How do you choose your name?

[justmeinoz]

I originally picked Sandra out of the list of most popular girl's names for the year I was born (#10 in 1953).  I thought it would do until I decided on something more permanent.

One night last week I was running through a list of names before bed and I had a dream that night that I , as a man, was introducing myself, as a woman, at a party of some kind.  I was being introduced as Karen with a female  partner named Audrey.   So I have decided that will be my name.

I think it is significant that the person doing the introduction was a male figure. Jung's archetype of a guide is of the opposite gender to the dreamer, so it seems probable that I am starting to more fully integrate my female identity and switch from the Anima (female) to the Animus (male) archetype.

I have also been conscious of a shift in sexuality to a lesbian orientation from my previous bisexuality, possibly born out by being in a same sex couple in the dream. 

It will be interesting to see where this all leads.

Karen. (thankfully here we don't have to do the whole Courthouse thing with name changes though.)

[Becka]

I've always known ever since I can remember that I was different on the inside than my outside though I repressed and suppressed it.  I do remember when I was in my early 20's all the family was together and we were talking names for some reason (it might have been around when my sisters kid was born which would give reason idk...anways) Mom told us kids what our name would have been if we'd been born opposite.  Even though I was repressing and suppressing I latched onto that name and never let it go. 

Flasth forward 20ish years and I can no longer repress my internal feelings and accept for myself who I am, I had the name ready.  I didn't really care for the middle name.  That would have been Leona after one of my grandmothers (great or great great).  So I got a list of names that I felt flowed/sounded good with my chosen first name and sat down with my Mom and let her be apart of the choosing for that and we together decided on Renee.      I have a great mom who is fully on board.

     --Becka

[Ego]

I haven't come out yet, but my mom once told me what my name would be if I were a girl, so I'll use that name if I ever transition. I think it is very feminine and soft sounding.

[PixieBoy]

I've always loved the name Elias. I don't know why, really. By choosing the name Elias Cornelius [lastname], I keep my initials (my birthname, a very feminine name, starts with an E and my middle name with a C), and I also keep at least one "weird" name. Both of my birthnames are long and weird.

[Padma]

Hmm... I already have a gender-ambiguous Buddhist name (Padma for short) but I hadn't put it together until now that Yoxi (my pen name I chose years before I got that Buddhist name) is my name for the laughing coyote figure I identify with... and that she's a she . Yoxi came up out of nowhere, I always thought - but now I know better.

[Northern Jane]

I am another 'something else'. I heard the name when I was 4 and thought it was the prettiest name I had ever heard so I made it MINE. That was only 57 years ago LOL!

[EliNewGuy]

"mannanafnanefnd"

This is the group in charge of making sure people get normal names?  You guys have by far the best language.
I hope you have no problems with them.

Some part of me wants to start singing "Manamana." 

[WILBERT]

As my parents have suggest my name as "WILBERT" .I would be happy to be called with this name . I have decided to choose it and keep it as a original Name . 

Vishal Bhatia

[mehby]

As I am in the process of choosing a name I am considering what people would name me before letting them know what I think I should be and others think, it's opening options as I still have a shortlist in my head. It's more of what suits me and I like than fitting in though.

[JosieD]

I don't think I EVER really thought about? I've always wanted to be called Josie since I was four (and cried when I was told that I was miss-pronouncing Joseph).  Like OMG .... I wasn't - everyone else was !!!

[Emmy]

I picked the name that I was called in my dreams.
Then it just grew to me like any name does over the years.
33892 people girls might be named Emily as well and I'd like to have a more interesting first name, but it's become who I am so I'm fine with that.

My middle name - I honestly just picked one that I liked a whole lot.
xD

[Jayne]

My given name is Nicholas so most people assumed I would just call myself Nicky so i've had to explain that I hate that name & my reason is this:

As a child my mother would call me Nicky, once I realized that I wanted to be female I began hating that name as every time it was used it reminded me of what I wasn't, I eventually got her to stop calling me that but then when I was 15 my parents split & my mums new boyfriend was called Nick, at first it caused all sorts of confusion as we never knew which one of us she was calling for so she reverted to calling me Nicky when we were both around, years of hard work went down the drain 

I've always liked the name Jane & my middle name is James so i've told people that when I officialy change my name i'll swap my first & middle name around & use the female versions but i'm not sure if I chose Jane before I realised that it was the closest female name to James or if I chose it because I like it

[calvin]

I didn't like the literal masculine forms of my given name--either they just didn't feel like me or they sounded awful with my last name--so I played around with similar-sounding male names until I found one I liked. It can also shorten ("Cal") in a way that's plausible as a nickname for my given name, which is good since I'm not really out yet.

And my girlfriend liked it.

[Beni76]

For a long time I was going to go with Beth, (short for Elizabeth) as my name is Ben, so I would just change the 'n' to a 'th'.

But now because I find that most people call me Benny, I thought I would change it to Beni, so it was easier to transition. Except that it doesn't sound very feminine and spell check keeps on highlighting it.

I haven't changed it legally yet so it doesn't matter too much, so it will either become Beni or Beth.

[Ann Onymous]

I've never asked my parents about other names they might have selected.  But the one I chose is one that I have found in doodles dating back to elementary school...I had another name that I pondered briefly during middle school (roughly 7th or 8th grade) but I did not like the way potential middle names flowed with it.  And I wanted my name to continue to flow well with my last name...

So, my current name is one that I have record of having first used some 35 years ago.

[xxUltraModLadyxx]

the name i took is "Maylene." i'm not really sure how i chose it, but it's just one of those names that seems to just be meant for me. i think it's beautiful and unique. it has the word "may" in it, and then "lene" gives it that fancy unique touch. i guess that represents what i stand for.

[Delu]

Added S in front of my old name which makes it Female name in my case. From Ari (male name) to Sari (female name)

Mainly for two reasons. 1st it should be easier to remember. And secondly if anyone uses the old name I can pretend I heard the new one.

[Joelene9]

  Feminine version of my given name (my grandfather's).  The middle name is too noble to drop, even though my dad the cad had the same middle name.
  Joelene

[JungianZoe]

Got my first name in '85 when my mom and I were on vacation in California (I was 7 at the time).  I fell in love with Zoë and, from that day, called myself that in my own head.  I'm happy to know that it's going to be legal in a few short months.

My middle name, Natasha, was from... yes... Boris and Natasha on the Rocky & Bullwinkle Show.    My mom got cable when I was 9 and I was exposed to a whole world of cartoons that weren't shown on Saturday mornings (not in '86-'87, anyway).  I thought Natasha was strong and dead sexy in her black lipstick.  But I already had a first name and so Natasha became my middle.  Deep, in'nt it?

The name my mom would have given me if I'd been born a girl became the name she was going to give to my brother (11 years my junior) if he'd been born a girl.  Then my sister was born and she got it.  My sister, by the way, is 14 years younger than me.  My mom is a patient woman.

Feminizing my first and middle names didn't work either.  The little girl who grew up next door to us (my younger brother's age) is considered a daughter by my parents, and she's got the feminine version of my first name.  Feminizing my middle name would result in something that I've only heard on a popular country singer.  Barf.  SOOOO not going there.

[Megan Joanne]

I had thought about what I wanted for a female name for several years before attempting to live my life as a woman, and one that I really liked was 'Megan', but prior to name change I did ask my mom if there were a name that she would've chosen if I had been born female, she wasn't able to give me anything since once I was born a boy I was immediately named after my father anyway. Also she said that I probably wouldn't have cared for what she may've picked back then if I were born a girl, that she would let me pick my own name and she'd be fine with that, she went with me by the way when I got my named changed.

She didn't like the name Michelle, so she was glad that I didn't pick that. But she also didn't care for the middle name that I chose, 'Joanne', but I did, and had good reason for picking it, I'll get back to that.

My first name 'Megan' was initially thought up as a possible name years before from an actress, 'Megan Ward', we used to watch and enjoy a lot of Full Moon Entertainment's movies, she played in several, such as Crash & Burn and Trancers 2, it was then that I thought, you know, I think I'd like to have that name, feels like me, so I hung onto that one, never did consider any others. Now the 'Joanne' I picked because I wanted to keep all of the same initials in my name, and 'Anne' is my mother's middle name, I thought Joanne would be kind of a nice variant to that, in honor of my mom, even though still, she doesn't care for it, I think it rings well.

I was born 'Michael James', renamed 'Megan Joanne', last name was kept the same, afterall why complicate things.