Susan's Place Transgender Resources

To what extent have you kept/will you keep your birth name?
Have you retained/will you retain your surname?
Have you retained/will you retain your initials?
What are the pros and cons of retaining your surname and/or initials?
Humor me here.

Nero

Retained surname and initials. Partly as a sign of respect to my parents, who named me this way. But it has had benefits. For one, I haven't had to change my signature. I did add a middle name, didn't have one before, but that doesn't affect my signature. It's also reasonably easy for people to remember, having named myself the male version of my female name.

Dennis

I kept my surname.  I had no reason to change it.  I kept my first initial the same, but changed the middle one.  So I chose these options:

I have/will retain my surname
I have/will only retain one or two of my initials

Keeping the first initial the same made transition easier.  I was able to use just my initial for my checks and I had changed my signature to work with both name.  In other words, I was trying to make living my dual life as easy as possible.

Melissa

I love my family to pieces even though they do drive me nuts..... The least I could do i after informing them there namesake wasnt is to keep my surname....... I like it anyway... it suits me very well and I feel honored to be part of this family.

My first name is actually Gari, I changed the spelling as this is the name my mom gave me. My middle name and the one I go by all the tme is Sheila, I changed it as my other name was my dad's and he took off when I was seven, so I don't want anything to remember him by. I kept my last name.
Sheila

I kept my surname an initials as I didn't see any need to change them.  I'm proud of my family name and background.  I simply changed my given names.  A benefit that I discovered afterwards was that I didn't have to change my signature :)

Folks change names and initials for a ton of reasons, whatever is right for them is right for them.

Steph

I kept my surname. Even when I was married, I kept it. It's an Itallian thing. Also my first initial is the same, but changed my middle name.

                                                   Marco

Oddly enough my first name is teh one I gave teh least though... I have just identified with the name Amy since I was little.... I picked my Middle Joan after my fav historical personality Joan of Arc  and my last name I actully changed to what my family's name was back around 1200 ad. (we still can't find documents as to why they chaged it in the first place.) 

One of the main reasons why I wanted to change my surname was so my S.O. and I would share a surname and I didn't think it would be right for either of us to take the others last name. Now were our own little family   :)

My name went completely........ This was done to protect my family and myself.

My surname is now my mothers maiden name, my first name was chosen from a short list of 3 and my middlename is in tribute to a dear friend who died of breast cancer many years ago.

Choosing a name was actually great fun, had wonderful times making up annagrams........ My male name was rather cruel as my initials where MAN.....

Buffy

I haven't changed my name legally, but the name I currently claim uses the same initials as my birth name, and the same surname, though for my personal protection I use a different surname online. I'm German, and my last name goes way back in Germany and France, so I can't give it up (plus it's one of the rarest names in the U.S.), so I guess I'm faithful to that like Marco is. My adopted first and middle names, Rafael Chacer, are a creation from the letters of my birth name, with the addition of an "F" because I liked the name Rafael so much. But the initials are the same. I always thought I'd choose something else, because there are numerous male names I love, but I've become pretty attached to my current name, and it's unusual, so I like it. Weird thing, though; I created it just randomly, like I said, with the letters of my birth name, and later found out the first and middle names (created) matched the etymology of my birth names. Strange.

Rafe

Only changed my first and middle names.  My poor parents, all that time trying to figure out what to name me before I was born and here it did not matter anyway.   ;)

Well, it did matter, since you were stuck with it for much of your life.

Melissa

Well, I've never really liked my surname(no one can spell it), so I'll probably change it. I'll keep my initials though, so pick a surname beginning with the same letter.
I already know which first and middle names I'd like; the ones my parents would've given me if I was born a boy. That's partly out of respect for them, and parly out of lack of imagination. ;D

I didn't actually realize when I chose my first and middle name that both the initials were the same as the ones I had a birth, most likely subconscious.

I don't feel right about changing my surname because I was born into the family that I was supposed to be born into with that particular surname... and they can't get rid of me that easy! I have been raised to believe that when you take a woman as your wife it is important that she has your last name as it is a connection into the family.


      Tino

The family name I have been using is the same one I have used for many of my fictional characters.  I am still debating about using my actual family ame or not.

My first name is a morph of my legal name.  I will probably keep it.

My middle name, Marie, simply seems to flow with Chaunte. :D

Chaunte

Thankfully my female name has the same initial as my old name. I just wanted to have a totally different name for a totally different life. I haven't had too many problems with changing anything since I had my name legally changed. Looks like I'll be going through it again soon when I get married in a few months.  :)

Gina Taylor (NaPolitano)

I'm changing only my first name and first initial, since I've always strongly disliked the first name I was given for reasons other than it being for the wrong gender (convenient excuse to change it though ;D ). My middle name is a tribute to an aunt of mine who hasn't been seen in a long time :( so I'm keeping that one, and I have a French last name which I am keeping because I've always identified strongly with that side of my family.

Just in case it were to become necessary to change all 3 of my names, I had a different middle name picked out, and would have chosen another of the French surnames from my ancestry.

I kept my first initital and my last name. I'm very proud of my roots and I've alwasy admired my father even though he's a bit crazy :P so even though my last name is really common and everything, I'm attached to it. I'm gonna keep it when I get married, and have it hyphened or something.

I went from Elizabeth S.(no middle name, though I was planning to make it Rebecca Francis)

to Ethan Michael Francis S.. I think Ethan Michael with be the first name, wih just Francis as the middle. I do admit I looked for "E" names first, but if I didn't find anything I would have just shrugged and moved on.

Quote from: Ethan Michael on August 24, 2006, 12:27:17 AM
I do admit I looked for "E" names first, but if I didn't find anything I would have just shrugged and moved on.

I'm wondering what it is about that first initial, because so many TS choose names with the same initial as their birth name. What do you think it is? Is it more familiar, more comfortable or what?

Nero

I'll tell you one thing, if it so happens that you already go by your middle name and sign documents as first initial - middle name - last name, it's darn hard getting used to writing that new first initial. :P Doesn't help either that I had to ask someone how to write a J in cursive. ;D

Yep, that helped with me. My initials are the same and I always signed with first initial, last name. Didn't have to learn any new tricks.

Dennis

It did help when I didn't want to say my legal first name, but didn't want to indicate that it was one or the other. For example, my cell phone message is "Hi, you've reached E. S*****, leave a message...etc"

I haven't actually changed my name yet, for various reasons, but when I do I'll be keeping my surname. My first name is getting a masculine spelling based on my childhood nickname (to make it easier on my mother, and because I love her), although it doesn't start with the same letter as my full given name, it's just a similar sound. I'm altering my middle name from Joy to Judas (although I hadn't realized it was the same letter until just now... Judas is just my name). I'll probably introduce myself by middle name, once I transition (which my mom should get, since she does the same thing  :P ).