At the time I changed my name, I had been disowned and was going through some really difficult times at work where some of my church leaders were in control. There was no way I was going to keep my surname. I had become ashamed to use it. My parents had no issues with me changing my name in this way at the time but now regret that posturing.
When I was out in drag, I had an AKA chosen to maximize a person's understanding of my name without repeating it. When I first started appearing in public, I wasn't comfortable enough to repeat my name over and over until people got it. So I chose a common name which I thought would only need to spoken once. When it came time to change my name legally, I had been using it long enough that I had become comfortable with it.
Cindi