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Creative Project: What goes into picking a name?

Discussion in 'Gender Identity and Expression' started by YeahpIdk, Feb 27, 2017.

  1. YeahpIdk

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    Hey Peeps:slight_smile:

    I'm writing a story, and one of my main characters is trans (ftm). If any of you all would be so nice as to share some of what goes into picking a new name/getting it legally changed that would be awesome. :slight_smile:

    I want to be as accurate as possible. So anything else that you hate seeing in transgender characters represented in stories would be great - only if you wanted to, of course! :slight_smile:

    Thank you in advance.
     
  2. tranonymous

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    Awesome! What kind of story?
     
  3. Najlen

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    I chose my name based on a lot of factors. I wanted it to be similar to my original name, but with a more unique feel. The name I ended up picking actually has about 8 different meanings to me. It's the name of a lesser known mythological figure from northern Europe (where my family came from) who is associated with language and history, which are both subjects I pursue. The name is also a word meaning long story, which has a couple of personal meanings to me as well. I was looking through name lists and when I saw it it just felt right, I knew it would be the one I chose even before I did more research and found the additional meanings. Your project sounds cool, I'd love to read it if you're considering putting it up somewhere.
     
  4. Zoe Izumi

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    both my chosen names have ties to Digimon, my favorite anime.
    Plus I like the meanings of them

    Zoe i picked because Codsworth in Fallout 4 couldn't say Akari. Zoe means "Life"

    Akari I picked because I wanted a cute Japanese name for a rp sim on SL and there were too many people with the name I usually used. Akari means "Light"
     
    #4 Zoe Izumi, Feb 27, 2017
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  5. YeahpIdk

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    I want it to be a coming of age story like any other, but through the life of someone who's transgender. There will be love. Barriers. But nothing crazy and over dramatic - I hate when LGBTQ media is like that. That's my goal, anyway!:slight_smile:


    That name list scrolling is how I see it happening. Glad to know I'm not too off, then! :slight_smile: So did it mean a lot to you that the name had a lot of meaning?

    You say you picked a name sort of similar to yours, I wonder if that's a usual thing. Or if people are more likely to pick something that's totally different.

    Thank you so much for sharing with me:slight_smile: I hope you can read it when it's done, someday!! ...hopefully, lol.
     
    #5 YeahpIdk, Feb 27, 2017
    Last edited: Feb 27, 2017
  6. Daydreamer1

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    My name is a strung together homage of people I look up to or connect with in one way or another; be it fictional or otherwise.

    Adam for the character from Degrassi, who became a brother figure to me that guided me through high school while I was in the closet. He also gave me the strength to take the first steps to coming out.

    Jerick is a nod to drag performer and singer Jerick Hoffer aka Jinkx Monsoon. I found them when I was in and out of psych hospitals for my suicidal ideation, and seeing Jerick's bright and bubbly face every week kept me going, and I hoped to find a way to carry their outlook on life with me wherever I go---"water off a duck's back".

    Wade is a new addition, and it's for the love and admiration I have for Deadpool. I relate to a lot of his traumas, struggles, and how he uses humor as a coping mechanism. We're both wisecrackers and just overall lighthearted goofballs.
     
  7. Najlen

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    Yeah, I really wanted to pick something that meant something, preferably a variety of things. I am a very changeable person and I think that since the name means something I'm a lot less likely to regret my choice later. Even if that wasn't the case though I would have wanted it to mean something just so it feels more like mine.

    I am not sure on the second thing, I wanted it to sound similar because I like my old name. I just don't want to continue using it because it's traditionally only given to girls. To me it seems about 50/50, some people want to have a similar name, some want something totally different.
     
  8. tranonymous

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    Sounds like a pretty cool story! I'd read that.
     
  9. YeahpIdk

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    I love both of those names!

    What's with the fascination to anime? If you don't mine me asking. I find a lot of LGBTQ peeps are reeeeally into it, but I've never jumped on that bandwagon.


    I love the meanings behind all the names. It's interesting, because parents do this when they have kids, you know? So you like, baby name yourself, in a way. And you put so much into what that means, especially because you kind of know who you already are/want to embody.

    I've dealt with suicidal ideation this past year, from having a chronic illness. So (*hug*)
    I hope you're feeling better now:slight_smile:

    Yeah, I'm seeing that. The 50/50 thing. I guess it just depends on the person. Not sure how my guy will be yet.

    I hope it turns into something worth reading!!
     
  10. Zoe Izumi

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    When I was little, Digimon and Pokemon and a few other anime came on tv, and I loved Digimon(FAR MORE than Pokemon) because of how well thought out and relatable the characters were. Also that they actually got proper Character Development in Digimon.

    Idk if it's the same for everyone, I just love Anime really.
     
  11. Lacybi

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    Well I just saw Seth in a thread here and it sort of stuck with me. As it happens I'm really into mythology and ancient civilisations and there's an Egyptian god called Set/Seth/Sutekh so that's interesting. My favourite character in a set of books I really love (Amy Green by Sarah Webb if you're interested; your bog standard teenage girly books only better plus they're set in Dublin and I live in Ireland so that's cool) is also called Seth but when I started going by it I didn't really have any meaning behind it at all. It's actually Seth Hope because I like having a typically male name and a typically female name (even though Hope is technically neutral) together because I think it sort of suits me somehow. Also Hope was always my middle name. My new middle name is Alexander because I really love that name and always have but I'm not an A person. I tried going by Lex for a bit last year but it just wasn't for me so I decided to use Alexander as my middle name instead.
    As for the like/not like name thing - I was born olivia so yeah not like Seth at all.

    I'm also writing a story with the main characters being trans! I've got seven chapters up on Booksie already (a different username though). I'd love to read your story because one can never have too many LGBT+ things to read!
     
  12. Daydreamer1

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    I'm doing a lot better, which is refreshing, even though I'm still there sometimes.

    When I brought up name stuff to my mom around that time, she said she would have named me Joshua--which is cool, but this was also around the time I was still friends with this guy with the same name, and I thought it would make things confusing. I remember there was a point where my middle name was a nod to my dad (Tobias), but I ended up scrapping that as well because there was a guy who frequented this place I went to with the nickname AT, so that didn't work out.

    It's super cool how people find their name, like with Akari through Digimon for example. I've seen a lot of people do this with Supernatural as well, which is pretty damn neato. :slight_smile:
     
  13. Myles Kramer

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    To preface: I am genderfluid and I really do love my given name, its uncommon so when I would ask people as a kid "what name would I have, if I wasnt 'X'?" and people would draw a blank and tell me they couldnt imagine me with any stereotypical name, I just was 'X'. But 'X' became how other people think of me, not just purely how I express myself, bc even if other cis people don't have it around here, it still is a cis name. Maybe one of these days I'll give it up entirely, but for now I love it.

    Myles came along because my mind was wandering around and playing with names I like, and like my given name, its not really common around where I live and I can make it into something of my own, but it does have a non-genderconforming connotation to it unlike my given name. I needed a way to think about myself differently. There is so much stuff that X isn't supposed to/ expected to be like that I am, so I needed to separate the binding and hairy legs and whatnot that X would be judged for and instead think of that stuff as Myles bc ofc no one is going to expect a person with the name "Myles" to adhere to the beauty standards that X has.

    yeah honestly Im not really out so I don't really want some earthshatteringly profound name to define myself by, I just needed any sort of change for myself so i could stop some of my fear at being questioned by cis standards.

    Also Im throwing my hat in the pool of people interested in reading this story too!
     
  14. EverDeer

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    I picked Kipp because I actually didn't have a lot of dysphoria surrounding my birth name (Katie). I thought it was pretty and liked how it sounded, but wished to pursue an identity that gave me a more masculine appearance / feel when first getting to know someone. It's okay to say you're nonbinary and still have a feminine or masculine names, it's just obviously I felt a feminine sounding name would be odd in persuing interest in masculine pronouns. I wanted a name with 1-2 syllables that had a similar feel to my birthname, because for me it was easier to associate it to myself that way. I actually didn't like pretty much all other masculine 'K' names, but I loved Kipp so I took it! (other considerations were Marty, Dusty, Mick/Micky...)

    Another funny thing is I remembered it because I used to watch a show when I was little called "Kipper The Dog" (my username is a play off of that hahah)
     
  15. AbsoluteNerd

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    Well, let's see...for a while I thought I was MtF (honestly nit sure what I am anymore) and I went for Christine, because my parents always said I was almost named Christopher. That and it's just a pretty name. No other significant reason, really. So I think the ways people choose their name vary greatly, thus most any method you use for your book would likely be easily plausible
     
  16. YeahpIdk

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    I wish I was more into it, honestly. So many people are, lol.

    I love media that's centered around where I live, too.

    I love Seth Hope! It's definitely stand out.

    I agree! So much goes into it, and they have really awesome origins. It's really important.

    Yeah. That's another thing I was curious about. How much do people want/need to separate themselves from their female identity. I imagine for some, the name, especially if it's really feminine, has to be completely different from the person they actually are. Like having to totally start over, sort of thing.

    Hahaha. I like Kipp!

    It's kind of like what I said above with the needing to change names to start anew. It's interesting to hear that you did like your given name, but knew it might be a bit contradictory/issue-making if you were to keep it but use male pronouns.

    I agree. People have a bunch of different reasons for choosing and changing names.

    Thanks to everyone who let me know what this experience is like for you. It's so helpful! :slight_smile: <3
     
    #16 YeahpIdk, Mar 4, 2017
    Last edited: Mar 4, 2017
  17. CJliving

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    I love my name, always have, always will, no intention of changing it. But I did change my nickname to something more neutral that was still close to my name. Didn't think much of it, but I actually have a coming-of-age trans story that I've been writing since before even accepting myself as trans and the character did the same kind of thing. He changed his name but kept his nickname from before. So I guess for me, some kind of association with my past name is important.

    If you don't know about it already, 20-000 names is a great list site. Might be a good/fun idea to just go browsing for something that relates to your character!
     
  18. Najlen

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    I don't really feel the need to separate myself from my female identity, I've been dressing androgynously for years and playing male parts in plays and generally presenting male around my friends even before I realized I was trans. I guess I don't feel the need to separate from my female identity because I never really had one. I'm not a traditionally masculine guy, I like wearing dresses occasionally and I sew and dance and things like that, but I have always done it as a guy rather than as a girl, at least in my head. I don't know if that makes any sense. I don't really feel the need to divorce myself from who I was before because I've always just been me, but I'm sure other people feel differently about it.
     
  19. YeahpIdk

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    I'll check it out, thanks! :slight_smile:

    I'm having a hard time with the name, actually. I really want to name him after the person who inspired me to make this story, but it's not him, exactly. I'm trying to stop thinking of him with this real guy's name, but it's hard to separate! It's not even about a guy totally like him, but I want the character to have some of him in it.

    ---------- Post added 4th Mar 2017 at 10:14 PM ----------

    No, that makes a lot of sense.
     
  20. lawlight

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    I'm not the most creative, so my name is actually just my initials (A.L.) with an extension and a reference to my last name. But hey, it works and I like it.(^_^)v