Susan's Place Transgender Resources

I have a unisex name, so I shouldn't want to change my name. But so many people know me with my real name. I want to change it, but I can't think of a name. The name I want would make my friend get upset with me (don't ask why), and it's already the name of my cat. So I need new ideas to get a name. Sorry for wording it wrong. Anyways, please share how you chose your new name.

Also, I'm sorry if I posted this wrong or something. I'm new to the site.

Hi zom!

Well..one day i was on teenspot (lol..) and i saw this cute kid named Damian. He was just so nice and amazing i just fell in love with that name ever since. >.>

and ever since then i've been known as Damian.

Try baby books, mine came in a dream state.

I found my name on yahoo answers.  I posted a picture of myself in the LGBT section.. and I asked people.. what they thought my name was.

I had one person say Elijah.. and I fell in love with the name (like Damian lol) and then on yahoo answers.. I said "hey I like that name" and everyone else agree'd that I looked like an Elijah.

I also finally decided on Elijah because of a few factors.. I felt like it fit me, it seemed a little bit feminine and formal, old fashioned sounding, I love names that start with E, I like the way Elijah looks, and Ive always been fond of the actor Elijah Wood.

I went with the male version of my birth-name, which I used as a nickname off and on since age 14. So, for me, that was just the natural choice.

Quote from: M.Grimm on June 03, 2010, 04:03:23 AM
I went with the male version of my birth-name, which I used as a nickname off and on since age 14. So, for me, that was just the natural choice.

what is your name now?

I really don't know. I guess I picked Jacob because it's masculine, but it's not too strong of a name (if that made sense). It just fits me, at least that's what I think.

As for me I've always liked the name Jason when I told my friend about me she asked if I'd ever thought about what I'd like to be called so I told her and she said ok but forgive me if I shortern it to Jay, I was like thats fine I like that to for short.  Then she said you look more like a Jay anyway :)

I had the nickname 'Rue' for a while, since I started a 'new life' after chemo, and have been introducing myself to new people as such ever since. When I came to the realisation that I was trans, I thought, to save trouble with friends getting my new name, I decided to find one that would still have 'Rue' as a shortened version. So, after deliberation, I came up with Ruben, since its not screamingly common, AND I didn't think I was a Rupert. xD So, my friends don't have to change a thing when they call my name. ^^

I had a really uncommon female name that started with C so I tried to pick a name that started with C that wasn't very common like Chris or something. I am a writer so at the time I had a character naming book with names from different cultures and personality traits and such so I went through it with my girlfriend and Carson just clicked.

My parents would have called me Ryan if I'd have been born male. I liked it, so that was that :)

Quote from: Ryan on June 03, 2010, 12:43:26 PM
My parents would have called me Ryan if I'd have been born male. I liked it, so that was that :)

my name would have been Cody stone moyer, but now my brother is named that or else i would have picked that.

I just went through websites of baby names &chose about 50, went through them a few times with my ex. I wanted something that started with a M or a C, something unisex &different/uncommon.

But now I feel like doing what Elijah did, asking ppl what they think my name is.

I saw a random guy online called Addison, this was about 5 years ago, I just loved the name instantly & legally changed it about 3 or 4 months ago.

I wish there was a name that just screamed out to me.  So far, I haven't found anything like that, I don't think.

i chose Rex because well, it's kinda dumb but i love dogs...and that's a classic dog name, i love the western/cowboy scene, and Rex just seems like the ultimate Cowboy name, and also Rex means king..i like the meaning of it. also t.rex! who doesnt love t.rex

I just asked Mom what she'd have named me if I were born a boy. The largest amount of effort I put in was messing with spelling (Nikolai vs. Nicholi) and I decided on Nikolai, which turned out to be how my Mom would have spelled it anyway. I also took a lucky guess on what my middle name would have been; for my birthname I got my grandmother's name on her side, so I figured I'd have gotten my grandfather's.
It's not a common name but neither is my birthname, or my brother's, so it works. I also think it just kind of "fits," like it would if I had been given it at birth and grew up with it.

I took the name Noah from a TV show [Glee FTW!]
I was gonna be Nathan, but it didn't fit me well, plus if I were to have a kid, I would name him that.
I also asked my mom what she would've named me, but she said she didn't know and that my dad wanted to name me Nathan. Which is a weird coincidence. But she said she would've convinced him to pick something else, since that was the name of an ex-boyfriend she had gotten pretty serious before my dad who cheated on her. So I respected her wishes and promised not to go with Nathan. XD

I just masculinized my birth name (hey, I'm old, too set in my ways to be very creative, esp. with my name!  LOL).  But there was a kid in my 5th grade class with the name, and I always liked it.  The nickname I could do without, but that's what everybody calls me anyway.  Oh, well.


Jay

I've kept my first name the same since it's unisex with the male spelling. My middle name is a name I like alot, I like the meaning of the name but it's the German and Slavic version of the more common English name. That ties into my heritage as well as my family using German and Slavic spelling of names. So, it's a name I love with a nod to my family and heritage.

Figured I'd need a new name, tired of this one and it outs me all the time. Meh. So I thought about it, went over male names in my mind until I found one that wasn't pinned on anyone I already knew, and it just seemed to sort of fit.

Asked my mom for suggestions, but she refused. Don't think she can really think of me by any other name or as a male which is too bad. Father didn't really have ideas. SO is like my mom, meh.

I've been Paul in my head for years and years going back to my early teenage years.  It possible had something to do with Paul McCartney of the Beatles at one point but it quickly took on a life of it's own.  I've role played quite a bit with a character named Paul as well.  It just seems to fit me just right.

My parents would have named me Devin Scott, so that's what I'm going with.

Quote from: ~Jay~ on June 03, 2010, 06:29:07 AM
As for me I've always liked the name Jason when I told my friend about me she asked if I'd ever thought about what I'd like to be called so I told her and she said ok but forgive me if I shortern it to Jay, I was like thats fine I like that to for short.  Then she said you look more like a Jay anyway :)

This has nothing at all to do with what you said, but I just noticed your profile pictures. It's too small for me to tell exactly, but are you using a picture of Mana? Forgive me for asking if that isn't the case.

At first I went with Adan because I'd always liked the name and it was the name of an old roleplaying character of mine, but it didn't feel like it really fit so eventually I made a list and went through it with my brother and his fiancée and we decided Cassidy. It's Irish and so was my birth name since I'm mostly Irish, is unisex, the same name as a really awesome comic book character in Preacher (Which since I'm a comic nerd and always have been was pretty cool o.o), and it reminds me of Butch Cassidy the infamous bank/train robber from the Wild West.

I quite like shortening it to just Sid as a nickname too. It's just an overall cool name if you ask me.

Quote from: Sid on June 04, 2010, 11:00:19 AM
At first I went with Adan because I'd always liked the name and it was the name of an old roleplaying character of mine, but it didn't feel like it really fit so eventually I made a list and went through it with my brother and his fiancée and we decided Cassidy. It's Irish and so was my birth name since I'm mostly Irish, is unisex, the same name as a really awesome comic book character in Preacher (Which since I'm a comic nerd and always have been was pretty cool o.o), and it reminds me of Butch Cassidy the infamous bank/train robber from the Wild West.

I quite like shortening it to just Sid as a nickname too. It's just an overall cool name if you ask me.

Sid/Syd is  a great name, always loved it. Never realised how it could be a nickname for Cassidy though. that s also a neat name i think.

and also, wild west names unite! haha butch cassidy was mint

Haha yes Wild West names are awesome. Man now I want to go watch some old westerns. :P

I've liked the name Vincent for a long time now. I was going to be called Zachary if I was born a boy, and I was tempted to go with that, but I liked Vincent better.

I picked a few names out of a baby book then went through them with my mum and we both agreed on Nathan because it fit me.

The first time I chose a name I used the baby name book thing, picked out several that I didn't hate, then showed my list to everyone I knew. I also set up a few online polls. The voting thing worked out well and the name I hated least was on top.

The second time, after discovering that yes, I really do hate that name after all, I came up with Rowan and then another list of names to be either first or middle names. Voting again. Polls again. Came up with one that I thought was okay for a middle name.

About a year later I decided that I HATED that middle name too. Just never happy, eh? So I took forever and eventually landed on Murray late one night while watching Scrubs.

If I had to do it all again though, I would probably go with Elijah's idea. That just seems like too good an idea not to go with.

Why not a contest with fabulous prizes for the winner?  People do great work when promised fabulous prizes.

I mean the first time your parents name you and have that whole 'family' deal to have to work around and through.  Then you name yourself.  But why not let everyone else name you?  What do they think you really are?

I wish I had a better story on how I came up with my name, but I simply just took my dad's middle name since that would've been my name anyways, and Kyle just rolled off the tongue for a middlename, so James Kyle it is.

I'm a teacher, which makes choosing a name REALLY hard as just about every name has a mental image of some horrible little tearaway attached to it.

I picked a couple of names I really liked because they were kind of simple and classic and "age-appropriate" (!!) - Owen and Mark came out tops. My partner liked Owen, but Mark sort of stuck. Actually the final vote went with my super-cool 13 yr old daughter - she likes the name Mark, and even gave me a card the other day with that name on it. I cried.

I was always either Elliot or Eli in my head for years. Usually I only brought them out during sex because I could get away with roleplaying as a guy safely.  Then I was like, no I want this to be all the time. I thought I would go with Elliot, but Eli seemed more natural to me in the end.  It's similar to my birth name, but I am really attached to the letter E, so I knew I had to have an E name.  For years most people had just called me E, rather than my birth name anyway.  At work I was known as Ego, my initials haha.  My best mate didn't like Elliot because he got badly beaten up by a guy named Elliot, so I understand that!  For my middle name I chose Jurgen, because I come from hearty German stock and I wanna keep that represented.  It's the German form of George and is also the name of one of my relatives and a good friend of my Dad's.  I also really like the fashion photographer Jurgen Teller.  In fact I like the name Jurgen so much I would kinda like my name to be Eli-Jurgen hyphenated.

I chose Alex for a few different reasons.  One is that I wanted something that could be unisex so that when I start to transition, ppl who see me as male won't wonder why my name's Christina, and likewise, those who see me as female won't wonder why I have a male name.  Another reason is that one of my fave video game characters (Axel from Kingdom Hearts II) has a name with the same letters, just rearranged.  I didn't want to take "Sora" or "Riku" (my other fave characters from the same game) because they're Japanese names and I didn't want ppl to be confused like, "How did you, being Caucasian, end up with a Japanese name?"  My 4th fave character's name is Roxas, but I figured anyone who knows the game would know exactly where I got it from.   ;D

I wanted something common enough, but not with zillions of ppl sharing the same name.  I also like the way Alex sounds both soft and strong.  My brothers names are Michael and David, so I knew I wouldn't go with either name, even if I had wanted something so incredibly common.

All in all, I guess Alex just spoke to me.  I did try the baby name book thing, but the one I was looking at is from the 80s, so it wasn't totally helpful.  Now, my middle name is a whole different story.  I originally selected Rene because it sounded good with Alex and my last name.  But after I used in in my username on this forum, I decided against it.  It sounded a little boring and weak.  So I went for Jamison instead, remembering that FTM author named Jamison Green.  I liked how sharp it sounded, and I took into consideration my affinity for J names.  Besides, it worked better with my initials: AJB sounds more like initials than ARB.  ARB sounds too close to the name of that restaurant, Arby's.  LOL.

Anyway, that's how I eventually chose Alex Jamison.  Now, if only I could change my username....  xD

I used to be a big Star Trek Next Generation fan...and I once posted a pic of me to a friend somewhere online and he said 'Damn! You look like Wil Wheaton!'...And I compared us and ...to my surprise, I did! I didn't take the name just yet though but later when Angel the Series came out, I fell in love with the character Wesley on there. He was a bit nerdy and a bit cool all at once and it reminded me a bit of me...So...that's how I chose my name, Wesley.

I'm a Christopher Walken fan...and I love the movie The Prophecy...which made me fall in love with the name "Gabriel" so I chose Gabriel (Gabe for short).  I told my friend this and she about died, because she wrote a story about a man named Gabriel who lived in Alexandria, Virginia (where I lived when we first met), we both thought it was kind of funny and kind of creepy at the same time.

I love the name Gabriel! I also wrote a story with a main character named Gabriel, years ago.  It was clearly a thinly veiled teenage male version of myself.

I've thought about a couple names that I've always liked, but I like my name and I've never really wanted to change it.  I'll probably just use the masculine form of my name.  No idea about a middle name, though...

My name chose me by accident. In 6th grade. Long before I figured out any of the gender stuff.

Here's the real kicker, though: My chosen name (Diane) is actually more feminine than my birth name! And I'm a stubborn-butt who refuses to get rid of a perfectly good name just because it doesn't "fit" my gender according to society's standards.

Had I been born a boy, my name would have been Kristopher Lee, which is an awesome name. However, it also happens to be my brother's name, now, so I can't really use it. XD Incidentally, though, Lee just so happens to be my favorite name in the entire universe. But Diane is my name, and I rather like it that way. I can always just stick "Mr." at the front and/or crack a joke about the name/gender mismatch when I introduce myself to people.

I haven't thought of any new name yet, because I really, really, like my birth name (it's unisex but leaning towards more feminine sounding) and any other name doesn't seem to suit me. My mum told me she was going to name me Tom/Thomas if I had been a boy, but I'm not incredibly fond of that name for myself. I think I'll end up just sticking with my birth name, but maybe have it as a middle name that I can use more often that my first. I dunno.

I chose James because it was my favorite male name. I felt like it suited me I suppose, nothing too special, though I did originally go by 'Kaden' for a while in high school when I was still trying to settle on a name. I chose the name Kaden at the time because it began with the same first letter as my birth name. My middle name is a sediment to my late girlfriend, who's father was related to Cecil B. DeMille somehow. She told me it was awesome sounding in between my hyphenated first name and my last name and it eventually grew on me.

Thus: James-Allen DeMille ____. haha it's long but it rings.

Some people put a lot of thought and meaning into their names, which is good, but I wouldn't stress over it too much. It's all about what suits ya.

My mom chose it. Shortly after I came out to her, we were talking and she all of a sudden said "does this mean you're not going to keep the name I gave you?" and seemed bummed out. I said "well, no I won't be keeping it as it's really fricken girly, mom... {laugh}, but I was hoping you could help me pick a new one?" She thought about it for a minute and said "How about James?" I really did like the name, and tossed it around in my head for a little while, along with "Steve" (my brother's suggestion) and "Braedon" (a name I had liked, but worried it was too 'new' compared to the era I was born - and named - in...). Eventually I just felt like James was the best fit, it felt like "me" and since then that feeling has been reinforced every time someone uses it.

Quote from: NES_junkie_James on June 18, 2010, 02:22:23 PM
My mom chose it. Shortly after I came out to her, we were talking and she all of a sudden said "does this mean you're not going to keep the name I gave you?" and seemed bummed out. I said "well, no I won't be keeping it as it's really fricken girly, mom... {laugh}, but I was hoping you could help me pick a new one?" She thought about it for a minute and said "How about James?" I really did like the name, and tossed it around in my head for a little while, along with "Steve" (my brother's suggestion) and "Braedon" (a name I had liked, but worried it was too 'new' compared to the era I was born - and named - in...). Eventually I just felt like James was the best fit, it felt like "me" and since then that feeling has been reinforced every time someone uses it.

Now that's cool! So your mom still got to name you...I bet she was happy as hell about that

Quote from: elvistears on June 17, 2010, 07:14:36 PM
I love the name Gabriel! I also wrote a story with a main character named Gabriel, years ago.  It was clearly a thinly veiled teenage male version of myself.

Awesome (to every sentence).  I recently started using Gabriel in a story I'm writing with my boyfriend and it's pretty much a character that is me, just male.

Quote from: Bones on June 18, 2010, 02:26:07 PM

Now that's cool! So your mom still got to name you...I bet she was happy as hell about that

She was indeed! :)