Hello! I'm a cis writer and I know trans people getting their new name based off their deadname is frowned upon, but I'm writing a historical fantasy novel in which a trans character used to be illiterate (quite common then) and at first only knew how to sign his old name/initials. Is it still wrong to have his name be Cole when the old one was Claire? (I hate saying his deadname tbh) I'm not sure if it will ever be plot relevant yet, since it's a mystery tale and it could come to play...
It’s not frowned upon at all for a trans person to pick a name close to their deadname, but it’s not all that common (though a lot of folks have an in-between name before they pick a final one). And as a cis writer I would recommend to avoid it because it’s really overdone.
Does your character actively go by their deadname within the storyline? If they don’t, I don’t see any reason to have the deadname mentioned at all. (There are ways you could do it well, but it really depends on the reason you’d involve that.) It’s kind of like including a coming out story if it happened before the story actually starts. It’s not really necessary and people can easily assume it happened, there was a deadname at all, etc.
As for the illiteracy/signing with initials thing - you can have a name farther away while keeping the initials, or have a character keep their initials but go by a middle name. It would technically be fine to have a close name, but there’s a reason behind every name someone chooses, and if they pick a name with similar sounds there is a reason behind that too. Whether because it feels like their name or they are easing into the change of it or they just like it or whatever.
But honestly, I feel like Cole and Claire are kind of far enough away from each other to not really fit the stereotype as much. When people talk about names being too close we generally mean like, “Stephen” and “Stephanie” or “Marcell” and “Marcella” and things like that. I don’t know if I’d say Cole and Claire are immediately related. Maybe if the names were Cole and Nicole? But I think this is more of a borderline case anyway. Especially because keeping the initials for ease of signing things seems like a pretty valid reason. They aren’t really the exact same name, they just have a few of the same letters. (I can’t promise everyone will feel that way though.)
Basically I think you might be okay but I’d play it safe and consider a more different name - but you’d probably be fine without doing so tbh. Also, avoid putting a deadname in at all if it isn’t immediately relevant to the plot in some way. If it is, then it is, but if it’s not, then it’s not. Take an inventory of its necessity and figure it out from there. It’s not a bad thing necessarily to come up with a trans character’s deadname if you feel it helps with character development, but sometimes when people feature that name in a story it feels a little akin to that ‘she breasted boobily’ thing. If that makes sense.
- mod nat
