If you were gonna change your name...

[mjr]

From time to time, I half-heartedly considered changing my name. At this point in my life, though, it's almost an identity.

I don't necessarily really care for my first or middle name, but I have no idea what I'd change it to.

So, just for fun, what would you change your name to? You don't have to divulge your current name, just what you'd change it to.

[firecat88]

I've always liked my middle name- Rebecca. So, if I was gonna do it, I'd change it to that.

[darkroxas45]

I would say my Fursona name of Dem Shadowwolf but now I am starting to not like the Dem part

[Ghel]

I'm in the middle of divorce, which is one of the easiest ways (second after getting married) to legally change your name in my state. I looked into the historical surnames on my dad's side, in case I wanted to change to something other than my maiden name. I only had to go back four generations before they got to "son of" names, starting with Jensen. Even though that sounded pretty cool, I decided to stick with my maiden name. (I regret changing my surname to my husband's, but at the time I couldn't imagine us ever splitting up.)


I like my first name. The worst I can say about it is there was a Garbagepail Kid with my name growing up. So I wouldn't change that.

[mjr]

Well, honestly I'm fine with my last name. It's my first and middle that I couldn't decide on. They're basically a part of me now, but even if I were to change my name, I don't know what I'd go with.

[Sliceanddice]

Hmmmmmmm Zelma after my great grandmother or Rosemary, Laural being dismissed because then my name would be Laural Lyn K. and no

[Ironclad Alibi]

Had I thought of it years ago, I would have changed my family name. I suspect the spelling was change when my ancestors came to the USA. I would change it back to the original Welsh spelling.

[Seshat]

I did change my name.

My original name was Kay - and I got SO sick of reacting any time someone said 'OK', or being distracted when someone murmured the alphabet for any reason. Once we had a stage band rehearsal (I was in the band) in the school hall, at the same time as one of the hall assistants was labelling rows.
Do you know how many letters have a strong consonant followed by the 'ay' sound?


My middle name was my mother's name, so I couldn't just switch to using that. (Note to parents: give your children options. Don't name them after close relatives; or at least name them after relatives who'll be dead by the time they're adults.)


I was in a very romantic/fantasy phase at the time, and considered lots of gaelic and celtic names. I also considered high-fantasy names (such as Arwen or Galadriel). I decided, however, that I didn't want to go through my life explaining my name.


So I have the anglicised version of Guinevere. I'm Jennifer. And I shorten it to the anglicised Gwen, which is Jenn.


On top of that, Jennifer was one of the common names for girls of my ethnicity, in the general time that I was born. So my name is essentially 'neutral' to bigot-type people. I have enough reasons for bigots to pick on me, I didn't want to add another.


This way, I know I have a romantic, fantasy sort of name; but I don't have to explain it to anyone.


One good way to check the suitability of a name is to ask yourself how people would react to various titles attached to it. For example, poor Barak Obama took a lot of flak just for his name, from bigotted sorts. There are still people who insist all sorts of crap.

How likely do you think the following would sound:

President of the USA <you>
<title of the leader of your country> <you>
CEO <you>
CIO, CTO, etc. Of one of the major companies, either internationally or in your nation.
Captain <you>, or General <you>, or Admiral <you>
Nobel Prize Winner <you>
<you>, Chief Astronomer at the Parkes radio telescope.
<you>, <title of the peak of your chosen career>


This tends to cut out the likelihood of you calling yourself 'Strawberry Shortcake' or 'Twilight Sparkle'. (Unfortunately. I'd love to live in a world where we called ourselves stuff like 'Twilight Sparkle'.)

[Ironclad Alibi]

One good way to check the suitability of a name is to ask yourself how people would react to various titles attached to it.

You wouldn't be thinking of Major Major Major Major, would you?

[MoonCat]

Seshat, you left out one test!

Does your new chosen name sound like it belongs in this sentence?

"Gentlemen, for your pleasure, now appearing in the Champagne Room - Miss Delicia Dewdrop!"

For myself, I actually never liked my given name, but it is what it is. If I could choose, I dunno - I like Alexandra, which gives you nickname options like Alex, Ally or Sandra/Sandy. So maybe that, if I was going to change it.

[Kogarashi]

I like my names now, but I did go through a phase when I was a teen where I wanted to change them. I would've picked something like Alexis or Celeste or similar. Something "fancy" sounding but still in most baby name books. Mostly because my first name and middle name are both very common, run-of-the-mill names (my name was #2 or #3 for girl names nation-wide in the U.S. for the year I was born).

My rule of thumb for naming my kids (and my advice for anyone who asks me for advice on picking names for their babies) is that if you really want to give your child a "kreativ spellyng" name or something equally "out there," make sure you give your child a second name that's a little more "common" so they have a fall-back. Mostly because what person wants to reach adulthood only to find that they're constantly getting odd looks for being named "Princess" or "Dimyndz" or something similar and either have no middle name at all, or their middle name is similarly "out there."

For our kids, we picked names we liked from the Social Security data available online, making sure to skip the top 100 or so (so they wouldn't be too common, since my hubby's name was also #2 or #3 for the year we were born, but for boys). For middle names, we went through family names and gave them names we liked. My oldest's middle name is my mother's first name, my second's middle name is my MIL's first name, my third's middle name is my middle name (which is also the middle name of both of my grandmothers), and our forth (on the way) is getting my husband's middle name, which is also his great-grandfather's name.

[Aragarthiel]

I'm tired of reacting to any name with "Kim" in it. Honestly, I've desensitized myself so much to that one syllable (out of necessity) that I respond more to "Ara" than my real name or any of its variants. I know it seems silly to fall back on an internet name but it doesn't sound incredibly out there and I already respond to it, so why not?

[Antisocial_Worker]

I'm not a fan of diminutives, so I often think about what life would be like with the full version of my name. That means I'm wondering what it would have been like to go through life named Augustine.

[Sunshine]

My RL name is pretty unusual, at least in the US. I prefer to go by a nickname most places, as I got incredibly tired of people mangling my name.
When my ex-husband and I were naming lil Ray we named her after family, mine and his. They were honored, and her name is just unique enough to make her stand out among the same name kiddos

[Kittish]

I got tagged with BOTH of the most common female names for the year I was born- Jennifer Michelle. I detest the name Jenny, and will not answer to it. People who know me call me either Jennifer or Jen, or Kit.

Don't really think I'd change my name at this point, though as a kid I desperately wanted to.