This is by no means a permanent decision, since I'm pretty much pretransition. But I've been wondering about names, especially since my friends are always asking "so what do I call you now?" I've been going by Chris as it's the closest to my birth name, but I don't really like it, to be frank.
Here's the names I've been thinking about:
Casey
Corey
Caspian
Aaron
I'm pretty indecisive so I thought I'd ask for advice. Which one do you like?
Thanks.

Well first and foremost when choosing a name. they're kind of 3 ways to go with it.

1. What your parents would have named you had you been a boy

Some people have easy access to this information though I understand a lot do not.

2. Family names.

Sometimes taking a family name as your first or middle name can be good for the terms of coming out to your family and/or make you feel closer to them.

3. Whatever YOU want

This is how I did my name choosing. I asked my mom what she would have called me had I been born physically male, and her smart ass response was, "I would have named you the same thing." And I guess she could be telling the truth cause she already named me a male name... but regardless I didnt want my old name, it felt stale to me after the years of feminine life. SO i made a big list and narrowed it down over time.

Some names I didnt use were

Gavin (This was my choice until my aunt and uncle had a baby and named him gavin before I could  come out to the fam.... so instead of giving my grandma two gavins to worry about I choose something else)
Seth
Jake
Tyler   (I named my dog Tyler instead )
Aiden  (I used Aiden for my middle name, though now I'm thinking about changing that part.)
Evan
Daniel


But if i had to pick from your list, I'd say Corey. You look like a corey to me!

Caspian is an interesting name. Lovely. Sort of conjures up a misty, sea-like atmosphere.

I like Aaron as its sort of main stream name.

Wouldn't throw off any miss conceptions!

Jay

You do remind me of my friend Aaron quite a bit. 

But Caspian is pretty awesome too.  Like Prince Caspian?  Haha...  Sorry, I grew up with the Narnia books.

Are you picking both first and middle names?

I really like Casey.  I like Chris too but I'm biased. 

Aaron- I know a Corey who is nothing like you so I am biased. Plus it's your username.

I dig Aaron. Not just because it's your username, because I haven't been online enough lately to have really let that sink in, but because, looking at your pic, you look like an Aaron. I like the name Caspian, but... a little too unusual to work. It'd out you, more than likely. But Aaron is a good solid name.

SD

I think Aaron or Casey suit you. Aaron more so, though.

I agree with Aaron as well. You do look like an Aaron.

Aaron or Corey are fine. I would stay away from Casey as it can be a female name too...and I like Caspian, but as someone else said, a little too obscure to pass.

Caspian is a good name. Unique

Name picking is a very hard thing to do (I'm still doing it). Pick whichever one is best for "you", not for others. It's good to listen to advice, but I'm just saying don't let people dictate it (someone I talked to on Yahoo practically told me every name I picked was bad so...yeah)

Pick a name that had you been born XY (in the days where the term "bioman" didn't cause hysterics among some forumers, I would have said bio-male), it is likely that you would have been named  - in other words, not Caspian. Also keep in mind that nowadays, Corey and Casey are becoming more gender-neutral and less obviously male. (I've known multiple girls with those names. I've also known a girl birth-named Ryan.)

Aaron is an awesome name. I vote for Aaron.

 

Aaron or Caspian.  Then again, I'm biased against Corey because I know someone named Corey who is a jerk.

Quote from: petzjazz on October 10, 2009, 10:20:08 AM
Pick a name that had you been born XY (in the days where the term "bioman" didn't cause hysterics among some forumers, I would have said bio-male), it is likely that you would have been named  - in other words, not Caspian. Also keep in mind that nowadays, Corey and Casey are becoming more gender-neutral and less obviously male. (I've known multiple girls with those names. I've also known a girl birth-named Ryan.)

Aaron is an awesome name. I vote for Aaron.

That's a good point. At your age Aaron, you may see the day soon when Casey and Corey are used exclusively for girls such as Leslie and Ashley and others. And there are more recent names turning almost exclusively female as well, like Bailey, Hunter, Taylor, etc.
Once a name becomes popular for baby girls, its days of manhood are pretty much over. This is why most parents try to stick to traditional male names for boys, such as John, Nick, etc.
If you'd like someone to be able to read your name and not think 'girl', this may be a consideration.

Course I chose a pretty unique name, so grain of salt and all that. 

Quote from: petzjazz on October 10, 2009, 10:20:08 AM
Pick a name that had you been born XY .... it is likely that you would have been named  - in other words, not Caspian.

Picking a name which wasn't too uncommon was important to me.

The Social Security Administration (its a US government agency, for those of you outside the US) keeps track of the most popular names given to babies in every year.  It has a searchable database which allows someone to enter their birth year, and see which names were most popular (up to the top 1000 names) for either sex.
http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/babynames/

I think its a handy way to select a name which isn't too uncommon for someone your age.  In my case, I just made sure I was in the top 100.

You can also track how the popularity of a name has changed over the years, if anyone is concerned about picking a name which is fading in popularity.

It seems like almost all full (non-nick-name) names that end in an "ee" sound are going the way of the XX - some rather sooner than later, others rather later than sooner. Mine dropped from being in the 50s for males on the Social Security site 18 years ago (my birth year) down to between 100 and 110 for males (although I am pleased to note that it's only been in the top 1000 names for girls once during the last 20 years, and that was about 19 years ago). The only common non-nick-name exception to the "ee" pattern I can think of is Anthony. 

I don't know any girls named Corey, so that one might take a while to get up there.  Unfortunately, I know lots of girls named Adrian

Quote from: Mr. Fox on October 11, 2009, 11:43:44 AM
I don't know any girls named Corey, so that one might take a while to get up there.  Unfortunately, I know lots of girls named Adrian

I grew up with a lot of girls named Corey, and I'm 20, so it's been like that for a while.

I checked the Social Security site for my birth year. Christopher is the highest (number 2) but like I said I don't really like it that much, plus Chris is too gender neutral for my liking. Aaron is second highest, unsurprising since that's one of the names my parents were considering for me had I been XY.
That's also the least gender neutral one on the list. I think that's probably going to be it.