I just can't get past the whole name thing, it's driving me insane. My best guess would be because it's the only thing I can actually control at the moment in my transition, so maybe I'm somehow tricking myself into believe I've made a step forward everytime I change my name. Or something. Anyway, are you truly happy with using the name you chose or not? Because I don't know if I'm really happy about the name I'm using currently. But what if you never really do become happy with it... Are you just supposed to find a name that isn't horrible and then settle for that? :-\
My experience is to pick one name, use it, and it shall grow on you...
It's how it happened to me, AND I have 2 names - just for those that can not get their head/tongue around my first name (see avatar :-)
Axélle aka Michélle
I previously used a different name which was Irish with all of the sounds and spellings people aren't used to. I gave it a trial run of a week, and I realized that even though I really loved this name it simply wasn't practical. In that week everybody mispronounced it as a similar female name.
I've been stuck on my middle name because the middle name I originally picked didn't sound right. I like my chosen name, but I don't love it.
For me, there's a tradition in my family to name children with names from their grandparents.
I was originally given my paternal grandmother's name.
Somehow, it thus seemed perfectly "logical" to take my maternal grandfather's name.
At first it took a little bit of getting used to, I won't lie. (All change does.)
But you know, it's "me"... it's become more "me" with every day I've had it.
I respond to it when I hear it on the street more than I respond to my old name/nickname.
I went with what "fit" the pattern of my world and it turned out to fit me perfect when given time.
Emily is a name that just kind of came to me out of the air. And after using it for a few months I fell in love with it. I don't think any other name could fit me as well as it does.
Huggs
Emily
I am very happy with my name.
I think it sounds nice, it flows from the tongue and it's feminine. It also isn't a name that 10 million other transsexual women are using so I feel I can identify it closely as who I am.
I get compliments at work all the time with spelling of the name.
My mother was going to name me Annah, so I kept it. I couldn't be more happier.
At first, I chose the name Dana Willow for two reasons. First, it was a unisex name and I still identified as genderqueer at the time. Second, I would have been able to keep my initials (my legal name is still David William).
After realizing that I'm TG, I had at first planned on keeping Dana Willow. But, then I decided that I wanted to really start over and claim a name for me. I began by researching common girls names for my birth year, 1969, and I almost settled on Monica as my first name.
But, I've always loved the name Constance and its diminutive, Connie, so I chose that. Then, I randomly chose Anne as my middle name. I looked up the meanings of these names and found that Constance means "steadfast" (shocking, I know) and Anne means "grace." So, I've gone from David William (beloved protector) to Constance Anne (steadfast grace). I figure that if anything is going to get me through transition with my mind and soul intact, it will be steadfast grace.
When the first letter of my last name, M, is added my new initials spell Cam which gives me a cool nickname, too.
So, yes, I am happy with my chosen name. I like the way both Constance Anne and Connie Anne sound together, I like the nickname Cam. But most importantly, it's mine. My mom had told me what she would have named me if I was a born a girl like I should have been, and I think she's a little saddened by the fact that I'm sticking with Connie. I think she wanted to name me.
But it was important for me to name myself. To me, doing so was a key point in my transition.
I'm probably just going to stick with Jesse. People already call me it so it's really not much of a switch. Birth name is Jessica. I get Jess too, so it won't really raise any flags if someone calls me that. Just seems like the easiest thing to do and I'm ok with it.
I didn't choose, my parents gave me my name.
When they did, i saw it as a break trough, before that they were always against my transition.
So, I was happy when they gave me my name, i'm still happy with it, after all, Annette isn't too bad, is it?
My chosen name is the masculine form of my birth name. It was logical and easy to make the switch, but I go by my nickname and home at with friends. My middle name was more difficult because I disliked my birth middle name, so the masculine form of it was automatically out. I ended up with a name that is no where in my family and I think that upsets them a bit. But I like it and think it flows well with my first and last name. I also changed my last name and I'm thankful for that nearly every day.
I never used any other names for myself (except as a really young kid) and I'm very happy with my choices.
I'm really happy with my chosen name. I played with favoring several other names first, but this one I didn't have to think about because it felt good. It goes well with my daughter's last name, too, which I plan on taking when I do the name change.
I haven't chosen a middle name, though, and I need to get to work on that soon.
Eh, my mother chose the name 'Noah' for me, as that was the only male name she claimed to like. I don't particularly love it, since it sounds rather childish to me, but anything is better than my birth name. I figure that once I'm older and there are more 'Noah's' who aren't five years old, it'll sound less and less like a child's name.
James is the name my father would have given me, and it's a name that's been in my family on his side for many generations. I like it because of the history behind it and also believe that it is much better than my current middle name.
I guess I'm not 'truly' happy with the two names, but the fact that my parents were supportive enough to name me allows me to look over that. Besides, were I born a bio-male, I'd probably have the same name anyway. :P
I had to change my middle name, and I'm really happy with it. I can't wait until it's one of my legal names and I can use it as an alternate name.
My birth name was Eileen, which was passed down maternally through the first-born girl for like..a really long time. My mom told me I could choose between Euan and Amos, and because I wanted my initials to stay the same, I chose Euan.
What really helps when finding a new name is setting perimeters for your search. For me this was 1.It had to start with 'E'. 2.It had to be a family name. 3.It had to be of Scottish/Irish origin.
For you these might be different, but it really helps in narrowing down your search and deciding what is important to you in a name. Maybe you are undecided because there are small things bothering you that you haven't even realized yet. It also might help if you ask your parents what they would have named you had you been assigned male at birth, if you haven't already. Good luck man.
Yeah, I would say I am. Although switching between my chosen name at home and my birth name outside is hell on me and my partner. (We do plan on going with my chosen name after he leaves his job in a month).
I decided that I wanted to have a more masculine name, which would have been super easy, considering my birth name is Erin. Pretty short hop to Aaron, but I just wanted a change from the name itself. I thought about it and bounced around quite a bit, but Ayden just sort of came to me. It wasn't until a few days after I started using it that I realized it was the same name I used to use when I was playing make-believe.
Yes, I'm happy with my chosen name.
I chose it for a reason, that reason will never change, so the name will never change.
:)
I think that not everyone gets the "I have to have this one name!" feeling, and for me it worked well to pick a name that I liked and was connected to and to see if it works. Overtime it has grown on me, and it does feel like my name now. It's also nice for me at the moment that it's unisex. However, I am definitely giving my parents a vote when I speak to them, and it might be nice to have something more distinctly male. Lee may end up as a middle name, but I am pretty happy with it.
Quote from: Emily Ray on December 06, 2011, 09:06:10 AM
Emily is a name that just kind of came to me out of the air. And after using it for a few months I fell in love with it. I don't think any other name could fit me as well as it does.
Huggs
Emily
I picked mine the same way, it just stuck out to me. To paraphrase something I read on Yahoo Answers: "you don't really choose your name, it chooses you. When you find the right one, you'll know".
I completely dissociated from my birth name (which was easy cause I never associated with it much anyway) and now my chosen name feels like the one I've had my entire life. But you need support. You need others to call you the chosen name and mean it.... otherwise it's always going to feel inauthentic.
My name instantly came to my head when I decided I was going to transition. It's fairly common but the way I spell it is different from the majority and my last name is not common at all so together, it's 100% unique.
Well, I am the third generation on my father's side to have the DBS initials, (My grandfather was David Bruce, and my father Daniel Brian) so I decided I wanted to stick with that. The name I've liked for the past month or so is Dane Bradd, just because it's not super common, and I like the way it sounds. I was thinking about Dustin for a little while, but nixed it after some thought. Of course, I'm not super far along in my transition, so this is subject to change.
As of now, I'm pretty happy with it though.
i had originally chosen a different, more common name....that i didn't really like all that much. then i stumbled across my new name and it just clicked. i just fell in love with the sound of it. it sounds like my personality, if that makes sense. it's soft and mighty and brave at the same time and it has a warm sound to it. it's also very rare round here, yet everyone can tell it's a male name and can pronounce it correctly.
I always thought that I would change my name to either Ashley or Alexander, mainly because I always liked the idea of having a name that I could shorten. But I know both an Ashley and an Alex, so it would have been a little awkward with either of them. I considered both Alan and Peter, after two people who have been very influential in my life, but Peter isn't a common name these days for people my age and Alan is the name of someone at school.
But I was talking to my best mate about it, when he was ready to pick a name, I wanted to do it with him, and we came across Adam. And it stuck. I still have a few regrets about not being Alex, but hey ho, it's close enough. I chose my middle name to be Luke (eventually I realised that I used to claim that was a middle name of mine when I was about 7 as well :) ) and used Matthew, the name I would have been given as a second middle name, although if my parents don't accept me then I'll scrap that part :laugh:
My last name was going to be my best friends, but I decided to change it, seeing as we were neither brothers or married, and if we ever were it'd be boring because we couldn't do the whole name changing thing :P My last name is now Peterson, from when I thought of my teacher, first name Peter (his last just doesn't fit with Adam) as my father. I also like how in Iceland it would mean 'son of Peter' and I love Iceland and the Icelandic naming system, culture and language ;D
So no, I'm not 100% happy, but all the meanings are right and mean a lot :) And I'll never change it, it's who I am. (I also find it really ironic that they're all biblical names, and I don't believe in god :laugh: )
I don't particularly like it, but I needed a name and it stuck. I wanted to keep my initials and keep the names similar. it was a toss up between the current one and a different one at the time, I still feel like the other one would have suited me better, but it doesn't really matter. I never felt much connect with my name, I just changed it because it was so feminine. It's just something to write on forms.
I'm happy with my name, it feels like i've had it forever. Also my mum helped pick it which I like.
Well I didn't really get a choice - I've been 'Jay' since I was about 11! It is the first letter of my birth name and when I asked my parents to choose when it came to my name change (both first and middle) they just went with it.. Mum couldn't imagine calling me anything else. I think that made it easier for me to just accept, because like my original name, this 'new' one was given to me by loving parents.
The only thoughts I have now about my first name is I sometimes wish it was short for something else like Jason, Jack or Jackson, Jasper, Jared - anything really and less of a unisex name!! As for a special mention of my middle name - it's 'Ruben' which means 'behold, a son' and is a family name! And I was able to keep my initials :) I was mostly just really happy to leave my birth name behind me..
I've chosen Jeff a while ago, but lately it just hasn't appealed to me nowadays as much as it did back then
Guess i'm still experimenting .
I love my name. Way better than what my mom was going to pick... Tad Scott. Really? Really? ???
Quote from: Wesley_33 on December 06, 2011, 06:37:36 PM
I love my name. Way better than what my mom was going to pick... Tad Scott. Really? Really? ???
Lol Tad is awesome. That's Space Ghost's name. ;D
To be honest I'm not that crazy about my chosen name, but I've been using it since I was 12 or 13, so it's part of my identity now. Sometimes I wish I wasn't attached to any name when I came out so I could've had my parents name me, or I could've chosen something I like more. But a lot of people are born with names they aren't wild about, so I guess this is similar.
Tad is such a redneck name haha. Just glad it worked out I could pick my name. Was thinking as keeping the Scott so my initials would be WES.
I had no trouble at all.
I just went with the name that I adopted at age 4 or 5 whenever we would play house I was a girl and I was to be called Cynthia.
This fact was forgoten by me until my brother remarked when he was told what my new name would be he said 'of course it is, that has lways been your girl name'. Then he went on to jar my memory.
When I was a teen ager and I started to cross dress on occasion I decided to go with the name...(yep you guessed it) Cynthia.
Playing role playing games my favorite character was Cynthia. (a 4th generation 'Catiff' child of Malkav for a return of the methuselahs campaign for those who are interested. Try playing 4th generation with a lousy 3 dots in disciplines when every elder out there wants your vitea.)
So when it came time to change officialy my name it was obvious what it would be.
I did struggle with my second name for a couple months as I had never given it thought until it was time to legaly change it.
I settled on my step mothers name for my second name as she has earned the honor.
I really like the name Cynthia, I always thought it was so cool. It's my mom's name actually :)
Luckily, both my first and middle names are unisex, all except for the spelling, so I didn't really see a need to change it. Plus, I like my first name in male form way better than I like it in female form. It's a really regal sounding name, it's pretty cool. ;D
My name kinda came to me in a flash, but it did so as it's shortened version; Max. I then decided that Maximillian was my favourite long spelling for the nickname, and was a lot less common than Maximus or just plain Max. Then my father chose my middle name in a little fit of fun when I asked for suggestions of weird sounding names, and I fell in love with it. He also got to feel a little better about my name change because he'd chosen my middle name, Aloysius. One of my favourite runner up first names slipped perfectly into my last name, and I was done and dusted!
I did worry for a while when I first changed my name to Max that it wasn't really me, but as time went on it really started to stick, and now I'm just Max and feel like I always have been. :P
I like a lot of girl names, probably 100+. It's almost a wonder I could narrow it down at all.
My male name is rarely spelled correctly, so some of my most favorites I couldn't take unless I wanted to continue dealing with a plethora of spellings.
It was hard to not go with Missy. It would have been in memory of a certain Missy who always has meant a lot to me. But do I really want a name that carries sadness? Same for Ashley, though for totally different reasons.
I also preferred a name that is clearly a girl name but I never considered it essential.
I guess it was just instinct that got me to Alicia from the remaining 20-30. Middle name came easier since another name I considered goes great with Alicia.
I got Little Girl Magic for iPhone not too long ago. It was cool it picked Alicia as my daughter's default name. Of course I didn't take the opportunity to change it.
From a young kid I've known that my parents had planned to name me Jason if I was a bio-male, so it just felt right.
It wasn't that hard for me to choose.
:]
Quote from: Wesley_33 on December 06, 2011, 09:18:53 PM
Tad is such a redneck name haha. Just glad it worked out I could pick my name. Was thinking as keeping the Scott so my initials would be WES.
Ha well I'd never heard of it until I saw Space Ghost. It seems like an uber-nerdy Victorian name to me, but I have no basis for that assumption.
WES just makes me think of this:http://trimet.org/wes/vehicles.htm (http://trimet.org/wes/vehicles.htm)
Which I've never actually used or seen in real life, but I guess I must see it on maps and stuff.
Quote from: JasonRX on December 07, 2011, 12:48:06 AM
From a young kid I've known that my parents had planned to name me Jason if I was a bio-male, so it just felt right.
It wasn't that hard for me to choose.
:]
Jason is a fantastic name, straight out of mythology.
QuoteWES just makes me think of this:http://trimet.org/wes/vehicles.htm
Which I've never actually used or seen in real life, but I guess I must see it on maps and stuff.
Oh yeah I has me a train haha
Absolutely. Its what everyone who's ever really known me calls me, anyway. Even my grandpa has only ever called me Nick or Nicky. I'm incredibly lucky in that region, at least, I have no clue what I'd have changed it to if I had some excessively girly name with no easy nickname/male equivalent.
I love my name and anytime I hear someone use it, I just feel right.
I didnt feel anything about my old name, but my real name is just so right for me
I'm decently happy with it. Probably could've felt out a name a bit longer, but this one seemed to fit me so I went with it. I wanted something that matched my personality- young spirited, attractive, intelligent and I thought Kyle went perfectly. Also, I wanted something that was relatively close to my old name so it was easier for people to switch to. I kept my initials, as well :) I didn't change my middle name, since Frances is only 1 letter diff from the male version. It was my great-grandmother's name, and Francis was my father's middle. So I kept my family namesake.
Not much. I made my name my middle name and chose a first name that was similar to my birth name (in an unsuccessful bid to keep my parents from being angry. What an idiot). Now absolutely no one will call me by my name. Kind of sucks.
My birth name was Jaime which can be used for both genders so i've decided to keep my original name. :)
I love my name. Took me months to choose it, with the help of my mom - I had a really hard time picking. It has a common, easy to use nickname, but is uncommon to run across in this area. I actually settled on it when I was down to about 4 names because when I tried signing each of them, Nikolai flowed most naturally in my handwriting. Which is great, considering all of the name change paperwork I've needed to sign. It's Russian, which works well since I love Russian language and literature, and has a few good namesakes, like Nikolai Gogol. It's not perfect - I still run across a few confused pronunciations and spellings (Nickoli, really?), but I can't imagine being anything else. My middle name was just a sudden instinct, and it works great. :)
Nikolai, my daughter's first crush had your name, and going through boxes the other day I found stacks of notes and crayon drawings with "I love you Nikolai" all over them. ;D
And I can't sign Felix for the life of me. Or my kid's last name, which I'll be taking. I looked up how to make capital cursive F and T on the internet, and decided to keep my old signature, as it's a unrecognizable scrawl anyway and doesn't have visible letters in it. XD
I was originally going to go with a name my parents had planned for me had I actually been born male. Thus the JR (Jacob Ryan) in my user name. But I just can't make myself like the name, so I've recently chosen a different name that I do like and am sticking with that for the moment.
Oh and I guess in case you're curious, the name I picked was Eli.
Nicholas ... Nick.... is the name of a protagonist's lover in a screenplay I wrote...
And signing it looks great, too, much better than my old female name which was
by far too old fashioned and clumsy for my sparkling personality 8)
I don't hate my birth name but I don't care for it either. It means "Serenity" and my life is FAR from peace. Since I haven't officially started transitioning yet I am thinking of several names and right now I really like "Malachite". It may not be my final name but I do know when I do change my name legally it will be a name from an anime show since anime has been a big part of my life.
I don't like my female name at all. I've always hated it and felt like it described someone else, not me. Now I'm getting upset every time someone calls me it in public, even though I haven't told any of them to call me Devin (I did change my Facebook name to Devin at one point, but I changed it back so my friends from work would be able to find me).
I like my chosen name-- Devin Scott. It's what my parents would have named me had I been born a bio boy, so in a way I'm sort of free of the pressure of having to live with a name *I* chose. If I had to choose my name myself, I'd always be questioning if it was the right one. But taking the name my parents would have given me takes that pressure away. I know that it doesn't have to be the perfect name because I wasn't the one who picked it. Also, had mother nature been right in the first place that would have been my name anyway, so there's a bit of rightness to it-- like by taking that name I'm righting a wrong and putting things the way they should have been in the first place. It just feels right.
I was thinking about this today since I just filed my name change paperwork with the county clerk's office. I've been going by Alex for years now so it seemed natural to change my full name to Alexander (my birth name is the female version). I never considered anything else. The middle name I chose is a name I've always loved (Sebastian) but don't know how well it fits with my first and last. Eh, not a huge deal. Overall I'm pretty satisfied. I seriously can't wait til it's all finalized.
I love my chosen name! Weston Elliott - it flows nicely and I feel like it'll survive the times. It doesn't sound hyper-masculine either, but it's clearly male, which is something I was going for.
My birth name, Ko, was different from my legal birth name, Patricia Nicole. My parents decided to name me Ko regardless of my sex - they wanted to go with something Japanese since I was born there. When they informed my grandmother, she kinda went ape->-bleeped-<- on them and forced them to pick a "real" name. I ended up getting legally named after my other grandma, but I've never ever ever gone by Patricia or Nicole, not even to my grandma who thought Ko wasn't a valid enough name. All my life I've been looking to get it changed.
After I came out, I had zero intention to change my name. But when I came out to my parents I realized that "Ko" was always going to be a girl in their minds so I ended up coming home and searching for a name that would fit me. I found Wes on an online list and it stuck out to me; I ran it by my friends and they thought it fit me too so I started going by that. Kinda did the same with Elliott. I wanted a middle name that I could switch to if I disliked Wes sometime in the future.
The only thing I regret a bit is not having a name that is easily as pronounceable in Spanish as it in English. Now I'm always gonna be seen as a gring@, despite being half Chilean and living the majority of my life in Latin America.
My name is simply something that's always felt right for me, in a way I can't quite explain. It is a quite common name, which means that I'll lose the "oh, what a beautiful name!" comments I used to get for my old-fashioned and unusual birthname. I keep my initials. My middle name is a masculinized version of my original middle name, but my first name couldn't be masculinized so I picked an entirely new one.
I am ok about my name even thought its annoying how it always end up in a dicussion about what pronouce people should use with it (since it got dooble pronoucing and I not sure which one I prefern.
--
I just like got use to it, and I like it so much better than my old name,
another thing I like about my name is its very boyish, since I cant change my name legally too a 100% boy name its cool to have a name people actually consider a boy name anyway.
I went with the name that my parents had planned to give me. (they expected a boy, and even though they did get one, there was a slight detour). I learned about it fairly young, having asked my mother, so it was always kind of in the back of my head throughout my life as "the name I should have had"
So yeah I'm pretty happy with it
I've actually been fighting with my name for the longest. At first, I was just going by the shortened version off my middle name (Ren) but realized I did NOT want that as a first name. I tried going by Seth as it was what my mother would have named me but...it just didn't feel right.
Then I tried Angel. It was okay, but not me.
After some digging for my heritage and chatting up my great grandma, I found out that my great, great grandpa was full blooded Cherokee and that was why the Native side of my family actually speaks to me at family reunions (my racist 'white' side of the family segregates them like jack asses and will flip ->-bleeped-<- if any of the 'innocent white children' go near the 'dirty red folk'. -_-). Apparently, it's ALSO the reason a lot of my 'white' family hates me. o_O' Cause I'm 'tainted' by 'red man' blood. >_>
I said ->-bleeped-<- them. lol
So, in honor of my grandpa (who I have some faint memories of, since he use to visit me all the time when I was little and would tell me stories while I was on his lap), I have decided to go with Sequoya. I honestly love the name and it feels like ME. Even shortened (Seqya pronounced Sick-ya by friends), it's just...me. Before I ever realized my heritage was so strong, I was always drawn to Native culture. I couldn't explain it, but since I was little I fell in love with their beliefs and ways.
Ironic thing is that one of my roomies claims I can't possibly be part Cherokee at all. -_- He says 'You're too pale!'. I just laugh at him because my skin naturally has a darker tint, however, I haven't been outside for more than 10 minutes at a time in over 15 years. Of course I'm not as dark as I use to be! Stick me outside for a hour, though? BAM. It's obvious where I come from. XD
My therapist told me to think of my name as a tattoo. To pick something I would not regret and could live with.
As my beliefs are spiritual (hell, I'm thinking about working on dreads despite goin for a management major) and I feel increasingly drawn to my bloodline, I couldn't pass up a name that called to me. :)
Quote from: RenM on January 01, 2012, 12:23:16 AM
I've actually been fighting with my name for the longest. At first, I was just going by the shortened version off my middle name (Ren) but realized I did NOT want that as a first name. I tried going by Seth as it was what my mother would have named me but...it just didn't feel right.
Then I tried Angel. It was okay, but not me.
After some digging for my heritage and chatting up my great grandma, I found out that my great, great grandpa was full blooded Cherokee and that was why the Native side of my family actually speaks to me at family reunions (my racist 'white' side of the family segregates them like jack asses and will flip ->-bleeped-<- if any of the 'innocent white children' go near the 'dirty red folk'. -_-). Apparently, it's ALSO the reason a lot of my 'white' family hates me. o_O' Cause I'm 'tainted' by 'red man' blood. >_>
I said ->-bleeped-<- them. lol
So, in honor of my grandpa (who I have some faint memories of, since he use to visit me all the time when I was little and would tell me stories while I was on his lap), I have decided to go with Sequoya. I honestly love the name and it feels like ME. Even shortened (Seqya pronounced Sick-ya by friends), it's just...me. Before I ever realized my heritage was so strong, I was always drawn to Native culture. I couldn't explain it, but since I was little I fell in love with their beliefs and ways.
Ironic thing is that one of my roomies claims I can't possibly be part Cherokee at all. -_- He says 'You're too pale!'. I just laugh at him because my skin naturally has a darker tint, however, I haven't been outside for more than 10 minutes at a time in over 15 years. Of course I'm not as dark as I use to be! Stick me outside for a hour, though? BAM. It's obvious where I come from. XD
My therapist told me to think of my name as a tattoo. To pick something I would not regret and could live with.
As my beliefs are spiritual (hell, I'm thinking about working on dreads despite goin for a management major) and I feel increasingly drawn to my bloodline, I couldn't pass up a name that called to me. :)
Sequoya is a beautiful name. In my family, red blood would be considered black (and therefore dirty), but no one would doubt based on your external appearance. Skin is an unreliable marker of heritage. :P
Nope, I love my name. Keaira Raine Finlay. I could see fictional characters with that name. And no shortage of vowels in it either :P
Thank you kindly, good sir!
Yeah, my family is...well, special. They are some of the most backwards, racist, sexist, lgbt-bashing people I know. o_o At least the 'whites-are-the-best' side is. I just sorta shake my head in shame thinking I come from a part of that.
I do love my name now, though, and honestly can't wait to see it on my DL. :D
When i was little i used to pretend my name was michael. ive always loved the name, and im very happy with my choice. it sounds nothing like my birth name, so the transition wasnt so easy for my family and close friends at first, but they all have it down now.
Oh, man, I am in such a tough place with my name. I've hated my birthname ever since I was born. and when I was real little (before I knew I was trans) I had this name picked out, I just loved it. At the time, it was mainly because one of my favorite shows had a girl with that name, and then one of my favorite comics had a guy with the same name spelling. The name was Jean. At the time, I thought it was completely gender neutral, I didn't know the name was pronounce differently for a guy.
So for years that name grew on me. and I still love it. and I ended up legally changing my name to Jean. with the female pronunciation. But then people who know I'm trans would wonder why I changed my name to a "girls'" name. or people who didn't know that I was a guy/trans would think I was a girl just because of the spelling of my name.
And so that's when I started having doubt about my name. and I've started spelling it the male was of "Gene."
I just don't like the looks of that spelling. But, I feel a lot better for people to think that's how I spell my name than for them to think that I spell it the "girl" way.
But I don't what I'm going to do with my name legally...
I think to think about it for a few years.
I never much gave the name more thought, it was pretty clear to me what it should be. Although, I did consider what names Mom would've given to me if I had been a XY-boy but seriously, I dislike all three of them.
My name change won't be legal for a long time but I've been "teaching" my friends and family to call me Lauri which is basically a male version of my original name with only the last letter changed.
Middle name was also pretty easy to decide. Mom told me my name would've been Jussi if certain circumstance had been fulfilled but I don't like that name. It's just too common Finnish male name. But my grandfather was called Jussi which was derived from his middle name, Johannes. That name also seems be very common in my family so I'll fit into the "theme" nicely. ;D
So, in the end and quite quickly I decided my name will be Lauri Johannes. I've heard some people change their lastnames, too but I'm too fond of mine so that'll stay the same. :) Although, I was intrigued to change it as well to a name our family had long, long time ago, which is Salama (direct English translation is "lightning"). 8)
I am very happy with my name. I've been using it since the eighth grade when my best friend gave me the name. That was even before I decided to transition, and everyone at my school knows me as Henri. I spell it with an "i" at the end because I like the French pronunciation of it (On-ree), and it has an artistic feel to it which is great, because I plan on going to college for an art-related career (game design probably). I also like the sort of strong-calm feeling that goes with the name Henry. It has a sort of quiet power that I really like. The name suits me much better than my birth name, which I've never felt suited me and from a young age I was constantly going by something else. I haven't decided on a middle name yet but when I was trying to figure one out my dad suggested the name Ira, which was his grandfather's name. Something about that name speaks to me, so I will probably take that for my middle name. Plus, the initials would be "HIS", which I find amusing.
Well, there are thing that I like about my chosen name, and things that I don't.
When I was choosing my name, it was important for me that I chose something far from my birth name, because I really wanted to feel as if I was making a change. Had I chosen something similar to my birth name, I was limited to things like Carey, Corey, and the like, and I can't stand those. Uck. So when I was choosing my name, I wanted my first name to have the first initial of my father's name, which is David, so I wanted it to start with a D. Of course, I ran across some other names that I really liked too; Ethan was a favorite of mine, but after starring at myself in a mirror for days, it just didn't seem like me. I stumbled upon Darius on a list of baby names, and the first time that someone called me that, I knew that it was me. I've thought about changing it dozens of times, but then I think about it, and I change my mind...again. I like it because it's different. However, I don't like it because people tend to misread my nametag and the second day I wore it, someone called me Doris >__O; Seriously? WTF? And the other reason that I've considered changing it is because...Darius is typically a black man's name, and I've realized (Going through college) That plenty of my black male classmates are totally weirded out by the fact that a white 'girl' asks to be called by a black guy's name. I've had several guys confront me on this, and I'm pretty small and puny, so I usually just kind of dodge the question and run away because I'm afraid of being beaten to death for being trans *Shudder* Also, my mother tends to call me 'Darius Rukus,' like Darius Rucker...I don't see why she thinks it's funny or cute, but frankly it pisses me off more than anything, but I know that she won't stop anytime soon.
Frankly though, I like my name better when it's combined with my middle name. I usually introduce myself by both, as Darius Aiden. Don't know why. I just like it better. I picked Aiden out namely because it started with an 'A' and my mother's maiden name is 'Andersen,' Yeah...I'm corny like that. And yes, I like my name. My initials spell DAC xDD
I'm OK with my name. At the start I tried finding some cool-sounding name and flipped through a few of them. When I finally got to the point of legally changing it, I just went with "Jack." It sounds normal, it's masculine, people don't spell it wrong usually, and my parents can deal with it.
It doesn't need to make me burst into happy glitter tears every time I hear it.
I actually picked my name and started going by it online a long time before I came out to my family. I've been going by my name offline for almost 3 years now, and online for almost 6 years. I like the name I chose. I think it has a nice ring to it. :3
I really don't get this question. I mean, if you're not crazy about your chosen name.....change it. Unless maybe it's been legally changed. In that case, you should've thought more about it before changing it in the first place. Anyway, I love my chosen name.
QuoteIt doesn't need to make me burst into happy glitter tears every time I hear it.
Lol I want to steal this and say it about so many things.
Quote from: Darrin on January 02, 2012, 08:52:54 PM
I really don't get this question. I mean, if you're not crazy about your chosen name.....change it. Unless maybe it's been legally changed. In that case, you should've thought more about it before changing it in the first place. Anyway, I love my chosen name.
The question hits pretty close to home for me. I adore Felix, but if I hadn't come across it I would have happily chosen a name that was only okay. I didn't care much, just needed something functional and male, and knew I'd get used to whatever it was. I actually chose my middle name the day I went to court. My last name comes from my kid, and I chose it for her while I was in labor. :laugh:
Quote from: Darrin on January 02, 2012, 08:52:54 PMI really don't get this question. I mean, if you're not crazy about your chosen name.....change it. Unless maybe it's been legally changed. In that case, you should've thought more about it before changing it in the first place. Anyway, I love my chosen name.
Uh, it's not that simple. I was so sure I had the perfect name, then after I legally changed it, then I started having doubt. but I don't have a clue what else to change it too.
My best friend gave me my name, long before I came out as Trans.
One day he said to me that "name wasn't my name."
And I was like "Uh, yeah it is."
He just turned around and told me that my name was Link, and "You'd be lying to yourself if you kept telling everyone your name is name."
Damn creepy bastard knew me too well. I think it suits me, it took me a long time to think of a last name, but when I found it, I knew straight away that I'd found my new name.
I don't have a middle name, I don't really want one.
at first i half chose (my mom pretty much picked it) the name Andrew Lawrence. I kind of hated for 2 reasons 1. it was rly close 2 my birth name and 2. i didnt rly get 2 choose it so it wasnt rly me. then i changed it to Tyler Jerome i love the name tyler (my mom hates it) nd jerome was aftr my grandpa. but i felt jerome didnt rly suit me so i chose Jericho becuz i wanted 2 keep the J, its cool, and its a city in israel (im jewish) i think you shud expiriment wit different names nd see wich ones u rly like.
I have a total girl name but I don't mind it. My friends that know the real me call me Jay though. Originally it was just "J" (my middle initial). But I find birds symbolic for me so actually spelling out Jay and the association to the bird worked perfectly for me.
ETA
My mom had chosen the name Michael for me before I was born (she was convinced she was having a normal boy ... she kinda got that right!) But that name really doesn't do anything for me.