I’m changing my name from Catharine to Aspen!!
I’ve already had this discussion with my friends and will have more reasons for this in the next paragraphs, but if you’re not curious, that’s chill too, just a short announcement for the reason of ‘I gotta change all my usernames now and get myself a new signature and I don’t want this change to be surprising to anybody.’
Catharine (and any variation of it’s spelling) comes from the Greek word ‘katharos’ and means ‘pure’. It’s a very popular name and shows up in the title of several historical figures, including Catherine II of Russia or Catherine the Great, Catherine of Siena, a 14th-century mystic, Catherine de' Medici, a 16th-century French queen, and three of Henry VIII’s wives were all named Catherine.
I was named Catharine after my grandmother, in a longstanding tradition of each mother naming their daughter after their own mother, so, Bonnie, Catherine, Bonnie, Catharine, for God knows how long. I will not be continuing this tradition. Not only was I told not to by my own mum, but I have no connection to this grandmother. I do not want to share her name and I will not name my future children after any family member.
This is not a deadname situation, I am not triggered by the sound of or upset to have been given this name and I will still respond to Catharine / Cat / Catty from people who have known me as such for a long time. My gender identity is the exact same, matching what I was born as, as I quite like participating in femininity and womanhood.
Also, my persona’s name is already Aspen, that will not change, it will be used by the both of us. I’d like to get pink hair and flowery clothes like her, too.
Aspen is a name my parents thought of following my birth, literally what the flip dudes I could’ve already had it.
There’s not as much information to find regarding the name Aspen, on the same website, it has two sentences describing it, as opposed to the two and a half paragraphs Katherine got. That’s probably because I’m naming myself after a tree.
Their leaves change colors and their trunks are white with lots of black lines and dots that kinda look like eyes. They’re perfect!
Anyway, if you see anybody reposting my art in the future, especially art that has Catharine in the signature, please tag me so it’s easier for others to find my work now. I’m not sure what my signature will be now, but I’ll try out a few today.
I considered not making this change at all, because I’ve lived so much life with this name and published so much art under it, but I remembered that the time will pass anyway.
