Transfem

It took me 2 attempts to find the one I liked. One was translating my deadname's root word to another language that was gendered, then the second was a friend saying a plant reminded them of me and I liked it more. Also easier to spell hehe.

My first name I found randomly while looking at names with a similar meaning (the meaning behind the latin root) of my deadname. At the end of the day it doesn't have that meaning at all, but I fell in love with that name.

My middle names are the feminized version of my deadname and a potential name my mom would have given me if I were born a girl.

For me it was literally that about 2-3 days after my egg cracking this name floated around my mind randomly and I stuck with it.

I simply feminized my former masculine name…

My first name rhymes with my deadname lol. It's been in my head for most of my life.

I got more creative with my middle name, and it's a reference to two inspiring video game characters who share a name in Resident Evil 2 and Final Fantasy XIII.

I found out that my great great grandmother had a name that starts with the first letter of my deadname, and it felt right to me! I thought about the girl name that my parents would have used, but I just don’t feel like it suits me

I haven't. There's some baggage with my (unfortunately masculine) given name than I'm not ready to let go of and I don't have any name I actually want.

Sometimes I change the spelling to be feminine (albeit a rare name compared to the masc form) and more similar to my mom's name (who my name was picked to rhyme with). It's a spelling I used as my character name in a Pokemon game when I chose a girl character like a decade before my egg cracked and my friend thought it was an uhh interesting choice (expressed by friendly teasing).

I had picked a name from a video game I really loved and had intended that to be my future daughter's name for over a decade but eventually realized that the person I really wanted to have that name was me.

And I never wanted kids, so it was always weird to me that I had a name picked out, but I was never the most insightful person.

Hildegard von Bingen was the most talented and accomplished woman I learned about in my history classes at school. I like her name so I took it!

I liked when Codsworth from Fallout 4 called me by it. I had liked the idea of a lot of names before, but it was the first one that really clicked. When that robot first called me Assface, I knew it would be my name.

I briefly had used a name when I was experimenting as a teenager, and decades later when I finally figured it out and transitioned, I decided to honor that girl by using the name she picked.

My grandfather had a name that was historically gender neutral but is now more commonly feminine. He used to be bullied for it as a kid and went by a nickname. He passed away before I transitioned. I wear it with pride in his memory.

I read the numbers trilogy by rachel ward probably around 15 years ago and one character gives birth to a girl and names her Mia and I locked onto it for if I ever had a daughter. Eventually, my wife and I decided we didn't want kids, so my hope to use the name disappeared. When I realized I was trans, I thought maybe I didn't lock onto it for a daughter like I had thought, but for myself. First time my wife called me Mia, I turned into a goddamn puddle, so I knew it was my name. Ironically, now we want to have a baby, and Mia is suddenly off the table.

I just went to the female version of my name. My nickname everyone uses stayed the same as it's gender neutral. (I'm not really called Theresa, I just use that online because I like it and did consider it once. But I think it doesn't work well with my last name)

I thought about things that are meaningful to me and picked names that represent those things to me.

It’s from Hamlet 2

My parents had one picked out for each gender (I was successfully hiding it on every ultrasound image) and now I use the name they picked for a girl.

When I was an egg, I identified quite well with the term tomboy, and when I watched a TV show there were two characters with the same name that were pretty tomboyish. And the name fitted my requirements and I liked it. So it's my name now.

I got a couple different names that I've chosen for myself.

One is a woman who left everything she knew to find a better life for herself.

One was chosen to be similar to pronounce to my deadname but different enough to be a clear break. I followed patterns my mom used in naming all her kids, somewhat in hope that she would accept the real me.

One was chosen keep my middle initial the same to avoid having my username in a bunch of places be dysphoric and as a way of saying to my dad I hoped he'd still be proud of me some day.

And one was chosen by 18 year old me one day when I was starting to build my online presence. It was truly the first name I gave myself, even though I didn't know I was doing that at the time. Turns out that's the name I prefer to go by the most. Not sure how I got it in one.

I haven't totally settled yet, but I was named after my maternal and paternal grandfathers, so I'll probably end up switching to my grandmother's names instead. I just feel like if I don't set a rigid rule for naming myself, I'll end up changing it every month. I'm very indecisive.

I’m Tanis, pronounced TAH-niss and my parents gave it to me when I was born.

I made the decision of keeping it. I like it.

Did update my middle name from Michael to Ashley though.

I picked mine from a song. It wasn't special and I'm not exactly fond of the implications since she's a traitor in her original context. I just like how it sounds

I picked Riley from ig my long time favorite bands frontladys performance name (so not really her name). It just sounded rough and cute at the same time, which i guess fits me and my friend likes it too.

Not sure if i can have it as my legal name though...

I went for a summer job to The Netherlands. One of the coworkers' name was Saskia and I thought it sounded cute. Apparently this name is quite popular there, while almost unheard of in Poland. If anyone knows the name here, they either know it from The Witcher or because of Rembrandt's wife. I know it may sound weird that I picked a name after coworker, but I did not have any feelings for her and I don't even remember what she looks like. It's just the way I learned about that name and it stuck

i'm not done yet but i can give you my thoughts.

1. 'add an e to my given name': would be pronounced the same (at least with a 'good' french pronounciation), would be easy, not to much of a decision and basically okay. maybe it would be too easy for ppl to keep old habits, though?

2. 'pick the name my parents had in mind for me as a girl': not to much of a decision. unfortunately i know a person of that name. would be weird to steal the name.

3. 'pick the name of a distant person you venerate': i got one (1) idea. i am into it. but i again know a person of that name. would be weird.

4. i had a 'council of (two) friends' come up with a suggestion for naming me: would technically still be a given name. 🙂 they had an idea that i basically like. but the overthinking hits. they came up with a shortened version as a name that could stem from at least two diffrent greek names. i'd be staling the long form for my passport from my greek teach! but i wouldn't want to transscribe the modern pronounciation, rather a classical one (sounds better in german majority contexts, i think). here's the real problem: i couldn't find an instance of that name in classical greek texts. 😟 now i am a sad philologist.

maybe it's version one then. since i don't really like having a shortened name as my legal name. that's for friends and family.

Borrowing it from fictional characters you like would be a rather common approach. Greek and roman goddesses, flowers, and gemstones are also normal. Otherwise, it's reasonable to just open a baby name book/website and see what you like.

I nicked my name from a health care worker in the hospital I was in while I was first figuring out my gender. I changed the spelling to feel more me