I was just wondering how some of you have chosen your names? Have any of you changed your last names as well?

I've been going under Rachel but I never intended on using it in the long run because I have no connection to it. I just kind of pulled it out of my ass when I was creating a yahoo profile.

I've given it a lot of thought and I decided that I want to be Amanda.

BTW, I just typed that for the first time and had to stare at that for a moment.

I think it's good to really experiment and try out your name before going the permanent route.  Now it's easy and it's free if you want to change it.

Both my first and middle names were names I fell in love with after highly emotional events, and for whatever reason, they resonated power into what was a powerless childhood.  My last name is changing too because my mom and stepdad accepted me fully when I came out to them.  My dad and stepmom (whose last name I share) don't know yet, but I have a feeling their reaction is going to be one of violent opposition, if not actually violent.  They were capable of doing it to me as a child, why not now...?

Yeah, I have no love of my legal last name and stopped using it two months ago for this very reason.

Quote from: JungianZoe on May 14, 2011, 01:45:45 PM
I think it's good to really experiment and try out your name before going the permanent route.  Now it's easy and it's free if you want to change it.

Amanda just feels special. I was named for someone special and with this name, I still can.

I actually do plan to change my last name, too. Nothing against my family but just for the total fresh start.

Quote from: Rach_A on May 14, 2011, 01:52:44 PM
I actually do plan to change my last name, too. Nothing against my family but just for the total fresh start.

I did this as well. I am really proud of my roots and my father but this was best for me. It allows me to be as stealth as possible. I can find other ways to honor my family.

Quote from: Domitia on May 13, 2011, 08:17:38 PM
Well, this is what I did:

1. Made a list of names that I would be comfortable writing and like when it's said. I further included common names that seemed popular from my birth date (or, seemed popular anyway).
2. I removed the names that were less frequent around the time I was born than my old name (using online statistics). Uncommon names can draw attention.
3. I removed any names that were of past friends, current family/relatives, or other people where having their name may make for any awkward times.
4. I experimented to ensure the name I chose can't be used for any immature insults (Harry being the easiest to think of).
5. I wrote out my full name(s) to see what they looked like; length, ease to say, and any odd lingual insults from merging first-middle-last names.
6. I took a look at the initial letter of the first and last name to see what I preferred. For me, it was one where my initials didn't change.
7. Rank the list in order of preference with what remains and choose the top one; or just a random one if it's too hard to pick.
8. I vaguely tested the preferred name with a couple of relatives when I came out.

Sounds harder than it was.
I also used a few baby name sites to get variant spellings of names in a few cases.

I should also note, my user name ≠ my real name (current or desired).

I don't plan on changing my last name.

I did some of these steps too.

The other name I was considering seemed too close to my cousin's, so there went that.

Obviously I'm not going to name myself Glitter or something like that. (no offense to anyone that has)

The surname I was thinking of is a bit common and is actually a take on my current first name.

Quote from: Rach_A on May 14, 2011, 02:09:01 PM
The surname I was thinking of is a bit common and is actually a take on my current first name.

The one I had picked out in case things didn't go well with my mom and stepdad was the surname of one of my favorite actors, who sadly passed away in 2007.  His long-time role in a British comedy made a lasting impact on my young mind. 

Quote from: JungianZoe on May 14, 2011, 02:18:46 PM
The one I had picked out in case things didn't go well with my mom and stepdad was the surname of one of my favorite actors, who sadly passed away in 2007.  His long-time role in a British comedy made a lasting impact on my young mind. 

Mine is also the name of one my favorite historical figures.

Tracey is a connection to my working on circuit boards, hence the "e". It sounds nice and feminine, too. If anyone tries to insult me, they'll get a mouthful of fist, then feel stupid for letting a girl knock them down.

It was fairy easy. My given name was Kevin so Karen seemed appropriate but I liked it spelled better with the Y

My middle name was given to so degree. When I mentioned to my daughter I needed a middle name she asked if I would take hers and I thought that was a beautiful thing to share.

My first name came easily.  I chose it for myself at age 4 because it was the prettiest name I ever heard (and it isn't Jane LOL!)

I would have changed my family name if I had known I was going to be disowned and my mother would never relent.

my real name is Claire Alexandra but my family has called me Alex since i was born. just like my sister is Danielle but we call her Dani.it wasnt until i started public school and eventually became an adult that i had to be called Claire. i'm thinking i'll change it to Clair Alex, so its the same name esssentially, just male.i want to be called Alex though....but Alex Clair doesnt sound right with my last name.idk.

Quote from: 904-boy on May 14, 2011, 06:09:23 PM
my real name is Claire Alexandra but my family has called me Alex since i was born. just like my sister is Danielle but we call her Dani.it wasnt until i started public school and eventually became an adult that i had to be called Claire. i'm thinking i'll change it to Clair Alex, so its the same name esssentially, just male.i want to be called Alex though....but Alex Clair doesnt sound right with my last name.idk.

I like girls names that can be shorted to guys names. Alexandria was actually one of my choices.

its a very empowering name for a girl.and beautiful.

Quote from: 904-boy on May 14, 2011, 06:25:31 PM
its a very empowering name for a girl.and beautiful.

That was actually the name that sounded too close to my cousin's so I nixed it but it is beautiful.

I picked my first name ^^ I feel that words draw out connotations, emotions, and such, from the sheer pattern of sounds, not just the nature of their meanings...I don't think names are in themselves symbolic, but the noise pattern to pronounce them, I feel, almost carries particular natures.  My middle name was picked to closely reflect my origin-gender's middle name, out of respect of my (technically soon to be) previous life, and I picked my last name so that I can be ready if my family doesn't accept me, so that if they do not wish to accept my female presence when I throw away my male presence, that I don't push it on them through the family name.  ---Granted, all of this works out better if I know for sure I can change a middle&last name. XD

The only honestly sophisticated steps I took were making sure I didn't pick something that sounded 'out of culture' or seemed/was blatantly made up, for stealth's sakes.  I personally felt people wouldn't make a big deal of an out-of-time name so I never thought about that.  I didn't think of how a name might be made fun of, but I feel that unfortunately creative people always can figure something out to reference or pun. XD ^^;

For me, it was simply discussing what name I would have been born with my (supportive) mother, had I been born in the right body. I also had some say into the name, too, since she wasn't entirely sure.  It took us 4 names, we finally agreed on Jessica; she had it in between two names, and I liked Jessica better, it was much more feminine. My family also values religion- but is super gay and trans supportive- and Jessica covers that. For what it's worth, I also wanted to have my name be the same starting letter and syllable count, J and three, respectivally. Of course, it helps that Jessica was the 2nd most popular name in my birth year (middle name was something like 17th that year).

As for my middle name, it had to work with my one-syllable last name, and couldn't be too long or short, so I figured it had to be 2 syllables. Nicole was my favorite middle name (I feel I kind of look like one), and we both liked it, so there it was! My last name is remaining the same, since it's somewhat common.

Still not sure about my middle name though. I have one so I should change that too, even though I never use it at all.

I'm thinking of doing something where I can have a nickname like "AJ" or something like that.

I recently figured out what I want my name to be, so I'm giving it some test runs and trying to get used to it. I decided years ago to take my mother's maiden name as my last name because my father used to physically abuse me as a child, so I didn't want to "carry on the family name". As far as my first name goes, I wanted something that couldn't be shortened by common nickname. The middle name was the hardest for me, but a great friend of mine convinced me to take the shortened feminine version of my boy name. This gave my name a more... country sounding earthy practicality that I really liked.

So, that's how I came to Audrey Jo Taylor. Sounds classy, but not pretentious. Unique because I've never known any Audreys or girls name Jo.

I also really like Domitia's criteria for name choosing. That list really coincides what I was looking for.

I will be legally changing my first and last name.  As far as picking a first name, I didn't want to do the classic thing of just using the feminine version of my old name.  I find that too tacky.  I will be changing my last name because I owe nothing to the family line (and also as I won't be contributing to it obviously) and my dad was the source of a lot of pain in my life so I wanted to cut out of the name.  He didn't like it, but hopefully he is getting better about it after I told him that it wouldn't be any different if I were to get married (which I still may in the future, but it'll be to another woman).