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Have you ever considered changing your name within the same gender?

Discussion in 'Chit Chat' started by LaurenSkye, May 31, 2020.

  1. LaurenSkye

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    This question is mainly for cis people, but can also be for trans people but regarding your original assigned gender.

    I, myself, never seriously considered giving myself a different male name, but for a while I thought I wanted my name to be Aaron. I ever considered setting up social media accounts under the name Aaron.
     
  2. Joe2001

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    I personally haven't as I don't have any issues with my name (it's a traditional name that hasn't aged at all and isn't exclusive to one country). Even if I didn't like my name, I probably wouldn't change it as it would be a bit of a hassle, not to mention that it would feel weird to basically assume a new identity.

    That said, I can see why people do it. Nothing can be done about it but it always seemed a bit of a shame that people's names were chosen by others when they were babies and not themselves. Some parents do have terrible tastes in names after all.
     
  3. LostInDaydreams

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    I thought about it when I was a child, but as an adult, I have no interest in changing my name.

    I don’t know anyone who’s changed their first name, but have known people who go by their middle names instead. I’ve also known a coupe people who’ve changed their surnames, when it was nothing to do with getting married.
     
  4. gurlinred

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    When I was in elementary school I hated my name because I thought it sounded too "girly" (at the time I didn't have friends that were girls).

    But now that I think about changing my name, I don't really have a problem with keeping it or not. Like what would I change it to??
     
    #4 gurlinred, Jun 1, 2020
    Last edited: Jun 1, 2020
  5. Revive

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    I've got quite a unisex name and it's also one that's easy to pronounce in different countries, so now I love it! But when I was little I really wanted it to be more feminine (my birth gender) so people would stop thinking I was a boy when they only knew my name. But I might have been having some gender-troubles back then already.
     
  6. Vesta

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    I've changed my last name out of requirement, but never my first name. I'm content with the name I was given.
     
  7. HM03

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    When I was little I used to HATE how generic my name was. There was always somebody in my class or at work with the same name and it was super annoying. Both my first and middle name are recycled from other family members and my brother got a "completely new name" which pissed me off growing up LOL.

    Since then I've matured a little bit and it doesn't bother me nearly as much. I do wish I had a cool, semi-unique name, but am too lazy and don't care enough anymore to change it
     
  8. Destin

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    Not really because my family would burn me at the stake if I did.

    My fiance seriously almost legally changed his name to the name of his favorite video game character though, which I think is hilarious.
     
  9. Niagara

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    Look, Kenway just sounds fancy and cool alright. I would have kept my first name but introducing myself as Mr. Kenway and Captain Kenway while on a boat just seems fun. :sweat_smile:
     
    #9 Niagara, Jun 1, 2020
    Last edited: Jun 1, 2020
  10. Phoenix92

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    With my name, I wasn’t content with the name I was given at birth, not even during those years where I masqueraded around as male. And after I began my transition, when I filled out the name change paperwork, I still (mostly) kept the roots of my names from birth. My first name got changed to a feminine version of what it was(literally the only change in the root meaning was the gender) my middle name however was a total change.

    The reason I kept the root of my first was because while it was not longer the name that suited me, it was still the name I’d carried for 26 years. I wanted to honor those 26 years at least in some way.
     
  11. La Corbeau

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    I've never seriously considered a name change. I like my current name, it's really rare and pretty.
     
  12. LaurenSkye

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    I had a similar problem when I was in school. There was almost always another Mike. Other kids used call me by various nicknames based on my last name. I did grow to hate those nicknames after a while. My given middle name is Lawrence which is a family name, I used it to create my chosen first name Lauren. When my mom was pregnant with my little brother she was told she was having a girl. My parents were going to use Lauren as her middle name, but when he was born and it was revealed he was a boy, they made his middle name the male version of my mom's first name.
     
  13. Joelle b

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    I have a unisex first name and a male middle name and I despise them (when people know my name before they meet me they think I am a guy) so I will probably change it. I will be severing ties with my family once I am old enough though, so I don’t have anyone who will mind. I already go by this name to my closest friends and therefore it will be easy.
     
  14. BlueMonday

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  15. Loves books

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    I like my name but it’s near impossible for most people to spell unless they are familiar with Irish names. I was named after the singer Sinead O’Connor. It’s not a bad name but when my school had students from Italy and Germany they couldn’t pronounce my name correctly. It was so bad it was unrecognisable to me. My parents had a different name in mind but my aunt said they couldn’t name me the same thing as her dog. I hate my middle name. I was born on the saints feast day and got landed with the name.
     
  16. Libertino

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    I'm happy with Miles. It's very masculine and I don't always feel as masculine as it implies (it does, after all, mean "soldier"), but I've never given much thought to changing it. I have sometimes wanted a Spanish language name, considering I'm of full Mexican descent, but at least my last name reveals my heritage.
     
  17. Vast

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    My given name is very British and, in the US, tends to be seen as fitting a stereotypical formal Brit. It definitely felt goofy as a kid and I kept wishing I had some other name. Once I grew older it felt more fitting and I came to appreciate it.

    My other gripe is that it's hard for Spanish-speakers to pronounce as it has a sound that doesn't exist in Spanish. (I live in S. Florida where Spanish is just as common as English) I often find myself accepting approximations of my name or having to spell it out. I'm of Cuban descent so I feel like it distances me a bit culturally. Nonetheless, I've come to embrace it as part of who I am.
     
  18. Katja24601

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    Kind of? My parents named me Katherine with the intention of calling me Kate. So I've considered going by Katherine, Kath, Kat, Katie, etc but I've never considered completely changing my name. I had a friend who used to call me Katja, hence the username, but I would never actually go by it.