I asked my mom about my name and how my parents chose it. It turns out it was a pretty uneventful decision for them, my mom said my dad was super opinionated with baby names and it was the only one she suggested he would agree with.
This has made me want to actively start looking for a new name that I can really love that doesn’t frustrate me so much. My given name is [name_u]Mackenzie[/name_u] [name_f]Anne[/name_f]. Everyone misspells my first as McKenzie or [name_u]MacKenzie[/name_u]. EVERYONE. I’m not fond of the two capitalized letters, it makes me think it’s a last name like [name_m]McGregor[/name_m] or McCann. [name_u]Kenzie[/name_u] seems childish because it’s what I went by in elementary school and junior high. I would just go by my middle name but I have a friend named [name_f]Anne[/name_f] and people misspell her name as [name_f]Ann[/name_f] very often.
The only name I definitely want to keep is my married name, which is [name_m]Packer[/name_m]. I may hyphenate my married name and maiden name, so either [name_m]Smith[/name_m]-[name_m]Packer[/name_m] or [name_m]Packer[/name_m]-[name_m]Smith[/name_m]?
What is a good way to start this process? Has anyone else done this? [name_m]How[/name_m] did you choose your new name?
So your main criteria (outside of liking the name) is to have a name that everyone knows how to spell? Perhaps you could start looking at lists of names people think are easy to spell/only really have one possible spelling. See what you like from those lists and go from there. Be warned, names that you may think can’t be spelled incorrectly often can, people are very inventive…
Off the top of my head, I’d suggest [name_f]Kenna[/name_f], [name_f]Jenna[/name_f], [name_f]Anna[/name_f] (could be [name_f]Ana[/name_f] but I don’t think it’d be a common misspell). You could also consider a longer form of [name_f]Anna[/name_f] e.g. [name_f]Annabeth[/name_f], which is very hard to spell incorrectly. [name_f]Annabeth[/name_f] [name_u]Mackenzie[/name_u] [name_m]Packer[/name_m]-[name_m]Smith[/name_m] is nice.
I think you need to make a list of criteria for the name you want. As maerad points out, one point on that list is that you want it to be easily and instinctively spelled right. It also needs to go with your surname and I’m guessing from what you’ve said, it should also sound mature, it shouldn’t feel like a surname and it shouldn’t be the name of someone you know.
Now, it might be worth asking yourself - do you want a long or a short name? [name_f]Do[/name_f] you want it to sound similar to the name you have now, do you want it to be connected in anyway to the name you have or do you want a completely new name? [name_f]Do[/name_f] you want something unique or something that’s familiar and blends in?
From the criteria you have given, I think looking at lists of classic names might be a place to start - they usually have familiar spellings, they sound mature and they don’t often sound like surnames
I have an easy name…[name_u]Brooke[/name_u]…and people still misspell it .”