Have you ever wanted to change your name?

[Kitsuragi]

I definitely want to. I hate my name! I was named after both of my grandparents, neither of which I have good relationships with. I want my own name! It's so hard coming up with a new name though :/

Have you ever wanted to change your name? Or maybe you already have? Maybe you like the name you currently have?!

Bonus question! If you have changed your name, how did you decide on your new name? What was your inspiration?

(Don't share your name if you're not comfortable with it!)

 

[nightglow]

Kind of in the past. Mostly because I wanted something that wasn't so long or common. Plus I liked the idea of picking a name for myself rather than the name my parents picked. I like the idea of my own identity which could be expressed by a person choosing thier own name. Also, I don't really like saying I was named after a tv character because they wanted thier kid to be cute like that character :/ but that is what happened. Or the other unique names they considered were criticized or argued about thus not picked. But "I did avoid" a name I really didn't like too.
Beyond that, I actually don't mind my name itself. I like reading the meaning of names and the meaning isn't that bad either.
I wouldn't go through the trouble today to change it, and even if I did, people would probably ignore the change. Best off waiting for a new name in "the next life".

 

[Chris]

I have changed my name. I hated my birth name: it was double-barrel—which everyone ignored and automatically tried to shorten to just the first part, which I disliked most—and both parts had unique spellings so nobody could ever spell it right. I didn't like it and it didn't suit me. It didn't even look like a real word to me. I still can't see that combination of letters in print and it not look like gobbledygook. I couldn't process it as my name. I don't know if/when I was ever called it, but I know that my family had stopped doing so before I even started school. I went through most of my life going by nicknames - and those changed every few years. It took me 12 years between making the decision to change my name and actually doing it.

I was going by the name Chris 1-2 years before I decided on what it would be short for. I trialled various names in video games and online in the years leading up to officially changing my name and this is the one that clicked for me. When it came to finally submitting the paperwork to legally change it, I opted for Christian as my full name. I went with this because it met the criteria I wanted my new name to have: a traditional-sounding name that was gender-neutral (but masculine-leaning) that felt realistic for the year I was born (I'm early 30s). It's nothing special, but people who know my birth name tend to agree that this is a much better fit.

If you've any questions, feel free to throw them at me! Although I may opt to DM over sharing too much more publicly.

 

[BetsySundrop]

My name drama is pretty pathetic. When I was little (toddler) everyone called me by my nickname, which was short for my middle name. I thought it was my 'real' name- had no idea it wasn't. At an office type christmas party when I was 4, "Santa" called out my first name. I didn't want to go get the present because that wasn't my name, so it wasn't my present. After an embarrassing couple of minutes of "discussion" I went up and got the present.

After that, I told everyone to use my "real" first name (which I didn't like and was never comfortable with). In kindergarten, my teacher used an awful shortening of my first name, which I couldn't stand and got made fun of for...

And then a bit later (teen years) I was just mortified. A guy in my school came up to me by my locker and asked my name and as I was a bit nervous (he was cute!) I managed to mangle my own first name, which has an R in it, which in my nervous moment I pronounced as a W. No joke. After that I had anxiety about that stupid R in my first name.

In the military, we used last names. Yep, wasn't much of an improvement as my last name was apparently not easy for people to pronounce. And then I married a guy with a name that is easy to pronounce but really awkward.

So now, I'm back to using that childhood toddler nickname, Betsy, for everything. Easy to pronounce, no Rs to worry about, and I like it.

My mom still uses my first name though....

 

[Dim]

Eh, I’m perfectly fine with my first name. Can’t say I ever thought of changing it nor seeing another name I’d prefer. Maybe Aiden would be another cool choice but I like my name.

 

[Croconaw]

Yes, actually. The only people aware of my real name are the people I have added on Snapchat, and off the top of my head, that only includes one person on this forum. I’ve always wanted something more gender-neutral.

I’d want to change it in real life eventually, but I have other things currently taking priority, such as moving. That doesn’t mean I won’t eventually go by a different name online, though. Don’t even get me started on my last name, lol. I already dropped my last name and just used my middle name instead, which isn’t uncommon.

 

[Midoriya]

Nope, don't want to ever change it. It's unisex and fits me pretty well, so I don't intend to ever change it.

 

[Dim]

Nope, don't want to ever change it. It's unisex and fits me pretty well, so I don't intend to ever change it.

Riley is my 3rd favorite name

 

[xSuperMario64x]

I do, actually. Sometime I would like to have a legal name change. and I feel guilty bc my dad named me after my great great grandmother, a woman I have a great deal of respect for. but my first name is very feminine, and I want to go by a more gender neutral name. I've already picked it out, it's my middle name and some people in my mom's family already call me by that name (most notably my grandpa who passed away this year).

I've also been going by "Bug" a lot more frequently and I really like to use it as a nickname. and it seems to be easier for people who aren't used to calling me by my preferred name.

 

[Millysaurusrexjr]

For a long time I hated my first name (Emily) because it's a really common name. In high school I had an online best friend who gave me the nickname Milly, which I really like and still use.

But now I'm trying to decide on a last name. I don't want to stay with my OG surname because there's another artist with both that same last name and same first name, and they have at least some establishment as an artist.

I don't want to take my husband's real last name because not even he likes it and goes by a different last name, which I have been using online but it just doesn't feel right? Plus there was a serial killer that had that last name so yikes.

Anyway, so now I'm thinking about taking my mom's maiden name as a last name but I worry about offending my dad + his side of the family, though we aren't super close. And if I change it, then I gotta change my email and social medias and all that.

 

[Xara]

i haven’t begun the process to legally change my name yet (though i plan to in the hopefully near future), but i stopped going by my birth name in 2019. i discovered my name (xara) on a website when i was 8-9 years old, and idrk how to explain it, but something just… immediately clicked. xara felt right and like me in a way that my birth name never did. i had been pretty indifferent about my birth name until then, but i never called myself it after that. to my family, friends, teachers, doctors etc i was still my birth name, but in private i was xara.

i thought i would get over it eventually as back then i didn’t tend to stick with things for long, but i never did. xara wasn’t my birth name, but it was my name. i didn’t tell anyone as i didn’t know how to and i knew no one would understand anyways, but it got to the point that being called my birth name made me feel incredibly upset and uncomfortable (it still does). i resigned myself to waiting until i was older and away from home to tell anyone, but i was miserable. i didn’t feel like myself at all. in late 2019, a (at the time) close friend came out to me and asked me if i could start calling them by a different name. before them, i had never had someone in my life ask me to call them something that wasn’t their birth first or middle name. our situations were different, but they gave me the courage i desperately needed.

i finally asked the people in my life if they could start calling me xara a week or two later. i started with my friends as i knew they’d take it easier, and they were all so, so supportive and stopped calling me by my birth name immediately. they haven’t slipped up even once and i am so grateful. my immediate family (parents and grandmother) initially didn’t take it well at all, but they made an effort when they realized how important it was to me. they slipped up a lot the first year and a half, and they still do in high-stress situations, but they’ve gotten a lot better. they haven’t been perfect, and i feel like they’re secretly hoping i’ll backtrack or change my mind one day, but i appreciate that they’ve made such an effort. they don’t like it or understand it, but they’re trying.

aside from my parents (grandmother has since passed away), friends and anyone i’ve met after 2019, not many people know about my name change still. not my semi-distant family, my teachers, my doctors. i plan on finally talking to my teachers and guidance counselor this week about calling me xara/having my birth name removed from my file, but i likely won’t tell the rest of my relatives or my doctors until my name’s been legally changed.

a part of me feels embarrassed because xara is actually very similar to my birth name and even has the same meaning. it probably made no sense to everyone i told. i can’t explain why xara feels right and my birth name didn’t. idk how to explain why it matters so much to me. nothing about me has ever felt real or made sense. my identity has always felt like a puzzle that’s missing the majority of its pieces, but when most of the people in my life started calling me xara… it felt like i finally found one of the missing pieces. an integral one. on days where i feel like a stranger to myself, the fact that i’m finally going by the name that has felt like me for 11-12 years now gives me hope that things will fall into place eventually. i’m slowly becoming myself.

i didn’t mean for this post to be so long lol , but i can only imagine how frustrating it must be to be named after people you don’t have good relationships with. i hope you find a name that is yours and that feels like you one day.

 

[Oblivia]

Absolutely, and I fully plan to change my first name at some point. I think the only reason I haven't already is due to the amount of steps and red tape it's going to take; it requires getting approval from a court, visits to multiple government offices, and then there's the matter of all the places my name currently appears (mortgages, credit cards, loans, a business, etc.) that would make it a very lengthy and tedious process. Thankfully it's a lot easier to change your last name, which I did ~15 years ago for emancipation purposes.

There was a similar thread ages ago and my feelings definitely haven't changed:

My real name is pretty... weird for lack of a better word, but I rarely sit and think about my own name and am obviously used to people using it to address me.

It'd be so useful if it was easier to change your first name and there was some system in place that allowed, say... a free and easy one time name change once you reach adulthood. That way we wouldn't have to rely on someone else to choose the name we're going to have for the rest of our lives, especially if our parents are somewhat out there and opt to choose a name that fits them better than it fits the person it's intended for, you know?

 

[LadyDestani]

I feel mostly neutral towards my name. I would have never chosen it, but I don't hate it. I'm used to being called by it. So I've never been willing to go through the ridiculous process required to change it. There are other names I like a lot better and I was actually upset when I learned that my mom was pushing for my top pick before I was born, but my dad vetoed it. But it is what it is and if I was going to go through the hassle of changing my first name, I'd have done it when I got married and changed my last name.

As for choosing a name, I've always been partial to longer classic female names that have gender-neutral/masculine sounding nicknames.

These are my favorites:
1. Alexandra/Alex
2. Samantha/Sam
3. Josephine/Jo
4. Charlotte/Charlie

Now I just sigh when I think about how I could have been named Alex if it were up to my mom.

 

[.: Meri :.]

Not... really? I do tend to gravitate towards certain names when I'm naming video game characters and the like, though, especially ones starting with M—Merielle being a favorite of mine (who would've guessed?!)—or any variations of Lily/Lilith/Lilliana/Lillian/etc. I also go by some more neutral/masculine names on other sites.
I like my birthname just fine and don't feel any strong desire to change it, but I admit that it is kind of nice to be able to go by different names in different places. If I were to change my name, I feel like I'd also have a hard time narrowing it down to just one.

 

[deana]

When I was a kid I really wanted to be named Lindsey for some reason That's the name I would "play" as

I've always always felt that my name doesn't fit me but everything else seems to fit even less, so for that reason I don't see myself changing it. (Does that mean my name actually fits? lol) My name doesn't bother me so I think it would take something else to feel really really *right* for me to change it.

 

[Saylor]

I think since I was a kid I've kinda wished my parents had used one of the other names they were considering for me since I don't think mine (Grace) suits me all that well, but it's never bothered me to the point of seriously considering changing it, mostly cause I've never really gone by a nickname or anything in person so I've never known what it's like to be called anything else. I've always felt an attachment to the name River so I think that's what I'd choose if I ever decided to go through the process of changing it, but I'll probably end up just using the name for a pet turtle or something

 

[Neb]

While my gender identity goes all over the place, I’m fine with the name Benjamin. It has a decent ring to it and I can’t imagine being called anything else irl. The same goes for Neb, my online handle. Nothing else sounds right.

 

[princess.looking.for.frog]

I like my given name, Anna. it's a good, feminine name which I really do like, I like how it sounds, looks, everything. it is also a name which is common where my parents are from (Belarus) and semi-common here in Australia. it is also common to find in almost every country in Europe which is nice so if I ever decide to study or move abroad I will fit in nicely (except for my overkill lastname, compared to my common first name, my last name is just ). for example, it is one of the most common names in Iceland, where I want to visit and live temporarily when the chance comes. it's really convenient I reckon!

but I've always had an interest in the chance of another name, specifically Pansy. I love the name, and I got it from the Russian name of the flower, directly translated to Anna's eyes. my mum told me of this (my parents are Russian speakers) and I was in love with the flower. now, I love to think that maybe my name wouldve been pansy in an alternate universe lmao. it would've been unique and cute. I go by pansy in some places, and like it being used as a nickname for me. but it's funny, if my name wasn't Anna, I would never of fallen in love with the name pansy in the first place. maybe, if you can change middle names, I would make it pansy, as I don't have a middle name. that would be a nice middleground I reckon!

 

[Violet Witch]

When I was younger I hated both my first name and my surname but over the years I've come to love both and I can't imagine being named anything else. However I can understand those who do change their name to forge their own identity especially if they have no love towards those who named them to begin with etc.

 

[Zerous]

When I was little, I didn't like my name because I was named after a certain character who's fairly sexualised, and had jokes made about it. I wanted to be my own person, my identity not having associations with something out of my control.

But, since maybe 14-15ish, I've really liked my name It's short, I like how it sounds, its not super common yet easy to pronounce, and its gender neutral which I'm a fan of. I think it suits me. People stopped making references, and I stopped caring about characters with the same name.

I do have multiple names I really like though, and if it wasn't so much paperwork, would probably want as my middle name, or first name if I didn't like mine, and I usually go by multiple of them, or variations of online. If I did change my name, I'd probably end up going for Zera, although I'd put a lot of thought into other options first. I really like names that being with Z oh really??, X, Q, V and J though.