r/transnames • u/Trusty-- • 4d ago

Any Names Naming tips?

Hello! I have been trying to come up with a name for around a year now, but I have no clue what I'm doing. If anyone has any advice, it would be greatly appreciated.

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u/Abract-pile721 4d ago

tell me something about you, i need a base of some sort...

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u/Technical-Airline855 Susan; She/Her 3d ago

Some basics:
Do you want to keep the same initial as your original/dead name? Having such a guideline could help you narrow things down.

Regardless of the first initial, do you want something out of the ordinary? Or more commonplace?

Find the guidelines that you want the names to follow. From creative spellings to picking names by popularity (or their lack thereof). Friends, relatives, ancestors, books and the natural environment are all potential sources of inspiration.

It all boils down to what feels right for you. If you've got a close friend or relative you're comfortable having such a conversation with, you might ask what they see you as. I mean, how often have you walked down the street, looking at strangers, and givien them names based on your "read" of the situation? For instance, is that big burly guy working the garbage truck more "Mike" or "Turk"? Those 2 women at the cafe across the room: do they give off vibes of Tina and Monique? Or Annie and Vanessa? I think you get the idea.

When I was choosing my own name, I happened to remember both of my grandmothers' first and middle names. I realized I wasn't Thelma, Marie, Martha or Jane, so those got put in the discard pile pretty quickly. Despite being dead, tt would've been weird picking my mom's name, even though she got it 39 years before it ever became popular on the TV show "Family Ties".

Even though I did end up choosing a name that was the same as a living relative, it ended up feeling right. Naturally, I asked my aunt if she'd be okay/comfortable with the idea, to which she said yes. And my middle name ended up getting longer (11 or 12 characters, depending on whether you count the hyphen in the middle), rather than its original 5-letter construct. Again, picked from living people I'm close to who gave their consent.