Susan's Place Transgender Resources

I've always kinda gone back and forth on what name I should adopt. I can't decide if I should use an alteration of my real name or use the name I would have been given if I had actually been born female. How did you choose your name?

Fortunately, I am Vietnamese, and my name is sort of unisex. I guess American name is more unambiguously masculine or feminine

I chose the first first name I came across that felt comfortable, and I'm changing my last name to match my daughter's last name. I picked a middle name last minute, and named myself after a couple people who helped me past some transitional milestones.

I really didn't want anything to do with my birth name. It's not a bad name, but it makes me feel bad. I spent 30 years trying not to cringe when I heard it.

I chose Tracey at work one day while cutting traces on printed circuit boards. Hugs, Tracey

I've always held the name Amy close to me, as it has always felt meant to be.

Quote from: Tracey on December 21, 2011, 08:35:06 PM
I chose Tracey at work one day while cutting traces on printed circuit boards. Hugs, Tracey

Omg that's kind of awesome.

 I chose Kelly because it's one of those names that sounds "Bouncy," which is a very important part of my personality. The middle was changed to my old first name... it was gender-neutral... and my last name changed to make the rest of it sound important and awesome.

Shrug. I'm happy with it... it stuck... and my mom picked it out. Win-win :)

I asked my parents to just give me a new name.
Since they're accepting, I don't see why they wouldn't
deserve to choose my name.

My mom likes Jayson, my dad calls me Jay, so Jayson makes sense.
They aren't completely sure just yet though. Still debating.

Whatever. They have until my 18th birthday to pick.
Which is in march, so they have time to think.

For sure it's gonna start with J though.
They want me to keep my initials.

I'm cheating - I was ordained as a Buddhist 14 years ago, and my Buddhist name Padmavyuha is gender-neutral (being in Sanskrit, it all rides on how you pronounce the last syllable). People seem happy to hear Padma as a woman's name, especially since Harry Potter :) (and there's always Padme from Star Wars).

Well like my intro says Reinette or Joan work...um Reinette was a joke from a few years back and it stuck and I like the sound and look of it...Joan is my bestie's suggestion which is odd since I did not come out to her she just knows me well enough to see my conflicting shtuff....

I can't remember how I came up with my name it's been so long ago.  I have been using Julie as my female name for 30 years.  I probably choose it just cause I think it fit and it did keep my initials the same.  My parents have passed and I never asked them what they would have named me if I was born a girl.  But I have a good idea since I was named after my Grand fathers (first and middle).  So I think my name would have been Carmela Mary.  Yuck!  I like Cami as a nick name.  I've never picked a middle name.  I don't know...neither of those names goes well with Julie.  I'll have to come up with something else.

When I was about 6 years or there abouts, I recall, standing in front of one of those huge mirrors which cover a wall. I wasn't in class, for some reason, probably sent out.

Anyway, I do recall, looking at my body and clothes then trying to imagine it was actually a girl, looking back at me. It worked, the joy of being that young.

Anyway, I continued the fantasy and imagined someone standing over me, asking , well, young lady, what's your name?'. I just replied Jill. No idea where it came from.

So that's who I am. Perhaps always have been.

Jill

I thought we were posting about our forum names, my bad. When I told my friend my new name was Tracey, she made a face and said "That name doesn't fit you at all." She suggested two names, I picked the one I liked better, added her middle name and came up with Devlyn Marie. Hugs, Devlyn

I couldn't find a neutral name i liked that felt like me. but i did hear a name that had no gender associated with it so i used that. As far as my middle name goes i used my childhood best friend's middle name because of how great she was with me suffering though puberty.

There definitely seems to be a trend going here. Most people seem to pick a name that either somehow comes to them or is important/special in some way.

Mine's not set in stone yet, but I'm definitely leaning towards Peter. Right now it's between Louis and Peter, Louis being a variation of my nickname "Louie", but I think Peter will be it.
EDIT: I forgot to actually answer the question. i choose mine because I've always liked the name, and it just felt "right", you know?

The name Erin means peace or tranquillity in Gaelic, and since I found out that I'm trans I've taken a shine to the word tranquillity... The weird bit is that I chose my new name before I knew what it meant, it just seemed right~
-Erin

I love names. I hated my boy name my whole life so I jumped a the chance to finally pick a name I like. I tried using the first name that jumped into my head thinking maybe my subconscious knows my name, but it was the name of a person my wife really disliked so it had bad attachments. Then I decided to make up a list and starting crossing off names of people we knew, names that were important to me, and have an attachment to something else that was important, and finally a name that felt right and reflected my personality. I am pretty geeky, and a scientist so it came down to Lauren or Tara. Lauren was very classy feeling, but Tara seemed like the type of person who read comics and books on physiology.  :D

Well...
I picked András ( = Andrew, André), just all of sudden, at first this name came into my mind... :)
Also the origin and meaning of, makes it real cool.
I could not say what my parents would had given me... as they wanted a girl (me) so much that they forgot about a male name. :-\

However I've always used Fritz (Frici) as a nickname and I liked it... the Hungarian full form "Frigyes" is kinda old-fashioned, rare and ugly and everybody would came up with some "are you German?!" stuff... I don't want it at all. Then one of my friends often calls me Zsolti (nick from Zsolt, name of Hungarian origin) to keep the initial. (I'm originally Zsuzsanna - it's Susanne, yeah...  :-\  ;)) But I don't like that because it's one of the most-used male names here, it sounds like a bouncing frog or whatever. Eww.  ???

It just seemed right. It has a similarish sound to my birth name, but the initials are totally different and it's a coincidence.

I picked and entirely different name... because I didn't like my male name much anyway and the female version of it is rare and sounds So stupid IMO.

I was stuck I would have gone full time sooner if I could have figured a name out.
When I was a kid I gave myself a secret name "Amy" But I kinda don't like it anymore. Not enough letters.
Ellie was a temptation aswell but didn't sit right either.

My mum wasn't speaking to me but my dad made 4 suggestions.
Mari (It's not bad kinda quirky but it seems like it's missing a few Consonants)
Jane (Do not want)
Helen (inappropriate I know like 5 helens we all refer to them by surname)
Cathrine (ugh fine.)

Suggested Cathrine to my friends... NOBODY liked. Now completely stuck I asked them what name they thought fit. Each one made a list 8/9 of the lists had Alice on it.

So yeah that's how I picked it my friends ultimately named me. because both I and my parents suck at naming things.

Quote from: spacial on December 22, 2011, 06:12:37 PM
When I was about 6 years or there abouts, I recall, standing in front of one of those huge mirrors which cover a wall. I wasn't in class, for some reason, probably sent out.

Anyway, I do recall, looking at my body and clothes then trying to imagine it was actually a girl, looking back at me. It worked, the joy of being that young.

Anyway, I continued the fantasy and imagined someone standing over me, asking , well, young lady, what's your name?'. I just replied Jill. No idea where it came from.

So that's who I am. Perhaps always have been.

Jill

My situation is similar.  When I was younger and used to envision my life as a male (as I felt) I always had the name Paul so it was a given. 

QuoteI was stuck I would have gone full time sooner if I could have figured a name out.

Lol I did this. I'd be living as male, and I'd be passing, and then when it got to "what's your name?" I jumped right back in the closet. XD

Quote from: Felix on December 30, 2011, 07:25:29 PM
Lol I did this. I'd be living as male, and I'd be passing, and then when it got to "what's your name?" I jumped right back in the closet. XD

I can understand that. I don't really know how to explain it, but having a real, set in stone name seems to make you feel more serious and authentic.

Probably not the best way to say it but I have a head cold and thinking isn't super fun right now. lol

Sorry, can't really remember because I have had so many names.

I stared with Helen but decided I didn't really like that, then Marianne after an ex-GF but after we broke up I couldn't keep that one, then Monique because it suited a photo I used as my profile picture (it sort of suited the pic) for an investigative site I belonged to, now I am Melissa (why I am not sure) as I had to decide on a name when I was joining another TG site.

It sort of sounded cute and girlie and had no male equivalent. Melissa is of Greek origin, and the meaning of Melissa is "bee; honey". Maybe that is why I chose it, although I just googled for the meaning.

I hate it when people call me Mel, maybe I will have to choose a name that can't be shortened.

For now I am stuck with my legal name but when I do change my name it wilk be based off an anime character but I am not too sure who yet.  Right now I'm okay with Malachite but other potential names include Darien, Nepherite, Raphaeal, Vincent, Spike, Sergei, Maxfield, Orion and Neflyte

Quote from: Malachite on January 01, 2012, 02:16:19 PM
For now I am stuck with my legal name but when I do change my name it wilk be based off an anime character but I am not too sure who yet.  Right now I'm okay with Malachite but other potential names include Darien, Nepherite, Raphaeal, Vincent, Spike, Sergei, Maxfield, Orion and Neflyte

I went by Spike as a street name when I was younger. ;D

I remember reading darren shan's "demonata" series. Bec(the only female main character(there are 3)) I remember her explaining how lonely she felt and how great her old life was. (I tottally recommend reading the entire series)

Anywho I converted Bec into Rebecca and there ya go.

Quote from: ngkhmynh on December 21, 2011, 08:12:21 PM
Fortunately, I am Vietnamese, and my name is sort of unisex. I guess American name is more unambiguously masculine or feminine

Some American names are unisex like:

Danielle
Taylor
Troy

Quote from: nicole19 on January 07, 2012, 09:56:08 PM
Some American names are unisex like:

Danielle
Taylor
Troy

I'm not going to say those aren't unisex (and in fact the trend in america lately is to make unisex a lot of names that used to be gendered), but that's not the best example. Danielle is very clearly female to me, and Taylor and Troy are very clearly male to me.

Quote from: Felix on January 07, 2012, 10:00:18 PM
I'm not going to say those aren't unisex (and in fact the trend in america lately is to make unisex a lot of names that used to be gendered), but that's not the best example. Danielle is very clearly female to me, and Taylor and Troy are very clearly male to me.

I know a 9 year old girl named taylor...

Quote from: xXRebeccaXx on January 07, 2012, 10:22:35 PM
I know a 9 year old girl named taylor...

Yeah that's what I meant by the trend. That's probably one that's been used more for girls than boys in the last ten years. When those kids are grown I'm sure it'll start feeling like a girl name.

Quote from: xXRebeccaXx on January 07, 2012, 10:22:35 PM
I know a 9 year old girl named taylor...

I went to high school with a girl named Taylor and my brother is actually friends with a boy named Taylor. I consider Taylor to be a pretty gender neutral name regardless of any trends of late.

Wanna know a secret? I went to school with a girl named Mercedes, and I love the name. People always said it was trashy, but I think it's very pretty and regal.

Quote from: Felix on January 08, 2012, 12:40:15 AM
Wanna know a secret? I went to school with a girl named Mercedes, and I love the name. People always said it was trashy, but I think it's very pretty and regal.

I think there's something classy about the name Mercedes.

Quote from: Felix on January 08, 2012, 12:40:15 AM
Wanna know a secret? I went to school with a girl named Mercedes, and I love the name. People always said it was trashy, but I think it's very pretty and regal.

A girl in my neighborhood is named marajuiana(pronounced marajuwanna)

Quote from: xXRebeccaXx on January 08, 2012, 12:18:34 PM
A girl in my neighborhood is named marajuiana(pronounced marajuwanna)

Lol that is hilarious. :laugh:

I saw a pretty girl named kimberly, and it just stuck. I liked the way it sounded plus it was better than Diana (my original choice).

I chose the name Stefán because it was the name of a character in a book that I loved as a kid and I looked up to that character. I started using the name Stefán on the internet when I was 12 years old and it has just stuck with me since then. I've never had any doubts about my name :)

I chose "other."

At first, I started with alterations on my given name (David William) and was choosing femme names that started with D and W. But, I decided I wanted to start over, so I chose a name I always like: Constance (I usually go by Connie). I then chose Anne as my middle name because it sounded good with both Constance and Connie.

Then I looked up the names. Constance means "steadfast" and Anne means "grace." I figured that if anything was going to get me through transition with my psyche intact would be steadfast grace.

              well orginal i chose sabarina couse i always liked the name.
            but recently i changed it to kelley. after a convertion i had at work with one of my fellow female coworkers.
                         

i switched names a couple of times.... i can't stand the name my parents gave to me, although for a long time i didn't know why i hated it so much.

first i went with billy, since i was on a long-running collaborative writing site and one of my character's names there was billy, and most of the members would call me that anyhow, so it made sense to continue using that, but it never really felt like my own.  i then started using jack, but it's the name of a guy i once fell in love with, so i didn't really feel like it was appropriate.  then my sister was round one day and we got onto the subject of names, and she suggested finding a name that begins with the same initial, so we went looking on some naming sites, and heath jumped out at me.  i've always liked the name, and it reminded me of heath ledger, who i've always had a lot of respect for.  our personalities are pretty similar, he's got (or had) the same reserved intensity, so i thought it was a nice fit. 

an amusing side note, my second name begins with L. 

"Other."

I knew I didn't want to use the masculine version of my given name as my first name, but I like the meaning of my given name, so I used the masculine version as my middle name. First name, "Asher," I found after five minutes of looking through a list of boys' names on the internet. It just kind of jumped out and attached itself to me, and we've been together ever since  ;D

I was transitioning in place and didn't wanna make a huge leap from my birth name. I ended up with Stephe for a silly reason. Most online places Steph or Stephanie has been taken but Stephe is usually available. I used this for at least 10 years before I got my name legally changed so went with this. On hindsight I wish I had spelled it Stephey but I'm OK with having a unique spelling of my name.

I'd thought about just using the feminine version of my name when I transition (Daniela/Daniella), but I already have a friend with that name and it's confusing enough as it is. If I was born a girl I would've been Bethany May (initials: BMW) but that doesn't feel right. Before I was born, Mum wanted to call me Jack, but decided the moment I was born that I didn't look like a Jack; I like the name Jacqueline, but I have a bit of a history with someone called Jacqueline, so it's best that I forget that. Emily is the name that feels right for me. I plan to let my parents decide on a middle name for me.

I'm still in the pre-stages of working towards transition (seeing a therapist) but I've had my name chosen since I was 13-14.  It's always been a name I loved for one reason or another and can't honestly say why. 

It's a unisex name but I've always seen myself as a Shannon.

I have always had a setimental place for the name Jennifer and I really like the shortened version to Jenni (with an "i" and not "y"). I've never had an intimate past with any one with that name, but I've some special friends over the years. It just has a certain ring to me that makes sense. My middle I chose is Elizabeth, because I love that name as well. Someday it will be my legal name. My last name will remain the same.

When I was a kid I wanted Cid or Sidney. Not sure why, or why I don't anymore.

Apparently (I found this out recently) Ayden is a pretty common name for transguys. *shrug*

I had a hard time, because there are a few names I liked a lot: Vincent, Julius, Luka, Mathias and Glenn to name a few.

I picked Ayden because that was the name of the knight in stories my Grandpa used to tell me all the time. It was called "Ayden's Adventures in Awesomeland". He would make up a new story every time about this knight who never did anything too impressive, but he was a decent guy. He used it because it was the name he and grandma picked out for their first child (different spelling though), who died about an hour after he was born. Grandpa picked my legal name too, which is Erin. I figured taking Ayden and keeping my legal as my middle was the best way I could honor him. He was the first person I ever told that was a boy, and I didn't want to wear dresses. He told me 'Well kiddo, sometimes boys have to do some yucky things and dirty work, but it ain't all bad.' I also chose it because it means 'little fire' which goes together with my personality and because Grandpa let me burn my most hated dress in his garage after a day when I came home in tears one day.

Grandpa always called me his little hellraiser and Grandma calls me her firebrand. Just seemed to fit.

I came across my name, Amrisa, in a weird way. I took the name Michael and ran it through an Middle Earth type of elven name generator. It came up with Amras and a geeker friend of mine told me a female version of that name was Amrisa. I absolutely feel in love with it.

What can I say I'm a geek and loving it.

Quote from: Felix on January 02, 2012, 01:16:56 AM
I went by Spike as a street name when I was younger. ;D

I went by Spliff.

Bygones...

I tried Tori out when I registered here.

Why? Baby name websites. I identified with it and it was close enough...

Thought of it as a joke when I picked it... an online persona. Now I love and live it.

Tori. Means Victory. Short for Victoria.

But I hate Victoria... so... I go by Tori.

;)

you folk with your cool street names.

i was forced to endure 'cookie'.  ten years later, if i ever happen to see them in passing, some people still call me that.