Susan's Place Transgender Resources

Forum family, recently I got to wondering why we choose our forum names as we do.

I mean, some are obvious, but others speak of serious mental angst or life upheaval.  Maybe they are a true reflection of the state of the person, or maybe not.  Some might be trivial, like using the image on the coffee cup we're using.

So, in all seriousness, how you did you choose your forum name, and why? 

I'm particularly interested in those who've chosen names that jump out at us for their emotional impact.  But thinking about it a bit more, for many of us the name we have chosen does have personal emotional impact, and this too would be interesting.

To get the ball rolling, Julia was the name I chose for myself when I first fully realised I was trans 20 years ago.  It was a desperate time for me emotionally, realising that I was a girl, and also that I was more attracted to males.  Julia seemed to be a very feminine name - I never contemplated others.  Madrid is easy; I live here. 

Your turn...

An interesting start to a post that may well reflect things. I started off here as Cindy James; a mix of my new and old. As I 'became or accepted' Cindy; James died, so I changed my name to Cindy - and that is who I am!

Funny, I was talking to my original psychiatrist recently and he asked me what my male name was? He couldn't remember and I struggled to remember. He has gone >:-) and I do not miss him :laugh:

My name is in honour of my former partner.

Her name is Jennifer. She had a horrible accident that was beyond words to describe.
It happened in 2007 thus the 07.

I lover her terribly but things will never be the same again.
I miss her so much. :'(

My name is the name my parents chose if I would have become a girl. Now, they got a girl, just a "different" one  :angel:

Well,...I'm a KAT and I think you can figure out the rest.

Welp mine's fairly simple hehe ;)

When I was younger I drew comics and for one I wanted to make into a proper book I made the main character a young boy called Matt. He reflected a lot of me, he did things I wished I could and he was based on me, but that was a secret.

So, I thought Matthew could work, and it just seemed to fit. On the forums I get one name, so I made it my formal name, Matthew. But on the chat I go by Matt, Matthew (if I'm grumpy ;) ) Mattchu or MattKitty :)

I was boring, I just used my first name, but it was taken.
Mark1 seemed too cocky, Mark2 seemed too much a play on words (2-two-to-too), but Mark3 sounded okay to me.?

In the past I might have used the code name of a female comic book character but this time I decided to use the name I was planning on taking once I transitioned - so Grace it was. The Ms is just a reflection of the fact that I hated being called Mr and was dying to become a Ms!

Named after the star system, named after ancient Greek vain queen, Cassiopeia, who 'boasted of her unrivalled beauty'.
Tongue firmly in cheek.
And I like the name Cassie. I would have been Cassie o'pia - Irish sounding if the apostrophe was allowed.

Pretentious? Moi?
:-)

I like the name Kate and even if I ultimately do not go with it, I'm using it here. The "imagine" part is how I cope. I try to dream and imagine myself in the correct gender.

I chose my forum name by using my first name that would become my legal name not to long after joining the site and then the year that I started my transition medically being 2014.

My dad's former best friend who I felt close to once described me as "someone who walks on the edge of the way the world is supposed to be." At the time and still, I felt like that was an accurate description and felt proud of it. Not because it's necessarily a positive thing (although it's not necessarily a negative thing either), but because it's me.

It's my old AOL handle.  After trying a dozen variations of "Id" or "Demon of Elru" and all of them already being taken, I decided to use a name from a less well-known character.  I chose VeryGnawty, a boss in the old Donkey Kong Country video game.  Just like the real VeryGnawty, I will probably fall down if you stomp on my head thrice.

Quote from: Jenny07 on October 11, 2014, 04:17:30 AM
My name is in honour of my former partner.

Her name is Jennifer. She had a horrible accident that was beyond words to describe.
It happened in 2007 thus the 07.

I lover her terribly but things will never be the same again.
I miss her so much. :'(

Jenny, I think you are amazing.  Strength, sister!

I used a simple take on what we all know as a 'Busy Bee', one that has lots to do. However adding the breezy component reflects my attitude to life, I believe in not being too serious.

Oh, did I mention my names Bree also xx

(See, it just simply works)  :)

Years ago I was web cruising on my day off from work and read a news story of the murder of a pretty young rising actress named Lyric Benson. She had defied her religiously conservative Midwestern parents and gone to Hollywood. She had done a few small roles in network TV shows. After a breakup with her boyfriend the guy had shown up at her doorstep and shot her to death, then killed himself.

We hear stories like this in the news all the time, but for some reason I spent a good while on the web learning about the lady and thought she seemed like a pretty interesting person. It seemed to me super sad her life had been cut short so soon. I sent $100 to a charity fund her parents had set up in her name and decided to honor her life by recalling her with my online username here and in several other places.

Was listening to Jefferson Airplane's White Rabbit and thought it seemed appropriate.

Its my first name followed by middle and last initial. I used to use different names, but I got too many complaints about them.

Interesting thread.

I am actually thinking about changing my name here as I'm using my real name. I am out at work where I contact a lot of people and I've had some folks approaching me asking for advice about transitioning and such which is really great. I'm just a bit paranoid that someone who is new to transgender issues may stumble here and realize who I am. I'm not hiding my transgender status but I have talked about some of my issues like having PTSD and an ED and stuff. I don't necessarily want people at work to know that. Also, word has trickled back to my crazy family that I have transitioned. I do NOT want them finding me here. Yes, that's paranoid but they found me once online and I don't ever want that to happen again.

So... what should my new name be? Hmmm..

I chose Cynthia because growing up I was good friends with a Cynthia and I wanted to be her. I like the name Rachel so perhaps when the time I will have a tough choice. My middle assigned name is Michael so Michelle way easy. So Cynthia Michele is my present chosen name.

It's obvious that I chose Eevee because I am a huge Pokemon fan. Eevee isn't my absolute favorite Pokemon though (It's Ninetales), so there's more to it. Eevee is the Pokemon that's all about change and evolution, which I thought fit pretty well with transitioning. One day I will evolve too, but it will take time. Oh, Eevee is also absolutely adorable, which might have had a little bit to do with it.  ;D

It was the first name that came to me when I had to change my user name from '_____________'.  No significance whatsoever.  I like the anonymity I have here, and I can ask the kinds of things that my real life self is far too timid to ask without worrying that people will connect the dots.

My avatar, that has more far more significance than my name.

Quote from: Brenda E on October 11, 2014, 12:20:45 PM

My avatar, that has more far more significance than my name.

Brendaaaa!  Don't leave us with a soap opera ending girl. Tell us pleeeease...

Xxx
J

I just wanted a name that was simple and seemed pronounceable, and not at all connected with my real name in any way.

It's a meaningless sound I can use here, that doesn't tell too much about me on its own.

I picked this name for several reasons. When I was very young my mom was pregnant and it was a girl. She was going to name her Robin but it wasn't meant to be. Also the robin is the bird of spring and new beginnings, Seemed appropriate and I like the name.

Pianoforte is a part in the music where a whisper turns to a scream.

A pianoforte is an instrument that can play a limitless range of beautiful music (aka a piano, time has shortened the name of the instrument and chopped off half of the meaning).

When I arrived here, I needed a name that wasn't tied to my identity. I was worried about being found. Less so now, but it's still an issue. So I thought about a name for a little while, and realized that this was my moment when I stopped whispering to myself and started to shout my identity from the rooftops.

Well, the online rooftops, anyway.

I'd bet none of you would guess that it's my actual name.

Quote from: Brenda E on October 11, 2014, 12:20:45 PM
It was the first name that came to me when I had to change my user name from '_____________'.  No significance whatsoever.  I like the anonymity I have here, and I can ask the kinds of things that my real life self is far too timid to ask without worrying that people will connect the dots.

My avatar, that has more far more significance than my name.

It is much better than the frown you used to wear.

I'd just like to add that I love Brenda's avatar.

It's a nickname off my real name, Melissa. The remaining rmdlm, is private, but has meaning.

5th Element... why not! ;)

Mine is just a pet name I use for my dogs and such. I think it's cute to tack the word pants onto anything I call them! Silly pants, cutie pants, crazy pants, pumpkin pants, puppy pants etc... I just think it's adorable for some reason :p

It's dull (if by "dull" you mean that there's no deep reason).

My username is actually SonsOfSamedi.  There are a few monikers I use across various web sites (AboveGL is a reference to my former skydiving passion and Garrett is my admiration of the protagonist in the Thief series).  Sometimes, I just use whatever sounds cool to me at the time.  When I first signed up, I just completed Saints Row 2 and took a weird liking to one of the enemy street gangs called the Sons of Samedi, mostly because I liked the name.

Now I settle for my femme name.  There's a group of awesome people I hang out with online and we'd play mafia games with lots of roleplay.  A good friend of mine went with Kimberley Beauregard and I just liked how it sounds (and like the cosplayer Eve Beauregard) so I went with that.

I took a gender-neutral-ish name that I liked.  I ended up selecting it not for myself but for a different purpose that didn't go anywhere, but it was short and not commonly used (no one had taken it here yet, for example).

I choose Wendy because I wanted something simple and feminine, but I also thought it had a little "elegance" to it, if you will.  I feel it also has a playfulness to it, and it makes me think of Peter Pan... 

'Cause I'm a superhero.

First few letters of first name and surname. Wanted to keep it as real as possible but my name was taken. Suppose it could also mean the start of a new life :-)

Quote from: Julia-Madrid on October 11, 2014, 12:49:42 PM
Brendaaaa!  Don't leave us with a soap opera ending girl. Tell us pleeeease...

It's a rather boring story.  I drew a different version of her very early on when struggling with my gender identity, and that version had an unhappy face.  A bad time for me, lonely, upset, frustrated etc.  We've all been there.  I was in a hotel room while traveling for work, experimenting with my "makeup" (which, at the time, was lipstick and eyeliner - yeah, I know, hardly a recipe for success.)  Got mad at how mannish I looked, scribbled the picture on one of the tiles and took a photo of her before I threw all my stuff away.  Changed her to happier version when life became better a few months later, and I haven't needed to change her back.  She's been with me throughout my entire journey, and I'm kinda fond of her.  She reflects who I am far more than my name, although she's due for an update - gender stuff is working out just fine right now; it's the rest of my life that is crumbling around me. :(

Quote from: cassieohpia on October 11, 2014, 03:22:51 PM
I'd just like to add that I love Brenda's avatar.

Thanks!

My reasoning for picking my forum name was quite elaborate. Firstly, my name is Jo. Secondly I am amazing. Somehow it just seemed to fit :D
I couldn't think of anything better so I just ran with it. The name's kinda arrogant and fun a little bit like me tbh :P

When I joined here a lyric from the song from flashdance popped into my head ("I am riven...") so I chose "riven_one". I picked that name because I identified as androgyne - riven means "split" which seemed appropriate for an androgyne identity. There was already a "riven" registered here so I tacked on "_one".

I then changed it to "riven1" because "riven_one" seemed unwieldy. A friend that's also on here later pointed out that I had picked a name that was kind of catchy (ie: "I am a riven one").

When I decided to transition I changed it to "Eva Marie" which was going to be (and is) my legal first and middle name.

Alesium was a character from an older story I had worked on writing several years ago.  This character was able to switch genders and sexual characteristics from female (Alesium) to male (Aselium).  In a way, this character also had a split personality depending on whether Alesium or Aselium was visible.  I started using this username for a few things online about a year before realizing I was transgender.  Funny how that worked out...

Toodles from TN,
Ales

Too many Kim's here and I'm big so that's how.

Mitchell is my preferred name (not legal, yet!) and Deathbell is a plant found in the game Skyrim, lol. I like Skyrim.
I thought Mitchell and Deathbell kind of rhymed. Or at least they visually rhymed (both end in "ell")

i came here as an "explorer", but i soon realized that's no good name for a person.
so i took an old nick over here. got so used to being called taka on some other forum that it's just weird to be called anything else.

someone on the chat thought i was japanese, because all the takas they knew were japanese.
and it's kind of right, because it is just a shorter form of takamura (i must be the only person who still thought they were a girl even after choosing this nick at some gay forum...)
but i'm not japanese, just a fan of hajime no ippo, and the manly comedy man takamura.
funny how i chose that name, didn't feel manly enough so i made up for it with... well...

now i'm just taka though. takamura is too long to write, so people soon ended up shortening it to taka-chan. which isn't really shorter, but a lot cuter.
and i like hawks, so that's more than enough for a name. my given name is the eagle, which is also a kind of hawk (though a more majestic kind).

I did not choose my name, it just found me one Halloween night many, many years ago. I went to a club that Halloween with a friend of mine as myself and a person mistook me for someone he knew. It's been my name ever since.

A Sephirah is the singular term for one of the points of the Qaballah Tree Of Life. The plural is Sephiroth, or Sephirot (yes, that's where Square nicked it from for Final Fantasy)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sephirot

That and I just rather liked it. There are enough Laurens floating around. :P

You can all thank her ^ for my adorable forum name, hehe.

I wanna go back to being big head horsey-face.  I miss that name, I felt it fit me best.

My older sister named me Tessa and treated me like a sister when we were kids.  She teased me about that frequently as an adult but like too much of my life I simply blanked it out and remembered nothing of it.  Transitioning later in life i want to honor and recognize my history and so changed my legal name to Tessa James with James being my old first name and now my middle name.  It has helped in my non binary and not always passable life and now, in my second year of transition, i more often am happy to be Tessa J or simply Tessa the tall and terrible. ;D  Seems i can't resist those wizard of oz references. :D

When I first got here Cindy James was and remains a popular friend and, like her, I am now content to let that created guy who carried me so long, to just lay down and retire.

Quote from: Cindy on October 11, 2014, 04:10:00 AM
An interesting start to a post that may well reflect things. I started off here as Cindy James; a mix of my new and old. As I 'became or accepted' Cindy; James died, so I changed my name to Cindy - and that is who I am!

Funny, I was talking to my original psychiatrist recently and he asked me what my male name was? He couldn't remember and I struggled to remember. He has gone >:-) and I do not miss him :laugh:

I always thought James was your surname. :P

Quote from: Sephirah on October 14, 2014, 01:39:17 PM
I always thought James was your surname. :P

Me too, lol. Guess I shouldn't make assumptions.

Davida is the name that my wife first called me after I came out to her( my name with an "a" on the end). I do not intend to keep the name as it does not fit my personality and my daughters are tryin to find a name that they think is more suitable for me.

I LOVE my DAUGTERS.

we have a friend in Portland that went from David to Vada.

Yes, my forum name is my real name. But I chose Alice for several reasons.

I love the connection it has with Alice in wonderland, I viewed my transition as a journey into a new world, through fantasy and through the trials and tribulations it brought with it, I emerge stronger and a better person for it and surely so did Lewis Carolls Alice....

I am living my dream, and loving my life, and maybe even liking myself now!

Alice
xx

Delsorou was originally the last name of my character in Uru - Ages Beyond Myst.  Then, when I was still completely closeted and subjecting myself to the fantasy that I would be able to live two lives, it was going to be my "female version's" last name.  On that pretense I used it for my gmail account.  Once I realized that the "male version" that I kept trying to acknowledge and build up wasn't working because it just wasn't there, and that I could and should just come out and keep my existing family name, I already had been using Delsorou everywhere.

After that, it kind of grew from the convenience of the fact that it's NEVER already in use when I join a group.  :D  It's actually really, really convenient for that.  I've never seen it already be in use.  Considering the name was the product of a decade long self-deceiving coping mechanism that put off my transition, I felt it was healthier to own it and put it to good use than to try and bury it.  :)

And that is the story of my online nickname.

For reference, my legal name is Aaryna Irwin.  That first name has its own origin story.  :)  I keep meaning to make a signature with it and I just haven't got around to it.

Quote from: Tessa James on October 14, 2014, 02:13:03 PM
we have a friend in Portland that went from David to Vada.

That is an intresting name. Is there a story to that?

Mine is a character from a series of Get Along Gang fanfiction that I write. She's the one on the right. Her girlfriend is the one on the left. I chose it because I like it.

There are a lot of Janets here. So add cg for cross gender and tv for transvesite. I didn't like Janet123456

Several years ago I decided I would try my hand at writing erotic fiction, hopefully to provide a new career and enough sales to afford transition. I eventually published several novels under the name Traci M Knight. I chose Traci because Traci Lords was such a naughty young girl. M came out of no where but I decided on Melissa, the name of my therapist who helped me get out of a major funk and gave me a letter of recommendation for hrt. Knight just sounded cool plus a play on the word night evoking thoughts of dark and shadows. Hence traci_k just shortening my name for when I do transition.

It's just a mix between Marcel and the nickname Marshmellow.

I liked that guy, Marshmallow, in a book by Paul Zindel. I like all Paul Zindel books I have read..