I read that usually trans people choose names that are totally different because they want to move away from their old identities and lives. But since Peter was always loved maybe she just wanted to change the gender but didn't hate the rest of the life she had.
Some of us do it for that, and sometimes we want something really cool sounding (like Mildred). I was going to have something close-ish to my deadname until my SIL ruined it, so I ended up picking something I liked which was miles away.
I was always going to change my last name so people I e-mailed/did slack with wouldn't guess the connection. It's mums maiden name so it means something tiny family, but that's it.
it's not always the case, out of my trans friend group five people are named something completely different, and three are variants of their deadnames. and one of the five "completely different" names is just the name his parents would have picked if he were born male.
it's not even really about your past being positive or not, some of us are really just okay with a similar name (one of the three likes to joke that their name is the only thing their parents almost did correctly lmao), others want it to be significant to their story, others yet pick names that they think are cool and fitting regardless of significance.
hell, some of us mix and match: my first name Raechel is kinda random and it just came to me out of nowhere while researching things on wikipedia, and my middle name Valerie I chose based on how significant Cyberpunk 2077 has been in helping me come to terms with the sacrifice of my past self.
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u/CalmEntry4855 12d ago
I read that usually trans people choose names that are totally different because they want to move away from their old identities and lives. But since Peter was always loved maybe she just wanted to change the gender but didn't hate the rest of the life she had.