Have you, or do you want to change your first name?

I changed my first name from a Top-Ten name to one ranked low.

We just recently had a post on this same topic. Please look here for more replies from Berries.

ETA: @eileithyia Understood. To me the topics are the same, so that is why I made the note.

^ I think this topic is slightly different! I wrote a comment about this sort of thing in an ā€˜ask me anythingā€™ style thread. Iā€™ll copy and paste it below.

Itā€™s slightly different to what youā€™re asking, but I think itā€™s still on topic.

Growing up, I hated my name. In early primary school (elementary) I went to a school where I looked very different to everyone else. I was white, blonde, and very pale; I stuck out like a sore thumb. Everyone else had long, stunning, cultural names and I was considered ā€œboring.ā€ I felt very boring. I remember one time as a young kid, this group of girls was picking on me because of my pale skin and my ā€œtrashyā€ name. It made me hate my name, and throughout my early years, I got a lot of cruel comments about both my looks and my name, that my parents so carefully chose for me. I ended up sort of resenting my parents for giving me the name. I also dealt with a lot of childhood trauma that I associate my name too, which really led to me despising the name.

When I was 12, I started high school. I lived in a different city at this point and I just wanted a fresh start, so I started going by my middle name, Grace. For note, people in this city DID know me as my real name- Iā€™d been living there for about 2 years by this point. I went by Grace for 4 years after that, until I was about 16. When I first started going by Grace, people sort of snickered at me and said it was weird. I became ā€˜knownā€™ as the girl who changed her name, and that was all people really associated me with. People would make assumptions on why I did it, and Iā€™d get weird glances at school when the teacher called my name on the register (which Iā€™d requested to be Grace).

To be honest, it was embarrassing. People called me Grace but no one ever really got used to it. My friends and family accepted it but I KNOW people said stuff about it behind my back. It hurt. A lot. I felt so ashamed and misunderstood. I always tell people who are considered changing their names that it CAN NOT be done lightly. It is very hard for people to get used to, and very hard to undo. Even with Grace being my legal middle name. It gave me a lot of sympathy for people who undergo gender reassignment and need a new name. Obviously, my circumstances were different, but I can imagine how incredibly tolling it would be on your mental health because it certainly took a toll on mine.

Iā€™ve started trying to go by my real name again again this year. People still know me as Grace in real life. My Instagram name has my real name in it, but I still have to include Grace in usernames, otherwise, people I know in real life just donā€™t recognize who I am.

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Iā€™d change it to something unisex.

I did this. I changed my name to a less common name that I didnā€™t know anyone with, and decided to nickname myself [name_m]Jack[/name_m]. I didnā€™t want to be [name_m]John[/name_m], because thatā€™s my brotherā€™s name, or [name_u]Jackson[/name_u] because Iā€™m not a fan. Now, Iā€™d say 90% of the time Iā€™m called [name_m]Jack[/name_m], 7% itā€™s my full name, and 3% is still people who havenā€™t gotten used to my new name yet.

I also changed my middle name to a name that better reflects my family heritage. From a ā€œ[name_u]Nick[/name_u]ā€ variety name to SĆ©amus. Suits me better too.

I never liked my birth name and wanted to change my name from the time I was a little kid, in fact I think thatā€™s part of the reason Iā€™m so interested in names, so having changed my name has been nothing but a wonderful experience. If a bit of a pain when it comes to getting all my documents updated.

I wish I could change my name to [name_f]Nell[/name_f], I would :grin:

I donā€™t like my name. I donā€™t like my nickname.
But I donā€™t want to upset my parents or go through the hassle of trying to change my name and get everyone (including my kids and husband) to call me by my new name.

And mostly, it feels like too much pressure to pick a perfect name for myself.

i wish I could change it to something less popular but I wouldnā€™t want to upset my parents. It would feel a little unnecessary in my situation because iā€™m perfectly comfortable with my name in general, itā€™s just a little boring