Changing your first name, would you?

[SpaceShark]

I'm named after my mom's mother (which had its own family origins [she was named after her aunts, they took two names and smashed pieces of them together]). My dad never wanted me to be named after her, so I grew up being called by may middle name (which I love.) I used to hate my first name, but I have grown to like it. (I absolutely love signing it). While it is annoying having to listen for my first name when wait for an appointment or something, it is manageable.

So I have come to love my name and wouldn't change it. But I can understand why people would change it. (I had a family member change her last name due to not wanting to be connected to her ex-step dad.)

[Nailgun-mishap]

My name is Emilie, a more uncommon version of Emily. My parents chose this spelling to reflect our German heritage (my brother has a German influenced name as well).

I like my name. Even if it was the popular Emily spelling, I'd still like it. I think Emily is one of those names that's been popular for so long for a good reason, it's a nice name.

However, if my name was spelled Emmalee or Ehmyleigh or something equally ridiculous, I would have changed it a long time ago. I face palm when I see parents giving their kids 'Kree8tiv' names that will be misspelled constantly all throughout their lives.

[Conscientious Ghost]

Legal name's Jacquelyn (and please don't ever refer to me as such). If someone else is named that, I think it's a pretty name for them. For me, it's just a daily reminder of what I was assigned birth.

I hated it when I was little and I still hate it today. People used to make fun of me with that name, so I don't have many positive memories being called my legal name. I had people call me Jackii before I started feeling uncomfortable about the feminine attachment to that nickname.

After the end of my junior year in high school, I started going by Jayden. It's gender-neutral, short, and easy to remember. I also like the nickname Jay because that's still gender-neutral. I'm planning on changing my name and gender together this summer.

[Conscientious Ghost]

[double post]

Sorry about that!

[Toothlesss]

I've always liked my first middle and last names- My mom wanted a name that couldn't be abbreviated.

I actually share names with some psychologist in Toronto, who's written a book about solution focused conversations about suicide. (Why my author name- even though we're in totally different genres, going to use my whole name.)

[SylviaDragon]

My name is Valerie. I have always been rather meh about my name. I usually go by Sylvia, (or sometimes Kyro) instead. Most people call me Sylvia or Sylvi by now anyway and I have considered officially changing it more than once. Just never quite felt like "me."

And I really don't like my last name. So if I don't luck out and marry into a cool last name I will most certainly change that one myself. Maybe change it to something cool, like Blackwall. I could see myself enjoying that! :D

[Queen Mercy]

Changed it because I wasn't that attached to my old one. I collected all of the names I liked using 20000names.com and found something rare, magical/spiritual and fit my personality.

[Pengwyn]

I have not changed my name and have no intention to. If I were to change my name, it's probably be something based off my current name, to keep the familiarity. I think people should be able to change their name to something they are more comfortable with, whether it be for gender issues, spelling or bullying. It's none of my business to force people to use a name they don't like, and I will use whatever name people want.

[anzu2snow]

I like my middle name a lot more, but my first is ok. First name's extremely common, though. Surprisingly misspelled quite often. My middle name would be hard for some to say correctly. That's one of the reasons I like it more. ;) My last name is misspelled a lot, too. There's an annoying song people bring up when they hear it, or ask if it's like a certain fast food chain. For some reason, I feel my full name has become my identity and wouldn't change it. But, if I was trans, I'd probably hate it. It was interesting to see what my dad came up with when she changed her name. She seems a lot happier with her new first and last names, too. Which is awesome. :)

[cavalier080854]

My name has been apart of me for 62 years. If I change now I would not know if someone wants me when they call me by my new name.

[Tholomyes]

I don't see any reason to, personally, but I have given it some thought, in hypothetical terms; If I were to change my name, I'd want it to be something relatively common, but with some sort of reference to something that interested me: For example, if I were to realize I was trans-feminine, I'd probably choose Rachel, because I am a big X-men nerd, and Rachel Summers is one of my favorite characters. If I were gender-fluid (or perhaps any non-binary gender), I might choose Jean, since I could use it (albeit with separate pronunciations) as the English pronunciation (for Jean Grey, for similar reasons as the ones stated above) or the French Pronunciation (for Jean Valjean, since I'm also a big Victor Hugo nerd), depending on which gender I felt more in line with at the time. If I were to just change my name, as a male person, I'm not as sure what I'd choose, but probably it'd be between Alex, Peter, or Chris (each for various reasons, that I won't get into here), but that would be the case least likely to occur, just because I see no need to put forth the effort, if I had no reason to change my name.

[SpaceDustbin]

I had a serious name crisis in primary school. My name is fairly uncommon (even though it's kinda normal, I think? At least spelling and pronunciation-wise), and some people apparently can't deal with that.

And there's only so much name related backlash a 10 y/o can handle.

Questions/comments I got on a regular basis were; "Couldn't your parents give you a normal name?", "Why aren't you just named <insert generic name>?", and "what a strange name", among other things. I just didn't want to be bothered with those questions anymore, and get a 'normal' name.

(though the fun thing is that kids always accepted my name as it is, still do, while it's always adults who seem to have problems with my name).

Nowadays I've made peace with my name, and I actually love it, because it's a name passing through our family (after my grandma's grandma), and it's a 'normal' name on the island where that side of the family is from. So it's a cool bit of heritage ;)

[Yinlotus93]

I think my name (irl) is pretty boring, and it actually has no real meaning. It's just a variant of anther pretty common name that itself means practically nothing. I would rather have a name that said something about who I am. I have dreamed of moving to Japan in the future, so I have had the idea to possibly pick a Japanese name. Especially since it would be more convenient for when I live there. I'm ok using the name my parents gave me for now, it's just familiar, but I do like the thought of having something else that really identifies me better.

[Literary X]

I had to (legally) change my name to a gender-neutral one because I'm non-binary. I always hated my birth name. I don't even like it on other people. It's just not at all pleasing to the ear. It's also overused. Now my name is Yarden Verne Sawyer Rain [Last Name]. Yes, it's long, but it's only one more name than I had before, as I was given two middle names at birth.

I picked out my new name with the aid of behindthename.com. I also tried to enlist the help of my parents, but that didn't work out, so I made a list of all the ones I liked and narrowed it down. I couldn't decide between my four favorites, so I used them all. :P

I refused to choose a name that bore any similarity to my original one. I've always really liked Verne (the name I go by), and when spelled with the 'e' on the end, it has occurred almost equally amongst men and women. (Vern, however is strictly male in my book.) It's also most definitely not overused, having reached the height of its popularity in the 1890s and then declining from the 1940s on.

[Maiflower]

Since I responded last time, some things have changed, and I started disliking my name even more, and realized I'm transfeminine/agender. Also, there's 5 people named Jacob in my class of 15 people (meaning 1/3 of us are named Jacob!), so that pretty much pushed me to openly disliking my name. This means I have updates to my answer.

I would change my name because it doesn't match my gender, it's too common, and I just don't really like it. But, I also wouldn't because of judgment and difficulty. I also don't really like my surname, and if I change it (probably won't), it's because I can't pronounce it and nobody understands me when I try to say it.

The second question is the same. I have changed what people call me, from Jacob to Jake.

I still think it's okay for people to change their names because it's just their name.

I do intend to change it.

I actually decided on a name (Madison Erin), so for 5, I got Madison because that's what I would've been named if I was assigned female, I like it, and it is a good name for me. Erin goes with Madison, and it's another name I like.

And again, I loved this poll.

[Lightning Blue Ray]

I don't think I'll change my name legally, but I have already done so socially. My name is just the first syllable of my birth name, so I doubt it's worth the trouble.

[korik]

I, in this life, would never change my name because I actually like my name.

BUT, it I didn't like my name, or had some other reason to do so, I would not be against changing my name. (not sure that I actually would just because of the hassle... but.)

And what other people do is none of my business. If they want to change their name for any reason, Or if they are against changing their name... Hey, what ever works for them! It's their life. I have no say in it.

[Rosette]

While I love my first name, if I could I might change it. That is, if it didn't describe me so perfectly. Yet it does. If anything I'd go by the name I use for a roleplay character of mine that is basically me but with powers, etc. I really like the name of her and use her name for certain accounts just because I like the name.

In schools and such, I was always called by lots of different other names with the same first letter as mine. So I got used to responding to almost any that sounded like it due to there being so little of other people with my name. My roleplay character is one of the names that they hadn't ever called me but one I've always liked quite a lot.

[KanoEvey]

I would personally never change my name for the same reason I'd never get a tattoo. I'd never be able to decide on a name I would certainly and definitely like for the rest of my life.

Same. I'm more indifferent toward my name than anything. If possible, I wouldn't mind going by my last name, but honestly, I'm so used to hearing my first name it would throw me off. I just don't think it fits me at all. It's a really feminine name (in my opinion), and everyone else I've met that I've shared this name with seemed rather similar in that they were much more girly than myself. But I don't think I'd ever change it, just because there are so many other cool names out there and I'd have trouble deciding on one.

[artzcat]

I did consider changing my name for awhile. For s short time, I had some friends start calling me by a new name that was unrelated to my real name. In the end, it just felt weird. I wasn't brave enough to rock my new name and tell people to start calling me by a random new name haha.

I wanted to change my name originally because people usually mispronounce it and in school it was so embarrassing to have to always correct teachers and professors (I'm shy if you couldn't tell). Even just changing the spelling would be a huge improvement. But over time, I've forgotten about it. I like my name now. It's okay and I think it fits me. It's just a name and it's not a bizarre one either. I probably wouldn't have changed my name for real though because my mom would feel bad about it and also it's such a hassle that's not worth it for me.

[Momoo]

Sometimes I like my name, sometimes I don't, but I wouldn't change it. Most people in real life call me by my first name. However on the internet I prefer Jassy which is a nickname from my real one.

[TooYoungToKnow]

I actually have 2 legal names in different languages. I used to hate my English name with a burning passion.

• It's hard to spell
• Many adults can't pronounce it and I'm sick of correcting them (kids and teens have no problem with it though )
• It's too unusual
• The combination of letters looks ugly to me

Now, people call me by a shorter version of my name, which I like more. But when I have to use my full name, a long first name looks better with my short last name. It's mostly aesthetic issues now :p

[Andiamo]

I don't think I'd ever actually change my name (it is a pretty name, and not so incredibly common even though I've met several people with the same name, and I'm just used to it). I do wish I had been given a first or middle name that was more gender-neutral or at least had a gender-neutral nickname, though.

[Gloomy]

My name is Sarah, so if I identified as male I'd probably change it to something unisex or masculine, especially considering my name means "princess" xD. Also my middle name is Kathleen so I sometimes go by Katie when I don't want to use my real first name. I do kind of like Katie better than Sarah, but I think it's just easier to have people who already know my first name just keep calling me Sarah.

[Tanzanite]

I'll be happy to change my name to something more meaningful and...me. If I go through with this, my name will be Sola. I've already gotten some of my friends to call me that (if they can remember), so already, I've gotten more comfortable with it than the name I already have.

I thought this thread looked familiar.

Yeah, I'm still planning on changing my name. The name I've chosen hasn't changed as it still has many different meanings to various countries that apply to me. I've also picked out a middle name to replace the one I have, but I'll keep my last name since that doesn't really matter to me.

[Guest]

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