Hey girls! I recently started my social transition, and i’ve been thinking about names. I know not everyone uses a different name during/after their transition, but i think i want to. How did you find your name, and how did you know it was the right one?
My siblings and i were all given names that start with the letter E, and i would like to maintain that pattern. The first name that came to mind was “Eva” after “Queen Iva” from the anime One Piece, who is a character with the power to control hormones.
Seeing Queen Iva was one of the things that made me start to question my gender, so i like the idea of honoring that. However i feel a little wierd about picking my name based on a tv show. Is that something people do? I’ve looked at various lists of baby names, but nothing really clicks the same way as Eva.
Id love to hear your advice and experiences!
CW: Family
CW because some people have a hard time hearing about supportive families.
Before I was born there was a brief period where my parents were expecting me to be a girl, before being “corrected” by later ultrasounds. So they decided on a name, even before deciding on my later deadname. At some point they mentioned that to me, so later when my egg cracked I kind of already knew that there was a name for me, and I took that.
Same. Although they had to have 2 names prepared because I hid my genitals on the ultrasound until the very end 😅
Heck yeah, chiming in with the “parents had two names picked out” backstory. I like to tell people my mom picked my name, we just needed a little redo to correct it to the right one!
Basically the same here, albeit with some slight tweaking to the fem name to avoid having to constantly correct pronounciation like my version 1 name.
Kind of the same for me also, but I couldn’t take the female name they had planned for me since they gave it to my sister. All of my cousins are women on my mom’s side, so my parents were extremely surprised when they found out my sex, since my mom didn’t think it was possible for her to have a boy, but it turned out that she was right all along.
However i feel a little wierd about picking my name based on a tv show.
Most parents do it for their kids too anyway, and trans people all over pick names from their favorite videogame all the time! Just pick whatever feels right for you.
I tried to find names with ties to my old name or personal significance, but none of them felt right. So I looked through a list of names online, and my name jumped out at me.
If your name feels right, then it’s right :)
Interesting, I always assumed your name had a connection to Ada Lovelace!
Well, having her as a namesake is pretty amazing, but she’s not the reason :)
At some point in high school, before I was even considering that I might be trans, I just thought about how it was a cute name. It stuck in my head for a reason I couldn’t figure out for like 4 years after that, until the reason slapped itself in my face and I started transitioning.
I wish reason would slap me in my face
I just spoke to my parents about it and apparently they would have named me Emily anyway lol
I chose a name that means the same thing as my birth name, but in a different language (old English -> Norwegian). I asked my mom what my name would have been if I had been born a girl and took that first name as my middle name.
I named myself after my video game toon name and a character in a movie from my childhood. Use the name that sparks joy. If it gives you flutters when you are called it, thats the one
Tried some different ones out with my friends. As soon as I suggested the name I ultimately went with, everyone had a pretty immediate reaction. Like it just suited me really well. And nearly a decade later, I can say for sure it was meant to be my name.
To find names to try, I used baby name sites. Helpful way to get ideas, but by no means is it the only way to find your name.
In all honesty, I think everyone finds their name differently, and I also think there’s nothing wrong with choosing a name that’s a reference to a show you like! Eventually, the name you do choose will be synonymous with who you are. Try Eva with some friends and see how you like it :) You can always try another name if Eva doesn’t work out. But for what it’s worth, I think it’s a beautiful name.
Edit: just to add, there’s nothing wrong with changing your name again or using a name for years and then deciding its not a good fit. :) what matters is that you like your name and that you’re happy about it. There shouldn’t be any limits placed on that.
Searched the internet for cute names and picked the first that I liked, which was Luna.
I don’t remember how I got Chloe and I think I’m actively gaslighting myself while writing this comment to think it was at a time when I was unsure about Luna after using that for a while so I searched for names again.
Went down a list of names till I found one that I liked and that felt right. Checked the meaning/roots of the name to make sure I liked it. Checked the name against the popularity of the name during my birth year so it wouldn’t be too far out there. I’d skip that step now, but my goal was to go stealth early in my transition. Then I just used the name with people to see how it felt and make sure before doing the legal name change.
My middle name was easier since I took the name of a trans woman whose death was the catalyst for my transition to honor her memory/life.
As far as TV shows go, it wasn’t entirely purposeful but wasn’t accidental that my initials spell out a TV character I liked growing up. If it has meaning to you, don’t let anyone else tell you it’s wrong.
I’m not familiar with One Piece, but Eva sounds like a good name. It also reminds me of Evangelion which is one of the best and most influential animes.
Hi, I’m Ead! My 1.0 name came from the Old English Ead gar Ead meaning happy or fruitful, and Gar meaning Spear. So I cut off the spear.
Is that pronounced like the “ed” in a norse “edda” or like the “ed” in the garden of “Eden” (or some other way)?
Either way, I like it!
My preferred pronunciation is like Eden, but I’m fine with the other one.
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Like in the garden is the preferred pronunciation, but the other is fine.
i love this and i love you and your mind is a treasure to the nation
Thanks, I think this is the best compliment I have ever received 💓
I just liked potato girl
I’ve known others who have used characters from shows, it’s not uncommon
It came to me and it felt right.
Now I’m trying to figure out middle and last names.
my family has gendered last names so I’m using my sister’s last name instead of my legal last name. They’re similar but have different endings.
Well first I picked Ada, from Ada Lovelace, the first programmer, since I enjoy coding.
But then I thought about how my name was based on the one from my grandpa and I felt it was disrespectful towards my family to simply drop it for whatever I fancied. Unfortunately I disliked all the female versions of that name for various reasons.
So I asked my mom what names they came up with before I was born. Lo and behold they had already picked a female name for me! It was uncommon to know the gender before birth back then and so they had already sent it around on my birthcard together with my now dead name.
And well, it was an instant match for me. My dad seemed bummed though because I think my mom picked it and he the male name, but honestly he should lighten up a bit. After all, I didn’t go with Ada.
Eva is a lovely name.
Names are beyond difficult. All my life I had dreamed of having a few names in particular but over the years I have met people with those names. I now associate the names with those people for better or worse. They feel off limits because I would likely compare myself to those women.
In the end I grabbed a ton of names from a bunch of online baby books, threw them into a spreadsheet, and started sorting. The first cut was just names I liked, and then I kept refining those that made the cut. Having hard rules can help too eg: no andro names, something that can be shortened, common trans names, etc
If nothing clicks this can at least help you understand patterns of names you like that you can research more.
I picked my name when I was trying to name a character in a story I was writing. It ended up being a really nice name, so I said “Screw it, that’s my name now. I’ll just rename the character.”
Also, plenty of people are named after characters from TV shows. My dead name was from a TV show apparently, but I dunno which one. In the end, even if it wasn’t a common thing, if you like the name, use it. It’s better than settling for another name you don’t like as much and having to live with it when all your documents get changed.
