How did you choose your name?

My name came from a character in a story I'm writing. The character, who has since been renamed Fiora, is basically just one part of me, the adventurous, fun loving side. Other characters are other parts of myself, but this one was the one I always tried to let out more IRL. She's brave in a way I try to be. Not afraid to voice her opinion or defend her friends. I'm able to use it when I'm forced to go into boy mode too, so that was a factor as well.

 

Loved the name Alexander since I was in 5th grade, always wished I could of been named it. That and Alexander the Great is one of those men in history I love learning about

 

Brad just kind of stuck for me. I started going by it and it felt right. I then found out that I would have been named Bradley of I was born male, so that just confirmed my decision.

 

I'm still trying to decide between a few names, but all of them are names I just like and are nothing like my given name.

 

Even though I'm not trans. My female side is called Ariana. That would have been my name had I been born female.

 

I was always drawn to the name Alexander, and it stuck. I considered Andros, Aaron, and Adam when I was on the fence with keeping Alexander, but I gave up and kept with it. It helped too that a friend who was one of the inspirations for me to get into the film industry is also named Alexander.

Middle name wise, I flipped and flopped for years. Jesse. Jackson. Tobias. Jason. Joshua. Hayden. Atticus. Holden. I was everywhere. It mostly went with what I thought would flow nicely, and what would be great for something short. Hell, I still get emails with one of my older choices (Mason).

But, I ultimately chose Jerick as a tribute to an actor/drag performer who got me through one of the worst periods of my depression.

 

Some people ask their parents what they would have named them should they have been born the opposite sex, I think that's pretty cool.
I just knew that I liked J names (my birth name starts with J) and went on baby name websites. Compiled a list of names I liked and narrowed it down. Then I tried out a couple till I found the one that felt most 'right'.

 

Back when I was initially questioning, I ended up with Leon - I more or less just ran through neutral-to-masculine names and that was the one that I gelled with at the time.

...I suspect that Kingdom Hearts might also have been slightly to blame. I can't remember, but little me certainly did protest a lot if anyone suggested I'd chosen it because of that Leon, which probably means I totally did steal his name.

 

I chose Wolfgang because it's the name my grandparents would have used if they'd had a boy (she had two daughters, my Mum and Aunt). I did ask my parents first but they didn't really have a definite boys name other than my brother's. I happen to really like the name Wolfgang and it has lots of meaning for me, so I go by that.

 

I chose the name Dorian because I like the way it sounds, basically. I just clicked with it. I'm not 100% sure it's the name I'm gonna go with (because other people's opinions), but almost. I like the names Adrian and Lee, too, but Dorian just... fits me.

 

I chose Connor as my chosen first name because I like the way it sounds when I say it. I went through so many names before finding it and one day it was just, like, a lightbulb moment. You know? The rest of my name comes from my birth name, Samantha Leigh-Anne; my parents gave me them so I didn't just want to cast them aside. So Connor Samuel Leigh-Andrew [Surname].

I'm the oldest and my parents only had one name picked out if I was born a boy, or at least my mum did. Daniel, it was, but she gave it to my brother when he was born two years later. I might have wanted the name if he didn't have it. I'll have to ask my dad if he ever has any masculine names in mind for me.

 

I went with Jack because it started with the same letter as my birth name, was relatively plain and unmemorable so I can blend in easily, and it sounded nice enough. Sometimes I still feel like I should've chose something flashy like "Bastian" but honestly, Jack works pretty well for me.

 

There are very few names in Spanish that are sort of gender-neutral, and among those few options I chose Alex, because it could be seen as both male and female, but more commonly male. I also like the letter X, so it was a win-win situation!

 

I chose the name Yael because it was the name that I wanted my brother to choose for my niece. I adopted the name on the day that I learned what it means to be transgender and it has stayed with me. .

 

I've been stuck on Allison for a while. I considered the female version of my birth name, but it's pronounced too similarly. Allison was a girl I liked from college, and the name sounded good to me, so that's mainly the reason.

Also, am I wrong or do a lot of the names we choose start with "A"?

 

My name, Kirsten, was a name I used as an alias back in the day when I pretended to be a girl on the internet (long before I ever even thought about my gender and what problems I may have had with it), I remembered it when thinking of names and it immediately struck a cord with me, like it fit me perfectly; so I picked it.

 

None of the standard options were possible for me. There is no masculine version of my given name and nothing particularly close to it either. My parents didn't decide on a name until they knew I would be afab, so I couldn't go with what they would have named me if I'd been a guy. I chose Jesse because it was a name I'd liked since fourth grade when I read Bridge to Terabithia. It was a nice name but it also felt like a name that could be mine, so I kept it.

My middle name / second first name, Mark, was a name I was less attached to, but I had positive associations with. I liked the sound of it with my full name, and I liked the initials it gave (JMK). And again, when I thought of myself as Jesse Mark, it felt like me. It didn't just feel like a nice name, it felt like my name.

 

I went with Andrew since it's a family name and it's not close to my birth name.