Writing Trans Characters: Names
A quick basic run down on referring to your trans characters for cis writers:
A trans woman is a woman. A trans man is a man. A trans girl is a girl. A trans boy is a boy. A trans enby is an enby. They have always been the gender they are. They did not use to be anything else.
Trans is an adjective and does not get hyphenated (NOT: trans-girl) and there is always a space (NOT: transgirl). You have a trans characters. Not a transcharacter.
You do not always have to use the adjective trans when referring to them. It’s an identity and a descriptor. Use it when it’s relevant. Use it like you would cis when talking about a character.
It’s also transgender (adjective) and transition/ed/ing (verb). Assigned gender/male/female at birth (agab, amab, afab) is how you can talk about what gender the character was assigned at birth without misgendering them. They are also not biologically X gender. They are whatever gender they are. Body parts don’t have a gender.
It’s also not “the opposite gender” since male and female are not the only two genders that exist. There are so many potential variations. If you must, quotation marks work or “the opposite binary gender” works as well. Gender isn’t a binary and non-binary people exist.
(Note: The name types can be one or two words. Deadname as a verb: to deadname, to use someone’s dead name, is generally one word though. )
Their name (also preferred name or chosen name): Generally the one they pick and change to once they start transitioning. This is the name your character should be known by for story purposes, narration, character profiles and plotting notes. This is their name.
The dead name, the name that shall not be mentioned: This is usually the birth name. It may also include previous names if the person changed their name prior to their current one. It is generally not used, or at least only used when necessary. Such as when a character is not out, when around transphobic family members who insist on calling them by their dead name, or when it is their legal name and so ends up on documents.
Generally, a character will not say they used to be “dead name”. It’s a dead name. It’s dead. We murdered it and buried it and put a stake through its heart to keep it from coming back. We don’t want it back. Neither does your character.
Revealing a character is trans by deadnaming them is a shitty thing to do. This is the name that shall not be mentioned. Unless you have reason to use this name for them, don’t. You don’t even have to know what their birth name/dead name is! You can give them their chosen name and be done with naming them!
Legal Name: The name the person’s government and all that fancy paperwork for doctors and the dmv and bank accounts and basically everything that verifies an identity knows them by. This may be the deadname/birth name or chosen name depending on whether or not the character is able to change it. (Note: some places may allow the person to have a preferred name on file that is used instead if the legal name is the dead-birth name.)
Using the legal name as a way to deadname your character is also a pretty shitty thing to do, but it does happen. If you want to go that route, really consider why you are doing it, then make sure you do it right and in a way that is respectful to actual trans and nonbinary people. This is where ask blogs and sensitivity readers are your friend.
OK, now that we’ve got those basics out of the way, now it’s on to giving your character a name.
One of the good rules for naming any character is realizing that your character didn’t (usually) pick their name, their parents. That goes out the window with trans characters. Most trans and nonbinary people pick their own names. It’s also usually not just a gender swapped version of their birthname. It also may or may not start with the same letter. Some people like it, some people don’t. It’s all personal preference.
Some ways your character may pick their name:
they searched through a babynaming site and found a name that has a meaning/origin/sound they like
a favorite character from a tv show, video game, book, or movie
a person in their life they admire
a dead relative they want to honor
it sounds like how they want people to see them
they just heard the name and Knew ™
Basically: if there’s a reason you would name your kid it, it’s also a likely reason a trans person would pick it as their name.
Some people pick their names quickly, some take a lot of time to settle on one, and some will go through multiple names before they find one that fits.
As I said above, most trans and nonbinary people don’t stick with their birth name or pick one that is a gender swapped version of it. Some people do.
Things that could make your character more likely to keep the birth name or pick one close to it:
They already have a name that works with their gender (a lot of names that are gender neutral, or if the parent gave them a name that is traditionally the “opposite” gender of the one they were assigned at birth.)
They don’t meet much resistance to transitioning/have a bunch of family support.
They haven’t had the name ruined for them (as in people don’t forcibly misgender the name, or haven’t ruined the name for other reasons)
The name has significant importance to them (such as it belonging to a family member they also want to honor)
It was the name their parent(s) would have given them if they had been born the “opposite” gender (and they want to use that name because they like it/ it fits the family name theme, and the family is accepting of the transition).
Of course, your character picking a name that is close to their original doesn’t mean it’s ok to deadname them. It’s also definitely not ok to misgender them.
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