Susan's Place Transgender Resources

Mine right now is from a joke, "I'm a man, duh". I don't like it any more. How did you choose your name?

Amanda is a nice name.  Keep it or don't, but if you're going overanalyze like that, you might tire of the next name too.

 Wife gave it to me. Because of my size, she thought of me as big German broad. I do have a little German, but I am predominantly Italian and then Celtic/Anglo blood.


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I've always had an affinity for my name, and variations of my name. Could never explain why. Lauren, Laura, Lara... I can't explain what it is.

But I decided on Lauren to honor someone very close to me who died. She was called Lauren. So a large part is in her memory. I only wish I could be 1/100th the amazing person she was, but I try to be.

My boy name was Keith, and Kathy is as close as I could get to a feminine version of that.  I picked Kathleen over Katherine because Kathleen is the Irish version.  I was born in Ireland, I have Celtic blood in me, and Keith was a Scottish name.  So it all ties together and feels right to me.  Kathleen was at the height of its popularity as a girl's name right around the time I was born, so it is age-appropriate.

I picked Lauren, because it was the feminine version of my middle name, and was not inappropriate for my generation.  (Actress Lauren Bacall was at the height of her career when I was born.)

These choices also kept my initials the same, which had practical advantages.  For example, I needed to order new cheques not long before I transitioned socially.  I knew I would still be using them after my legal name change.  So I just ordered them with my initials instead of my name.

I could have chosen something totally different, and my wife had innumerable suggestions.  But none of them felt like me.  By that time, I was already using KathyLauren here, and people were addressing me that way.  It felt more and more like that was who I was.

My friends picked it for me but I wasn't having it at first. This was a few months ago and since I've looked up every name you can think of. No joke. I mean I was really trying to figure this name thing out.

About a week ago I woke up and I felt like Allison. It was just like it clicked that was who I am finally. It wasn't that I didn't like the name when my friends suggested it once and then suggested it again. But I had to feel that that name was me. Now I feel that way and it makes me not want to hear my birth name anymore. It's kind of scary but very exciting!

I can finally see my future..

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Well have a goal in mind!!!! Everyone has a different approach to this. Mine was to keep my initials. I also wanted something different and unique so no Jessica, Jessi, Sarah, Joan, Jane, or anything fairly common place. Sorry for those that chose one that is common but, I didn't find that they fit me. So I set out like when you are having a baby and looked up baby girl names. I looked under "J" because my first initial is and was "J". So I got looking and ran across Jailyn and loved the ring to it. It just resounded with me. It was like a lightbulb came on!!!! Ding ding ding you are correct for a million dollars. Now this is what I did but, I have heard a few on here I hadn't thought of or considered which are equally great!!!! Pick what feels right to you there is no right or wrong way to approach choosing your name.

I got my name from a Pokemon. Polly is short for Poliwhirl, which is a water Pokemon. I'm not even a big fan of that particular Pokemon, I just really like the names Poliwhirl and Polly. And yes, I do know Polly is a real name for real people and is short for Molly, which is a pet name for Mary. But I'm a nerd and I got it from a Gameboy game.

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I too wanted to keep the same first initial. My middle initial was also D. So I went with Dee Dee which is the familiar of Denise.

My first girlfriend 45 years ago was also Denise so I asked for her permission before I told anyone else (for +6 months I kept it a secret).  In the end she was honored and excited.

My middle name is the name my parents would have used had I been AFAB.  Added bonus, I now have the same initials as my grandmother (r.i.p.)

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"Choose" that's the best way to word it. You don't pick a name, you choose it.

Devlyn, here on the forums, picked mine. I chose it. It made me warm and fuzzy. Little did I know the hidden meaning and importance behind it. Do you believe in fate? it makes me want to. Something interceded at that time, the right time.

I was named by a friend who didn't like what I had chosen.

Quote from: Faith on December 30, 2017, 08:26:29 AM
"Choose" that's the best way to word it. You don't pick a name, you choose it.

Devlyn, here on the forums, picked mine. I chose it. It made me warm and fuzzy. Little did I know the hidden meaning and importance behind it. Do you believe in fate? it makes me want to. Something interceded at that time, the right time.

Faith had asked us to suggest names, and indicated that she knew it would be difficult from reading forum posts. I went and read her posts and the name Faith seemed to fit her. I'm thrilled that my suggestion became her choice.  :)

Hugs, Devlyn

My parents chose mine.  It was my name before the birth thing gave me the wrong gender.  Then I was given the male version.  I was told about my original name so often, it was natural for me to keep it.  I had already been using it inline for an least 15 years in online forums before accepting myself and formally saying that's me.

Bari Jo

Quote from: Jailyn on December 29, 2017, 09:59:48 PM
Well have a goal in mind!!!! Everyone has a different approach to this. Mine was to keep my initials. I also wanted something different and unique so no Jessica, Jessi, Sarah, Joan, Jane, or anything fairly common place. Sorry for those that chose one that is common but, I didn't find that they fit me. So I set out like when you are having a baby and looked up baby girl names. I looked under "J" because my first initial is and was "J". So I got looking and ran across Jailyn and loved the ring to it. It just resounded with me. It was like a lightbulb came on!!!! Ding ding ding you are correct for a million dollars. Now this is what I did but, I have heard a few on here I hadn't thought of or considered which are equally great!!!! Pick what feels right to you there is no right or wrong way to approach choosing your name.

Mine was to keep my initials also but throw a curve maybe. Christyn with the "y" looks nice- and I never had issues with my given name, generally, so I just went with the woman's variant. Not too much though. No over analysis. Just Christyn Georgeanne. [emoji1381]‍♀️


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I chose Tony. It is short version of my son's name. I wanted a family name. Also my mom said, chose anything you like, but Peter. Her crazy ex was called Peter.


Tony

I looked up the top 100 baby girl names at social security from the year I was born.  I was having trouble picking a name and kept hearing Tara on a TV show I liked that had a character named that.  I was starting to like it and lo and behold it was smack dab in the middle of the list.  My middle name is Jane.  I asked my best friend of 10 years to help me pick out a middle name and she said she liked Jane and that was that, I liked it to.  I changed my last name from a long Polish name to my former middle name as well.  I mean, hell, if I'm going to go through the name change process then I at least want an easy last name as well.

Quote from: Jailyn on December 29, 2017, 09:59:48 PM
Well have a goal in mind!!!! Everyone has a different approach to this. Mine was to keep my initials. I also wanted something different and unique so no Jessica, Jessi, Sarah, Joan, Jane, or anything fairly common place. Sorry for those that chose one that is common but, I didn't find that they fit me. So I set out like when you are having a baby and looked up baby girl names. I looked under "J" because my first initial is and was "J". So I got looking and ran across Jailyn and loved the ring to it. It just resounded with me. It was like a lightbulb came on!!!! Ding ding ding you are correct for a million dollars. Now this is what I did but, I have heard a few on here I hadn't thought of or considered which are equally great!!!! Pick what feels right to you there is no right or wrong way to approach choosing your name.

I too wanted to keep my first initial the same so I had to look at "J" names.  Jessie just seemed to fit me.  I added two middle names to honor the most important people in my life in getting me to where I am today.  One of my middle names is a family name "Lee" which is the middle name of a great grandfather and the uncle who taught me me so much about construction and home remodeling.  The second is "Ann" which was my mothers name.  So I am legally Jessie Lee Ann.......

Quote from: Sephirah on December 29, 2017, 04:43:29 PM
I've always had an affinity for my name, and variations of my name. Could never explain why. Lauren, Laura, Lara... I can't explain what it is.

But I decided on Lauren to honor someone very close to me who died. She was called Lauren. So a large part is in her memory. I only wish I could be 1/100th the amazing person she was, but I try to be.

And you be Greta instead of my auntie?

I chose the name, Rain, when I was maybe 11 years old, when I glimpsed my future through the vessel of another.  I kept it in my back pocket as a potential name or middle name if I ever had a daughter, but decided to take it for myself when my wife and I finally decided that we were not going to have children.  I told my wife in mid-2016, I think, and started using it in social settings in October, 2016, then at work and everywhere else in January, 2017.  Legally changed it in July, 2017.  There are many reasons that I like Rain- it is fluid, calming, and reassuring for me.  Being in the rain has always made me feel super grounded and connected to nature and myself.  It's also an inside joke that I share with myself around my monthly infusions for my primary immune deficiency disease. 
Lucien has always been my middle name.  It was my mother's father's name, and he passed when my mother was very young.  When I was young I absolutely hated it, but as I grew older, I also grew to love it and did not want to change it, so I didn't.

My wife helped me choose the name Veronica.

My name is originally Antoine, so I was going to be simple and go with Antoinette. My mother was expecting me to be a girl and had that name planned for me but when I was born she made it Antoine for obvious reasons lol.

I thought of my middle name being Lynn. I've always admired Marilyn Monroe, so even though it's Lynn... using the two names together kind of expresses the Lynn as if saying Marilyn.

My wife also thought Vicky was a good nickname to go by instead of Veronica all the time. So far Vicky has been used more than Veronica while texting/chatting casually. I'm finding Veronica is used more formally...

xoxo Vicky  :P

I'm planning on changing my name to Cassiopeia or Cassi for short.  Still tossing middle name around, may do Lynn or Sue.

When I started posting here I was considering using the name Rebecca.  But after a bit I realized it wasn't me. When I came out I came out as Sofia.  My friends and family now call me Sofie.  I went through a brief period where I considered several other names. But Sofie feels like me.

I will keep my name which is in my home language. It sounds somewhat soft in English, which I am happy with.

My name ended up being chosen for me as much as I chose it.  It was just too awkward being "A Girl with No Name." (Game of Thrones reference)

It was on the shortlist, along with many biblical names such as Hannah, Sarah, Elizabeth and Mary/Marie.  The common thread was women who had been incorrectly diagnosed as infertile.

Freya had the advantage of being the name of the Goddess of fertility, sharing the first two letters of my grandfather's name who I was named after, being the name of a pioneering British explorer of the Middle East, and being a name that was declining in popularity in 1964, but was still pretty common.

I'm still deciding on changing my name. My name is gender neutral and I actually know more males with it then females, so technically I wouldn't have to change it. On the other hand changing it would provide the distinction between old me and new me. If I do change it, it will be Bradley James. If I had been a boy I would have have been Braden James. I like Bradley better than Braden, and James was my dad's middle name.

I love my new name.  :D

I feel like I've told this story before. I'm sorry if I'm repeating myself.

The name I use here, and everywhere else I am on-line, is not my new name. I thought it might be, in the beginning; but it didn't stick. I changed all three of my names: first, middle and last. I've always disliked all of them intensely (a lady isn't supposed to say "hate," lol).

My first name is somewhat exotic. I ran into it many years ago in an obscure novel and fell in love with it. I had always planned to bestow it upon a daughter; but, since I ended up not having one, I took it for myself.

My middle name is a variation on another fictional character, this one from television. When I first embraced the fact that I would rather have been born female, years before realizing I was transgender, I asked myself, if I could be a woman, what woman would I want to be? And I didn't even have to think; I knew. She sprang into my brain instantly, and I was in outer space. It was my first experience of gender euphoria, and I was high for days. This fictional character is me; she is so much me that when I look at her photograph it's like looking in a mirror. She expresses all the repressed qualities in me. If I were undamaged and uninhibited, I would be she.

My last name is very common; I did that intentionally. What I did not realize, however, is how my names express who I am, like a Russian matryoshka doll. My last name is understated, which is the image I present to the world. My middle name, which is the one I go by, is the me you get to know if we are acquainted. My first name, which I do not use socially, is the inner me, the wild, expressive, unmasked me. As I say, I didn't plan it that way, but it works out just so.

I'm glad this topic came up. I got my new driver's license today (Sex: F!), and I'm very happy.  :D

I had a lesbian friend at work that helped me come up with Chelsea. She was the only one that I felt comfortable with talking about it at the time. It is very close to my male name (Charles) so I get to keep my initials also. It feels right to me. :)