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Best way to find out your new name?

Discussion in 'Gender Identity and Expression' started by LizzerDizzer, Nov 25, 2016.

  1. LizzerDizzer

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    For a while, I have been attached to the name Jamison (or Jamieson i haven't figured out what spelling I want) and I'm unsure if that's the NAME for me? I want a name that fits me super well and I have no idea where to start looking for names.

    Any suggestions are greatly welcome because my last resort is just browsing through baby name sites and I just don't think I have the willpower to look through hundreds of pages of every name ever made in alphabetical order. Thank you!
     
  2. Kodo

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    A lot of people start with family names, or from somewhere or something that inspires you. The meaning and style of the name, too, is important.

    Obviously, being your name, everything is up to you. But maybe I can share how I picked mine and ask you some questions to get you thinking.

    My name is Alec Yosef. This first name I picked about a year ago after floating between several others. But Alec felt different. I'd first started thinking about the name after hearing it in Broadchurch as my favourite character - a detective - bears the name. It had a nice appeal to it: old fashioned yet not antique, understandable but not too common, British roots... The meaning is "fighter" or specifically, "defender." Worked with my last name as well. I didn't have it nailed down though until I signed my coming out letter to my parents under that name. After that point, it became my name. As for the middle name, I wavered between David and Yosef for a while but I think I am choosing the latter, Yosef being the Hebrew equivalent of Joseph from the Bible. My family traditionally names the males after Bible characters so I've kept that, in a way.

    As for you, think about these:
    -Are there any relatives you feel particularly close to who you could be named after, or have a similar name?
    -Who or what inspires you? Often a name is a reflection of who we are or want to be.
    -Do you want a male name or something more neutral?
    -How about syllables? Would you want a nickname? How could the name you choose accommodate that?
    -What kind of name do you want? Common, unique, modern, old fashioned, ethnic? There are many to choose from.


    Best wishes to you. And should you want to "test drive" some names, let us know. The members here at EC are very cool about it.
     
  3. Rickystarr

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    Those are good suggestions. Think about what you like in a name and then give us some guidelines and we can help you with suggestions. (some are obviously the same things Alec asked, but I narrowed it down more to things that we can actually help you with rather than general things to think about for yourself)

    1. Do you want something unique or common?
    2. Distinctly masculine or gender neutral?
    3. Modern, timeless, or specific to the decade you were born?
    4. Do you like long names or short names? Do you want something that can be easily shortened and has a nickname?

    I personally prefer fairly common but not too common names that are either timeless or popular in the decade you were born just because it will help you blend better. But lots of people think if they get to choose their own name they might as well choose something unique. And that is fine too. But I do find that choosing very modern trendy names makes transfolk stick out a bit which isn't ideal if you ever want to be stealth.

    Just depends on your priorities.
     
    #3 Rickystarr, Nov 26, 2016
    Last edited: Nov 26, 2016
  4. Lulamoon

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    I've always hated my name growing up, so about eight years ago, I adopted the name Vader, after the Star Wars character. After coming out, I continued to use that name until I decided what I wanted to be called. Every time I thought about it, I thought of the name Trixie, after the character in my avatar. Despite my love for the character, I didn't feel it was me. So instead of going with a name that didn't work or continue to use a guy's name, I asked a friend. He insisted Ashley works for me, so I went with it. Still getting used to it, though...

    I'd suggest asking some close friends what they think. Maybe they'll give you something you like, maybe they won't. You won't know unless you ask. Hope that works for you. :slight_smile:
     
  5. LizzerDizzer

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    Sorry for not replying to your guys help until now! Both college finals and my new job is killing me.
    Thanks for all the suggestions and advice! I guess one way I can organize this post is to just make a list:

    1. I have two relatives that have a name that I like a lot: John. But I don't want to have that name because then there will be three John's in our family.

    2. Most of the names that I like are from characters that I realate a lot with or see myself in. Like Lance from Voltron, Jamison/Junkrat from Overwatch, Jesse from Breaking Bad, and more. (maybe I'll look through my favorite characters again and see if any of them have any good names :eusa_danc)

    3. I want a male name, but I'm still open to gender neutral names if there are some nice sounding ones. Names like Sam don't really appeal to me though.

    4. I never really thought about syllables before, I think 3 syllables is high enough??(espesially since my current last name is 2 syllables & my dream last name is 3 syllables as well). Like I said, I never really thought about name syllables :confused:

    5. Having a long name wouldn't bother me as long as charming nicknames can be made to shorten it. I think that's why I like Jamison, so many nicknames for friends and family to use (James, Jamie, Jay, etc.)

    6. Having a unique name sounds nice, I guess I want a name that's not common but at the same time not too out there (its nice to blend in like Kodo says :icon_bigg). I just don't want a name that's obviously not a name your parents would have given you.

    Thank you guys for all this help!
     
  6. BrookeVL

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    What everyone else said is good advice. Also ask yourself, is there anything at all you like about your birth name? Even if it's just the letter it starts with, is there anything you might want to keep? Maybe you like the meaning of, if not the name itself?

    I like names that are derived from nature. "Brooke" means either "a small stream" or "lives by the stream" depending on where you get the definition. I was thinking "River" until a friend suggested "Brooke" might work better. It's stuck and I am not planning on changing it. I love it.

    "Victoria" came about, because I wanted to keep some small part of my birth name. I wanted to feminize my middle name. Though Victoria is not a direct feminization, it's close. It also has a similar meaning to my middle name. That and everyone here loved it(including me!), so it's stuck.

    I do hope my little story about the origin of my name helps you out hun. :slight_smile:
     
  7. RainbowGreen

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    Well, I did browse through baby name websites, but usually, you can filter your search.

    I had a good idea of what I wanted first, though. I wanted something French, not too short, uncommon and that ended in ''ore''. There are not many names that fit this description. I ended choosing the one that fit me best.

    Just think about the criteria for your name.

    -Length (Short or long)
    -Common or not
    -Old or new
    -What nationality (Do you want an English name, or would you prefer something more ''exotic''?)
    -Composed or not
    -Any sonority you like?

    Usually, if you have good criteria, you should not have more than one or two pages of results on websites.
     
  8. looking for me

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    sometimes you have to look inward. what I did was sit quietly, and get in my meditative state looking into myself, that does take practice, and gave myself the question, "what is my name....?" after awhile the name Sarah came out in that mental "voice" I associate with my Feminine self, "my name is Sarah" and I felt at peace with that, I knew it was right. my middle name is a misspelling of my birth name because I need to show gratitude for who I was and who got me to Sarah.
     
  9. MulticoloredSox

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    Same here, I also went through a bunch of baby name sites but it wasn't as hard or tiring as I thought it would be since there were only a handful of names out of all those that I liked anyways. In the end I only ended up having to seriously choose between ten maybe even less.

    But I feel like you'll sort of "know it" when the name is right for you.
     
  10. Daydreamer1

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    Another thing you can do is think about your role models or heroes, and see if that helps.

    I've seen many people, myself included, make their name as a sort of tribute to the people they look up to--even if they're from TV shows or comic books. For example, my name is a nod to three different people--one of them being a superhero.
     
  11. Lacybi

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    I would also read other people's questions about names, whether that is here from trans people or on baby name sites from prospective parents. For me I knew I wanted to keep my middle name - Hope, which is neutral just very female leaning - so I wanted something to go with that. Someone here was looking for names beginning with S and someone suggested Seth and it stuck. I tried Lex (short for Alexander) for a while but I kept forgetting that it was me and my friend had to resort to calling me Seth, that's how I knew it wasn't right for me. I decided to keep Alexander as my middle name though and double barrel Seth/Ollie Hope as my first name. Ollie came about from shortening and neautralising my birth name, olivia. It's so much easier to say I'm Ollie than to say I'm Seth but it doesn't fit as well; it's more like a stepping stone.
     
  12. LovelyLex

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    I just shortened "Alex" to Lex. But if you dislike your birth name, something like that may not work for you.