I always knew I was female, but never told anyone as a child. However, I remember my grandmother commenting a few times throughout my childhood, "You would have made such a pretty girl". For some reason those memories popped into my mind this morning.

Did anyone ever have anyone make comments to them like that long before coming out?

Yup. One example was my grade 7 teacher mocking my loud and continuous laughter saying I sound like a school girl. Even as he mocked me/joked about it I must say i felt a tickle in my body and felt lighter ... and for the next few days cherished that moment in secret. This was around the same time I began to question things more and more.

That's one comical example,

Some.  I remember when I was little some lady in a store saying "you're too pretty to be a boy."  Warms my heart to this day. 

I remember being told that I had long, pretty eyelashes, like a girl's.  Now that I think about it, I did like hearing that.  I don't remember how old I was: probably around 5, I think.

Hello BlueJaye

Some of us "know" very young and some us "realise" later but both sets usually have childhood memories that seem either logical or with hindsight logical.

My Mum told me one of my earliest statements was "I want to be a girl". I was probably 2.

I told my grandmother I wished to be a girl at 4 and this I do remember.

At 5 I wished to button my coat the girl's way.

Aged about 10 I was told by a lady walking down my road, she had never seen a boy with a beautiful face which was just like a girls'.

Yes we never these moments of happiness!

Hugs

Pamela 

When I was small my sister always used to say she wished she had my hair and she and my mum used to say I would have been such a pretty girl, little did they know that is what I wanted.

I've been told that I can be emotional like a girl, but no one has ever told me that I should have been or would have made a pretty girl.  I've always wanted to be female for as long as I can remember though.  I do remember one time my mom and I were talking about intersex people and had I been born as such what my parents would have done about it.  My mom said she and Dad would have opted to make me a boy.  I never told her, but I was disappointed.  I was maybe a preteen if not younger when we had this conversation, nor has she ever known of my gender feelings.  But whether she knows it or not, I have had transgender feelings my entire life even though I might not have recognized them or accepted them myself.

I've always been told that my eye lashes were 'wasted' on a man. I never really looked or felt particularly male and because of that most of my memories from school / childhood center around avoiding being bullied / teased.

Often. Especially about my long legs. Always about my legs. Even from grown women when I was very young. It was embarrassing then. Not now. Also I was "very pretty" when I was young but puberty "fixed" that unfortunately. But I still have the girly legs.