How do you pick a name?

[18BlackFeathers]

I was just wondering, how do you pick a name? I've gone back and forth between two for a while now. I know people say to just give it time, and to pace yourself on names, but I don't have much. I just want to be able to have this one thing.

The names I'm between are Jaren and Gwaine. I love Gwaine because I'm extremely interested in Arthurian legend, and I have a lot of emotional attachment not only to the knight but to the name. Jaren I like, and it's far more practical. I guess I'm just seeking opinions.

I'm 16, if that helps anything.

Thank you.

[Alexthecat]

You can have both. One for the first and then have the other for the middle name. Least then you can be called whichever. It pretty common for people to be called by their middle name.

[alexis.j]

One name is what my mom would have used had i been born a girl, the other name is one i chose and liked for a long time....

[Blue Senpai]

You can have both. One for the first and then have the other for the middle name. Least then you can be called whichever. It pretty common for people to be called by their middle name.

Me and my mom had the same name so I was called by my middle name. I'm following the same tradition with going with my brother's name (Marcel is my name, his is Marcelo) except I will hopefully be referred to as my middle name Luis or Lucho.

I seem to just have looked over names only at behindthename.com and one clicked.

[mylesmt]

I picked my name by finding a bunch of names I liked and then slowly I weeded them out by asking friends and just over time. Once I got down to a few names I had my friends try them out with me. I also thought about professionalism and how I would feel being Dr. (NAME + LASTNAME) which helped quite a bit.

[Lucaas]

I threw a list of names at my mom and let her pick one that she liked. Surprisingly, she picked Luca, and not the name that she had planned on calling me if I'd been born male. "Now-a-days" I prefer Luke or Lucas, but she still refers to me as Luca, haha. I guess it'll just be a nickname, or I could tell people that I went by Luca as a child... Idk.

My new middle name is just one that I really like. I'm a spiritual person and use nature to connect with that, so I chose a nature-related name. This is subject to change as I haven't changed it legally yet and may pick one that's more related to one of my birth names. I doubt I will, though.

[Maleth]

You can have both. One for the first and then have the other for the middle name. Least then you can be called whichever. It pretty common for people to be called by their middle name.

This is a good idea. Plenty of my friends don't go by their first name but rather a nickname or even a middle name.

[ghostpokemon]

For me I shaved a letter off of my Birth Name and used that. It was a quick easy transition for people around me as well.

I would have to agree with Alexthecat though! Iff you would want to use Jaren because it's more practical you can always make gwaine your middle name. That way you can go by both!

[Matthew]

For me, I had stuff in my childhood that related to the name Matthew and it fit

But, for my middle name I wrote down the first names of my heroes, so

Vincent
Jeremy
Christian
Jonathan
Marshall
ect.

And I'm still working out what fits. I'd recommend that for middle names, either that or your father's name, if you get on with them.


-Matt

[And_go]

I have absolutely no idea why, but Andrew just came to me as soon as I started to think about it.

Same initial as my birth name, so won't have to change my signature, but totally different at the same time. I like that it's a solid male name that might help me pass eventually.

Once I'd picked it I quickly set up an email account and it looked right. I tried saying my new full name over to myself (I'll keep my last name) and I liked the sound of it. The moment it started to become real for me was when I tried replacing my name on my work email signature. I only sent it to myself, but it looked good!

I did think about using the name my parents had mentioned calling me if I was a boy. There's two ways of spelling it and I kind of figure that I couldn't be bothered with that complication. Might take it as a middle name though, just to show my family that I have thought about them when choosing.

[Mitchell the Deathbell]

I chose my name because it was the closest thing to my birth name. I wanted to keep my initials MJ, so I wanted to have a masculine M name.
One thing I can say though if you're thinking about names and you decide to share it with someone else for opinions, just be aware that their opinion may shape yours even if you had already chosen a name. For example, when my sister found out I wanted to use the name Mitchell, she made me feel kind of ashamed of the name by saying the name sounded gross, that the name sounded like it belonged to a (excuse the phrase) fat greasy nerd guy... it upset me and made me change my mind for a while, but I just decided to go with what I wanted in the end, not what someone else wanted. Besides, it's MY name. I'M the one who's going to be living with it, not anyone else. So the key is not to please anyone else with your name, you should aim to please yourself with a name you love and can live with.

[pianoforte]

I picked mine based on the meanings. The full version of the name that I'm planning on means something like, "The poet king with the will to heal." Someone in my family caught wind of the fact that I want a new last name, though, and they're kinda ticked off about it