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Does everyone have an opposite gender name they would use?

Say if someone came up to you and asked "If you were a boy/girl what would your name be?" could you answer them without needing think or is that not something most people give a thought to?

View original on lemmy.zip
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83 replies

lemmy.world

If you're thinking about what your life would be as the opposite gender, then you're already thought about gender more than most. Doesn't necessarily mean you're any flavor of trans, but generally this isn't something cis folk think about.

No one can tell you who you are, especially an internet stranger. But if OP or anyone else has an answer to what name you would've had as the other sex, than this link is massively helpful in sorting through these thoughts.

14

Very interesting read even as a cis person. I don’t understand how anyone can read this and then believe any of the propaganda about trans people.

3

I knew the name I would have gotten if had been born a girl for multiple years before I came out as trans and now that is my real name.

23
dustycupsreply
aussie.zone

So your parents chose your trans name? That's awesome!

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lemmy.today

Yeah my name is Clement, so Clementine, like the Walking Dead character. Actually kids in school called me that thinking it was mean... I actually didn't mind.

11

Crap. Now i have to go watch Eternal Sunshine and I really don't have the emotional energy for that today.

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piefed.social

Same, but I was thinking that no way I'd go back to the old one. But my current name doesn't have an obvious gender flip, so I'd have to come up with an entirely new name again.

3
AA5Breply
lemmy.world

Can you expand on that? Not asking for more personal Info than you want to share but how do people weaponize that? How shitty our our fellow human beings?

I feel a bit out of the loop standing here on my white CIS (is that even the right term?) privilege thinking people are getting better over time because I wouldn’t experience or even notice such things

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AA5Breply
lemmy.world

Ok thanks. I think I mainly misunderstood the premise

3

I can’t pretend to know such fear but it’s horrifying there are people like that

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lemmy.world

I'm a woman, my parents already gave me a male name. I never really thought about it until my brother had a son and named him after me.

7

My (man here) little sister used my unisex middle name as her daughter's name after me. 🥰

She's not my only niece, but that will always be special to me.

3

If you asked me to pick a different name remaining a guy I don't think I could without a lot of thought.

5

Can't say I've ever thought about it as a cis male. It's pretty easy to come up with the best sounding derivative though. If you feel that this may be an important choice for you it may benefit you to explore further and perhaps talk to a therapist who has helped others with dysphoria.

It may also help to add that I've gone through phases of not liking my name. It's not a "normal" name and people very often mishear it as something else. Through this I've only ever considered other cis male centric names, also derivatives of my actual name.

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sh.itjust.works

I have an agendered one but I'm also legit considering changing it.

4

Reading this made me think of such a gender-neutral name and honesty I'm digging it. Close to my real name, works in multiple languages.

1

I have given more thought to what I would change my name to if I was trying to hide as a criminal than I have for if I switched genders.

4

Huh, Aisha being too young isn't a problem for some people.

(In Islam, the prophet Mohammed married his wife Aisha when she was 6 and he was 50, but waited until she was 9 to consumate the marriage)

2

I could come up with something contextual on the fly, but it is not a thing I think about. I do not feel a need to navigate or explore my sexual dogma, not that there is anything wrong with doing so. I guess I am lucky to have grown up with experiences that helped me learn what I do and do not find arousing. I think I am open to new experiences, but I generally follow my curiosity wherever it leads and do not care how anyone else feels about that. I'm fiercely loyal, so not in that way.

3
feddit.uk

My name works equally well for either gender, so yes.

3

I'd have no idea. Yeah, there's a feminine name I could extract from my current name, but my first impression is that I wouldn't want that. I have no idea.

Good luck with your journey!

3

My name has an obvious feminine version, and I like it enough too.

I've personally known only very few women with that name, (it's not uncommon) but the ones I did were gorgeous, so I'd happily put myself in that club if I woke up different tomorrow.

My middle name is already unisex too, so my initials wouldn't even change lol.

3

if i was a guy, i most likely would've just keep the name they gave me as a baby. personally, i gave a fair bit of thought to choosing my name, there wasn't some natural, percect choice that just fell into my brain out of the aether, but ymmv

2

I was named after my dad while my first sister born after me was named after my mom. (My parents would not have won any points for originality.)

If I'd been assigned female at birth I would probably have been named after my mom instead, and given the name my sister ended up with rather than just the feminine version of my present name.

As it stands I'm a cis man, but if I suddenly needed to change to a woman's name for some reason my name has a common feminine variant I'd use.

2

I know what my parents wanted to call me if I was a girl. It's a horrible tacky name so I'm glad I turned out a boy!

2

I don't even like my own name for various reasons but I couldn't make a different choice for my own gender even if I wanted to.

I would end up depressively renaming myself something like Rat Bastard McFuckwit

2
literature.cafe

Or something like Snot Flickerman, am I right?

Unless that's your current name... In which case I've really put my foot in my mouth.

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lemmy.world

I think the female versions of my name sound terrible, so, no on that front.

In general not a thought I've had aside from that. I've always felt comfortable with my gender/sexual orientation.

2
fizzlereply
quokk.au

I don't know a lot of trans people.

Do they usually pick the opposite-gender-version of their birth name? Seems like many do not.

1

Are they just being creative though, or are they purposefully making it very different?

Do they think just a slight name change will be seen as a joke or temporary?

I've never had to think about the mental process of choosing my own name, but I like the feminine version enough for now.

But if it was a really important thing for me to distinguish my identity separate from my birth name, that might change my decision.

But I've only considered it on the surface, like "what if I woke up at a Halloween party wearing a dress", or doing a dare/forfeit kind of thing.

I'm thinking that a huge portion of the trans community came out of circumstances where they're shamed for it, and might choose to distance themselves from that whole part of their life.

So I totally get it, but from a surface-level consideration, I wouldn't mind the femme version of my name.

1

Actually, I have one at the ready, mostly because my dad used to call my brother and I by our feminine equivalent names to bug us as children (different time, young army guy).

Have not given thought to preferred choices, though, just that one.

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lemmy.zip

I'm asking everyone.

I've known the answer to this question since well from as early as I can remember. I was curious if this is something other people think about often/ever.

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lemmy.world

Maybe transgender people do. I knew my name for the longest time, and when it came time to transition, it was an easy choice.

4

yeah, I had a name picked out for me long before I knew I was trans. It was just, "The girl name I identify with" in my head. There were no signs.

3

Never crossed my mind. And now that I'm trying to think about it all the names i try out sound wrong because i so strongly associate myself with my given name. Even other names of my same gender don't feel like they're me.

1

I'd have to stop and think because I've used two variations of a feminine version of my name in previous circumstances where this has come up and I don't know which i prefer.

1

I do have a favorite for video game characters of the other gender. But I didn't pick it until quite late in life, and I'm not sure it's a good name for gender-bent me irl.

Parents had a name for a AFAB child iirc; though I've forgotten it.

1

I mean I have indecisiveness issues.

I was supposed to pick an English name so its easier to pronounce than my real name, but kinda procrastinated and didn't feel confortable actually using a "foreign" name when I didn't even speak the language at the time.

So like... hypothetically, if I were trans, not only would I be so afraid of picking and using another name, I would probably just be too scared to actually transition and keep hiding it in my head forever, I never gave any thought to such hypotheical names.

Although I wonder, if I was AFAB, what name would my parents give me? Kinda wanna ask them for fun.

1

No, I've never thought about this in any meaningful way and I couldn't answer without significant consideration.

1

I'm presuming that this is me choosing a name for myself, not what would my name be if I was born a girl.

My name does have a feminine version (Joseph => Josephine), but I'm not really a fan of gender swap versions of names, so it wouldn't be that. I'd probably go for something biblical like Deborah or Esther.

1

My name doesn't have a female version, but I know the name picked for me if I was a girl.

1

I'm not sure about everyone but I do know that I have thought about this before. While I have no plans on ever becoming trans, I have thought about using the name Vivian or just Vivi. It's not related to my real name but I for some reason just kind gravitated towards it.

I think I remember first using it as my character's name in some scenarios in AI Dungeon, and I still use it when I need a name for a female character.

1

No, I'd need to think about it. I don't have a pre-chosen opposite gendered name (it's not something I've thought I needed to consider) and my name is not one that can be easily adapted so the easy option is out.

1

Since I was named after my dad I suppose I would've been named after my mom or another family member.

And uh, I guess "Cally" is kind of gender neutral-ish but it is my main online username so it'd be weird to use it somewhere else. Also I'm unsure how to pronounce it in portuguese, which is my native language.

1

Nope, but I go by my furry name most places and that's rather gender neutral.

1

As a cis female I never considered going for a traditionally male name. I do however have a gender neutral name I go by in certain circles. I also used to have a gender neutral account for online gaming.

1

If you were a boy/girl what would your name be?" could you answer them without needing think

Yes, I could.

My name is part of my identity. My gender, too. So if this were different, then I would not be I. It makes no sense to think about "my" name then, because it would be the name of somebody else then.

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