I am Plymouth
A few months back when I asked folks to try using gender-neutral pronouns for me, a handful of folks asked me if I was also planning to change my name. At the time my answer was "not yet, but I'm thinking about it". And I thought about it for a month or so and got around to "I think I do but I'm still not sure". So I went ahead and changed my name on facebook just to see how it felt. Not any kind of big announcement, just quietly made the update - I don't think the change action was even posted in a way that is showed up in people's feeds, though obviously all my actual posts started showing up with the new name. It felt really good and right. And then a week or so later I went and changed my name on every other online platform I could think of (G+ was a bit of a pain - it rejected it the first 2 times even on appeal but once I added all the OTHER accounts with me as Plymouth to that account the name change went through with no appeal needed. I don't really understand the logic there, but, hey, it's done now). I did get a few people PMing me and asking if I wanted to be called Plymouth in realspace and what the motivation for the change was, but the vast majority did not say anything. Which was really fine with me. If I had wanted to make a big announcement out if it I would have.
Well, now I do. I am Plymouth. In real life and online. I would prefer folks refer to me as that going forward. Christa and Xta are very much NOT dead names though - I like both of them and don't expect them to ever totally go away, especially Xta as I have an "email address for life" with it. So if you call me Christa I'll likely remind you that I'm Plymouth now, but I won't be insulted or angry (I also have enough friends who have changed their names for a variety of reasons that I know it takes time to get used to something like this - my experience is that it takes 6 months to a year for me to fully think of someone as a new name, depending on how often I get to practice it). Part of the reason Xta caught on for me as a nickname is that it's shorter and easier to type in text so it's still fine to use that, especially anything character-limited or where typing speed matters. I can't think of any shortenings of Plymouth that I like - Plym is kinda cute but, enh, and anyone who calls me "Mouth" is getting punched in theirs :P (ok not really, but I will be annoyed).
I'm not planning to change my name at work yet - I likely won't until I either change jobs or change the name legally, which I am still undecided on doing. As mentioned, I do actually like the name my parents gave me & even if I do make a legal change I will likely keep it as a middle name. Given the information my parents had about me when they picked it it was a good choice. If the form of it wasn't so clearly identified as feminine I would be keeping it completely.
So, why Plymouth? Well I expect folks here on Livejournal know that better than most, but I'm also planning to cross-link this to a bunch of other places so I'll go into the longer explanation. The name started here, when I created my account on January 4th, 2001. Yeah, I'm coming up on my 13th anniversary here, wackypants! Anyway, I picked the handle because at the time "xta" was already taken. And of course I still had my first car, Ecco, my awesome little Plymouth Sundance, and was very emotionally connected to it (as an interesting side-note that's the only car I've owned that was actually non-gendered also; my current two cars are female. I'm not entirely sure why they are, but it is so). This was also just a few months after I got my Chrysler/Plymouth logo tattoo. Which of course I still have - I really need to make an appointment to get it touched up. That seems like a good way to formally celebrate my "new" name. Within just a few months of choosing it, some folks started referring to me as Plymouth in real life. Which surprised me at first, as I had never intended it to be a realspace name, but I pretty much immediately decided I liked it and never corrected anyone. When folks did ask my preference I tended to tell them that either was fine, but my primary name was still Christa.
So when I recently got around to realizing that I would feel better with a gender-neutral name there really was no other choice. After all these years I simply can't fathom starting over with a completely new name. It's obviously a little weird as a person-name, but I'm a little weird so that fits. And I think that at least to most American people it's going to be familiar enough to not sound totally strange either - after all they're plenty used to it referring to cities and cars. It is my hope that having a gender-neutral name will make it a little easier for people to remember to use gender-neutral pronouns, but I totally get that those aren't easy for most folks so I don't expect it to work miracles. My position on them is still "please try - I will be appreciative when you succeed". People are trying and I am appreciative, even when I don't say anything to you directly (it just seems like interrupting a conversation with "oh thank you for using my correct pronouns!" is more annoying than helpful). But the pronoun thing is far from my only reason for choosing this, so even if it doesn't help much in that regard I still want to do this.
I am Plymouth. Happy New Year!
Well, now I do. I am Plymouth. In real life and online. I would prefer folks refer to me as that going forward. Christa and Xta are very much NOT dead names though - I like both of them and don't expect them to ever totally go away, especially Xta as I have an "email address for life" with it. So if you call me Christa I'll likely remind you that I'm Plymouth now, but I won't be insulted or angry (I also have enough friends who have changed their names for a variety of reasons that I know it takes time to get used to something like this - my experience is that it takes 6 months to a year for me to fully think of someone as a new name, depending on how often I get to practice it). Part of the reason Xta caught on for me as a nickname is that it's shorter and easier to type in text so it's still fine to use that, especially anything character-limited or where typing speed matters. I can't think of any shortenings of Plymouth that I like - Plym is kinda cute but, enh, and anyone who calls me "Mouth" is getting punched in theirs :P (ok not really, but I will be annoyed).
I'm not planning to change my name at work yet - I likely won't until I either change jobs or change the name legally, which I am still undecided on doing. As mentioned, I do actually like the name my parents gave me & even if I do make a legal change I will likely keep it as a middle name. Given the information my parents had about me when they picked it it was a good choice. If the form of it wasn't so clearly identified as feminine I would be keeping it completely.
So, why Plymouth? Well I expect folks here on Livejournal know that better than most, but I'm also planning to cross-link this to a bunch of other places so I'll go into the longer explanation. The name started here, when I created my account on January 4th, 2001. Yeah, I'm coming up on my 13th anniversary here, wackypants! Anyway, I picked the handle because at the time "xta" was already taken. And of course I still had my first car, Ecco, my awesome little Plymouth Sundance, and was very emotionally connected to it (as an interesting side-note that's the only car I've owned that was actually non-gendered also; my current two cars are female. I'm not entirely sure why they are, but it is so). This was also just a few months after I got my Chrysler/Plymouth logo tattoo. Which of course I still have - I really need to make an appointment to get it touched up. That seems like a good way to formally celebrate my "new" name. Within just a few months of choosing it, some folks started referring to me as Plymouth in real life. Which surprised me at first, as I had never intended it to be a realspace name, but I pretty much immediately decided I liked it and never corrected anyone. When folks did ask my preference I tended to tell them that either was fine, but my primary name was still Christa.
So when I recently got around to realizing that I would feel better with a gender-neutral name there really was no other choice. After all these years I simply can't fathom starting over with a completely new name. It's obviously a little weird as a person-name, but I'm a little weird so that fits. And I think that at least to most American people it's going to be familiar enough to not sound totally strange either - after all they're plenty used to it referring to cities and cars. It is my hope that having a gender-neutral name will make it a little easier for people to remember to use gender-neutral pronouns, but I totally get that those aren't easy for most folks so I don't expect it to work miracles. My position on them is still "please try - I will be appreciative when you succeed". People are trying and I am appreciative, even when I don't say anything to you directly (it just seems like interrupting a conversation with "oh thank you for using my correct pronouns!" is more annoying than helpful). But the pronoun thing is far from my only reason for choosing this, so even if it doesn't help much in that regard I still want to do this.
I am Plymouth. Happy New Year!