the naming of names
It's been something floating in the back of my head for a while: what will I pick for a middle name when I change it? I had a few possibilities - Emily, Elizabeth - but they didn't quite work. Other sillier ones as well; Margaret Morgaine Trauth has a certain ring to it (though it works much better with Emily as the first, which is what I would've been given if I was born with female genitals).
I picked up the name-change form I'd gotten from online and filled it out just now. I wrote 'Margaret' on the line for the new name, and then stopped. I'm keeping the last name, I want to keep my history, but I still hadn't picked my middle name. It was time.
My mother's thrown me inspiration in the form of things like lists of the names of the women of my family. She's been supportive of the transition, so I wanted to have her involved in my renaming. At the end of one of her last emails on the subject, there's one that's not in my family. I tried it on for size, and really liked the rhythm and taste of it. Googling for it got a couple of interesting, strong women in history attached to it as the top hits. It's not a modern name, but neither is Margaret-shortened-to-Peggy.
So I finished filling out the name-change form.
Margaret Eleanor Trauth.
(As a side note, writing my birth name on this form felt very weird. There are other forms to deal with that will need it, but this is one of the very last times I'll ever write it out in full, and realizing that was... interesting.)
I picked up the name-change form I'd gotten from online and filled it out just now. I wrote 'Margaret' on the line for the new name, and then stopped. I'm keeping the last name, I want to keep my history, but I still hadn't picked my middle name. It was time.
My mother's thrown me inspiration in the form of things like lists of the names of the women of my family. She's been supportive of the transition, so I wanted to have her involved in my renaming. At the end of one of her last emails on the subject, there's one that's not in my family. I tried it on for size, and really liked the rhythm and taste of it. Googling for it got a couple of interesting, strong women in history attached to it as the top hits. It's not a modern name, but neither is Margaret-shortened-to-Peggy.
So I finished filling out the name-change form.
Margaret Eleanor Trauth.
(As a side note, writing my birth name on this form felt very weird. There are other forms to deal with that will need it, but this is one of the very last times I'll ever write it out in full, and realizing that was... interesting.)