I'm really new here, so forgive me if I'm placing this in the wrong forum. I am currently going through the process of changing my legal name to something more fitting to my gender identity and I could use some help. I've been agonizing over it for months and months now. Having an anxiety disorder doesn't help. My given name is Lisa, and I sometimes go by the nickname Mord. Here are some of my ideas: Shane, Morgan, Morley, Alex, Avery, Emery, Riley, Kieran, Kalen, Skyler, Arin, Logan, Rhys, Griffin I'm open to suggestion, and I'd love to hear your stories.
I am not really sure what I'm going for, honestly. My family has Polish, German, and some Dutch in it... probably amongst other things. Maybe that could help direct me a bit, depending on whether I stick with my Polish surname or not.
Think of yourself as a name, get people to use it, see if it starts to feel like 'you'. If it doesn't, it's not right.
Yeah, some names SOUND really cool, but they turn out to suit you as well as mittens suit a snake. I agonized over mine for quite some time before finally settling on one I thought was short, easy-to-pronounce, and unique (nope, it's not actually "Lyman").
Try for a week having family and friends if supportive call you a name so you can get a feel for it and if they arent then try it in your head when you refer to yourself to see how you feel.
I think Alex or Skyler are nice names. But just try writing them out lots and saying them out loud. Some feel wrong but others are awesome
My given name is Jason. At first I wanted to change it to something more androgynous like Jessi or Jamie. But, From what I've read, Jason means "healer". I'm not sure if I'll change or not because I've become more comfortable with it lately but only time will tell. Just take your time and make sure it's what you really want.
Thanks for all the help so far, everyone! I think my biggest problems thus far are: 1. Whether or not to keep it similar to my nickname, Mord (so, Morley or Morgan) or have it be completely different-sounding to sort of distinguish my new self from my old self. 2. Whether or not to keep my surname similar to my actual surname or choose something unique (because I'm definitely changing it regardless; it's Polish, constantly mispronounced, and 12-letters long) 3. Whether the meaning of the name has any bearing on my choice; one of the names I like the most, Shane, is just an anglicized version of Sean which is the Irish form of the name John which is a Biblical name.
