like me to have. I was presented with a bunch of crazy names that would have gotten me beaten up in school. Ramses, Nigel, Salvador, Aimhirghin (pronounced Ae-ver-gin), Picasso.

LOL! Do we have the same mom? My mom said she would've named me something like Wolfgang or Torvald if I were born male, if not for my dad

[Robert F.]

Well, when my mom was pregnant, she would pick out potential names and then use them for a week or so, pretending like she's talking to me, or yelling at me, stuff like that, to decide what name she really liked. I took a page out of her book, and when I was signing up for various websites and forums, I varied between names (Robert, Alexander, James, and Seth were my top choices). On forums, people would address me by the name I'd chosen, and I thought about which name I really liked being called. I originally wanted to have my mom pick my name out for me, as she has more experience in that area, and I wanted her to feel included, but at this point, I'm rather attached to "Robert". I'll let her pick out my middle name, though.

When I finally decided on Robert, it was kind of a feeling of "this is right", you know? Like, my whole life, I've been called a name, and it was just a name. But now, THIS name, feels like it's what I should always have been called.

[LaPapito]

Is it odd for you to have the same name as your brother?

Hah haa hah...I can relate to this one... I am a Twin [male born in tha' wrong body], and my twin is a bio-male...my mother only thought she was having one [my brother was covering me] so when he was born she named him Adrian...well when they were about to clean her up...lo' and behold herr I come....they asked her what did she want to name tha' child [not specifying that there was a second child] and she told them' "I told you " well tha' rest is history...my brother and I share tha' same name except his is spelled, the masculine form and mine is spelled the fem form with an "ne" at tha' end....soo all I did was take off tha' "ne" and now I just use tha' masculine form as well ...twins go figure! 

P.S. Don't I look like an Adrian...? believe me when I tell you...I fit tha' name better than me bra' tha...!!!

[Donnie B.]

I actually was pretty lucky to mostly inherit one of the very male family names from my favorite part of the family, honestly. My grandmother kind of butchered it because she wanted to have her sister's name as my middle name (I would have been like Such-and-such the Seventh, which would have been cool as hell).

I'm thinking of either switching it back to the name I would have been given if my mom hadn't given in and switched the middle name. I'm keeping an open mind though, especially with the names Donnie and Jan. I hope that I'll have an epiphany about it. :/

[Tad]

Had I been born male I woulda been called Samuel Montgommery. Not my cup of tea.