As I mentioned in my introduction, I'm here not because I'm transgender but because I'm learning about them to better incorporate such a character into a potential future story. One of the things I've been told about choosing names for characters (in general) is try not to pick a name that would be out of place for the time period the story is set in. From looking around it appears that there is a similar bit of advice for transitioning people in choosing a name in that it would be best to choose one that would fit in with their age group.

Did you follow this advice when choosing your name or not?

How important do you think it is to choose a name that "fits" your generation?

Do you draw a distinction between names that currently rank high on baby name popularity lists that are old classics being revived (e.g. Isabella or Emma for girls and Aidan or Noah for boys) and those that are "modern" and would be practically unheard of before a certain point in time (e.g. Madison was virtually unheard of as a female name before the movie Splash came out in 1984)?

Do you think that having a name that is more common for an older generation (e.g. a young transwoman using a name like Nancy or Susan) is less of an issue than a name associated with a younger age group?

(Note that both of the last two questions ask about having a name that may not be common for one's age group but is "realistic" enough vs. one that would be a strong indicator that said name was not one's birth name.)

My standard answer on how i chose mine and what i suggest to others:

1. check baby-name lists for the year you were born and maybe a couple years on either side.

2. eliminate all names you just don't like (for me, I started out wanting to match my current initials but the only "W" name remotely acceptable was "Wendy" - I despise Wanda)

3. eliminate names that "don't work" for whatever reason  - i.e. if you don't like all the same initial (like Lois Lane) or if you don't like similar sounds (like Cindy Smithy with the "e" sound at the end of both) or unintended humor (Anita Morehead - any sort of drag queen sounding name, unless that's what you are going for) whatever else just doesn't seem to roll off the tongue properly.

4. From what's left, pick your favorites - you should be able to get it down to les than five pretty easily.

from there it's a crap shoot - especially when naming a character.

for a real-life TG, I would add the suggestion that you ought to consider how easy it will be for you to learn to sign your new name. i didn't consider that before i couse mine and I wish I had.

One major alternative, especially for a fictional character, is just feminizing a male name.

i.e. - give the character the name "James" and then he can fem it to "Jamie" with almost no effort.

but again, as a writer, YES I would check the baby name list from the supposed birth year for the male (in this example) name. If NO ONE in the early 60's was being named, for instance, "Dalton" - then naming a character of that age Dalton would be anachronistic and annoying, IMO.

or follow your dreams and remember that you are writing fiction.

additionally, a younger transwoman with an older name (Nancy, in your example, or Ruth) would not, IMO, be remotely as jarring as say a 50 year old "Brittany" or "Tiffany"

there are 2 dozen lovely names i would have had to chose from if I were half the age I actually am...But I'd never consider now (with the possible exception of something I could shorten in everyday use so that the whole wasn't so obvious - on my short list was "Bethany" - i.e. "Beth" - and
I did end up choosing Elizabeth for a middle name just because I love the name Beth, if i ever decide I don't want Laura, which would be more trouble than it's worth unless I cut off all former associations, Beth will likely be the next choice...but I digress).

Anyway - short answer: "old" name on a young girl will pass ok, "young" name on an older woman won't, IMO

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Post Merge: July 13, 2010, 09:13:52 PM

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Quote from: LordKAT on July 13, 2010, 09:09:34 PM
or follow your dreams and remember that you are writing fiction.

A good point, but I sympathize with the question because I consider similar things when I write - no matter how weak my plot, I need my characters to have an organic feel and the proper name is part of that.

I don't think it makes a difference.

These days, people just have all kinds of weird names.  I don't think it matters.  In my case, I knew my name very early on in life.  It was like an instinct, so I never had to "choose" my name.  It had just always been there.

Feel like an anachronism half the time anyway.

My name I had figured out at a very young age...

Strangely enough, a girl i went to HS with for 2 years had the same name all be it a different spelling so I guess its not unheard of for my generation.

The spelling of my name is abit odd, but thats okay because my family has been noted for odd ball spellings for names   Had I gone with what my mother would have named me I'd have been a Meghan lynn or a Brianna lynn... both lovely names but not for me.

I gathered names from Census data and suggestions from friends. We kicked some names around, googling some of the stronger candidates to rule some out for being the name of the sister of somebody famous, etc.

Finally, we all just liked this one that seemed to fit. People use it in real life, and I answer to it.

Hopefully the judge will rubber stamp it next Friday for me so I can be legal.

I went with an age old favorite:  Gabriel.

You can't go wrong with name like Michael, Adam, Gabriel, etc.  For female names, names like Sarah, Christina, etc. seem to be usually the norm, too.

I didn't look up any information on the name because the name always struck me as 'mine', granted it was helped along by Christopher Walken.

To me, a name is a name.  I really don't care if you choose an 'old-fashioned' name like Becky (no offense to anyone that might have that name) or a more modern name like Latysha or however the many spellings are out there for it.

My name chose me, so I don't think I can offer much useful advice. It's a fairly traditional name, rather old-school (been around for hundreds of years, maybe a couple of millennia) but actually quite uncommon.

A lot of trans guys seem to have "new" names. When I was talking about some trans friends, my therapist once noted that my friends have such interesting names. But the cis men in my gay group tend to be named more traditionally: Michael, Robert, David, Greg, Jim, John, etc.

I have always felt that as people become more knowledgeable about trans people, the more attuned they will become to little oddities like unusual names that really weren't around much a few decades ago--names that tend to be popular in trans circles. It can be one more clue that helps them to clock a trans person. Of course, some trans folks don't care. I still do, so I'm glad I have a traditional name.

Med bottle on my nightstand. (it was that or Lorazepam)

I just went with my initials (AJ) because it was simple and worked well, even though I went through lists of names that I thought sounded really cool (most of which had nothing to do with generations or time periods or popular baby names). I almost went with Indio, though. I really like that name.

I think it has more to do with the kind of character you're writing, as in their personality and how you want their name to contrast with that. It really could be anything, transgendered or not.

When I chose "Lewis" to be my new name I didn't really think much about popularity at the time I was born; I chose it because it's a male version of my previous middle name, and I liked it. It's not a common name but it's also not a weird one that no-one will know how to spell or pronounce, and it's distinctly male. I did look up the details afterwards though, and find that it was commonest round the turn of the 20th century and then pretty much died out.

Having said that, I'm a bit of an amateur writer myself, and I take much more care with choosing my characters' names, and making sure they fit to their historical generation. I like to make sure the meanings fit too.

Quote from: Arch on July 14, 2010, 08:55:30 PM
A lot of trans guys seem to have "new" names. When I was talking about some trans friends, my therapist once noted that my friends have such interesting names. But the cis men in my gay group tend to be named more traditionally: Michael, Robert, David, Greg, Jim, John, etc.

Most of the trans men I know in my home city have chosen fairly traditional names. Maybe it's a geographical difference between the US and the UK. I've noticed that a lot of American people (trans and cis) have unusual names, whereas over here we're more traditional. That's another thing to consider when coming up with names for characters.

Quote from: Tammy Hope on July 13, 2010, 09:12:31 PM

A good point, but I sympathize with the question because I consider similar things when I write - no matter how weak my plot, I need my characters to have an organic feel and the proper name is part of that.

I too appreciate that you're researching this tgchar 21. So many people write stories and even make films about minority groups without research or even checking facts.

One thing I've noticed is that many of us choose names with the same initial as our birth names. Certainly not all, but is very common. So, you could pick an initial the character has to work with and that narrows the choices considerably. Others want to get as far removed from the birth name as possible. Some trans women deliberately avoid names that are offshoots of male ones such as Josephine or that can be shortened to masculine nicknames such as Sam for Samantha. And others don't mind.
And lots of trans guys seem to go for popular baby names of the moment, while others prefer something more traditional like Arch. 
So you can consider your character's personality and the reasons they chose the name they did.
Good luck with your book!

Ha, my chosen name hasn't been popular since the 1920's.  But my given name was phased out around the same decade, so... it happens.  People give their kids odd names.

I guess it depends on what kind of background/personality you want your character to have.

Mine came from my favorite "cult" film.  It turned out it was a feminine version of my "old Name".  And it was a popular name when I was born.

My name chose me really, but when it comes to naming the characters I tend to just pick something I like the sound of.  In fact I ended up using one of the name of one of my characters as a middle name.

I thought about a name which I would like and was common for my country of origin in my birth years (but it happens to have been unusual where I live). I also had restrictions as it had to be a neutral name. My parents then told me that they like the name a lot and it suited me well. So it was okay for me, as it is usually the parents' duty to choose a name for the kid.