I’ve been thinking about this lately. If I have kids, I most likely won’t do this, but I like the idea of trans-friendly names.
Here’s some of the kinds I like
Feminization of male name to original male name (ftm)
[name_f]Henrietta[/name_f] to [name_u]Henry[/name_u]
[name_f]Alvina[/name_f] to [name_m]Alvin[/name_m]
[name_f]Thomasin[/name_f] to [name_m]Thomas[/name_m]
[name_f]Bernadette[/name_f] to [name_m]Bernard[/name_m]
[name_f]Maxine[/name_f] to [name_u]Max[/name_u]
[name_f]Alberta[/name_f] to [name_m]Albert[/name_m]
[name_f]Theodora[/name_f] to [name_m]Theodore[/name_m]
[name_f]Josephine[/name_f] to [name_u]Joseph[/name_u]
[name_f]Frances[/name_f] to [name_u]Francis[/name_u]
[name_u]Marian[/name_u] to [name_u]Marion[/name_u]
[name_f]Arthurine[/name_f] to [name_u]Arthur[/name_u]
[name_f]Crispina[/name_f] to [name_m]Crispin[/name_m]
[name_f]Edith[/name_f] to [name_u]Eddie[/name_u] (a bit of a stretch but it still works)
[name_u]Louise[/name_u] to [name_m]Louis[/name_m]
[name_f]Nox[/name_f] to [name_m]Knox[/name_m]
Traditionally masculine names (ftm)
[name_u]Lowell[/name_u]
[name_u]Basil[/name_u]
[name_u]Dakota[/name_u]
[name_u]Finn[/name_u]
[name_u]Spencer[/name_u]
[name_u]Jensen[/name_u]
[name_u]Sullivan[/name_u]
[name_m]Roger[/name_m]
[name_u]James[/name_u]
[name_u]Dexter[/name_u]
[name_u]Jasper[/name_u]
[name_u]George[/name_u]
[name_u]Jude[/name_u]
[name_u]Ezra[/name_u]
[name_u]Roscoe[/name_u]
[name_m]Lucas[/name_m]
Traditionally feminine names (mtf)
[name_u]Carol[/name_u]
[name_u]Mackenzie[/name_u]
[name_f]Alice[/name_f]
[name_u]Vivian[/name_u]
[name_u]Evelyn[/name_u]
[name_u]Holly[/name_u]
[name_u]Cassidy[/name_u]
[name_u]Shiloh[/name_u]
[name_u]Alma[/name_u]
[name_u]Florence[/name_u]
[name_f]Ethel[/name_f]
[name_u]Ruby[/name_u]
[name_u]Mallory[/name_u]
[name_u]Shannon[/name_u]
Gender neutral names are always your friend, too
Anyone else have any trans-friendly names?
I often try to find names with at unisex or masc/fem nickname option:
[name_f]Sarai[/name_f] → [name_u]Rai[/name_u], [name_m]Ry[/name_m] or [name_u]Sai[/name_u]
[name_f]Matilda[/name_f] → [name_u]Mat[/name_u], [name_u]Matty[/name_u], [name_u]Max[/name_u]
[name_m]Linus[/name_m] → [name_f]Lissy[/name_f], [name_f]Lizzy[/name_f], [name_f]Lila[/name_f]
[name_u]Julian[/name_u] → [name_u]Jules[/name_u], [name_f]Julia[/name_f], [name_u]June[/name_u], [name_u]Julie[/name_u]
[name_f]Ginevra[/name_f] → [name_u]Nev[/name_u], [name_u]Ezra[/name_u]
[name_m]Apollo[/name_m] → [name_f]Polly[/name_f], [name_u]Poe[/name_u], [name_u]Ollie[/name_u]
[name_u]Leander[/name_u] → [name_u]Landry[/name_u], [name_f]Lea[/name_f], [name_f]Andie[/name_f]
[name_f]Eleanor[/name_f] → [name_m]Len[/name_m], [name_u]Lennie[/name_u]
[name_u]Franklin[/name_u] → [name_u]Frankie[/name_u], [name_u]Fran[/name_u]
Josephine/Joseph → [name_u]Josie[/name_u], Jo/e, [name_u]Joss[/name_u], [name_u]Seth[/name_u], Sephie, [name_u]Jojo[/name_u]
[name_f]Juliet[/name_f] → [name_u]Jett[/name_u]
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I think there’s a few things to remember.
- [name_m]Even[/name_m] if there is an obvious name to switch to (ex. [name_f]Henrietta[/name_f] to Henry) they may not choose to do this as they may want a name further from the name they were given at birth. [name_f]My[/name_f] friend did this - they were [name_f]Samantha[/name_f] originally, and instead of going to [name_m]Samuel[/name_m], they went to [name_m]Eric[/name_m]. It felt more authentic to them.
- A name that is technically gender neutral may have the same outcome. If you name a little boy [name_u]James[/name_u], while technically [name_u]James[/name_u] can be used for a girl, it is more well known as a boy’s name, so someone who is Trans may wish to change it as well.
That said, I like the idea of giving your kid a name that gives them flexibility through nicknames.
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Ditto! I like most feminized names so if I were to use Josephine, it could very easily be Jo, JoJo, or Joseph.
I like names that are very obviously belonging to one gender (unless I’m going for a unisex name), but have potential for a unisex name in case they want that. After that point they can choose.
No offense, but I feel like not all kids would be comfortable having a name that’s so rigid as far as gender, and they’re the opposite of the conventional gender it’s usually used on. It doesn’t hurt to have a name with a little wiggle room and flexibility.
Olivia “Ollie”, Samantha/Samuel “Sam”, Veronica “Ronnie”, Stephanie/Stephania “Steph”, so and on and so forth.
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i think it may be more likely that a girl would be uncomfortable/unhappy with a traditionally masc name like george or roger, and a boy uncomfortable with a name like alice or florence, than the chances that they’d end up ftm/mtf trans 
that said i do love names that offer gender neutral/other gender nicknames!
some of my favourites are: georgina/georgiana/georgette/georgia “georgie” or “george”, charlotte “charlie”, ariadne/ariana “ari”, calliope/callista “cal”, clary/clarity “clay”, dolores “des”, felicity “flick”, fiona “finn”, iris “ris” (like rhys), louisa/luisa/louella/luella “lou/louie”, leonie “leo”, maren “ren”, josephine “finn”, philippa “pip”, rhiannon “rhian”, serena “ren”, theodore “theo”, winifred/winona “win/wynn”, ambrose “rosie”, beckett “becca”, emilian “milly”, casper/cassian/caspian/casper “cassie”, carlin “carly”, elliot/ellis “ellie”, francis “frankie”, holden “holly”, halloran “lorie”, jasper “jazz”, laurence “laurie”, leander “lea”, meridian “meri”, maxwell/maxim/maximilian “maxie”, nicola “niki”, roscoe “rosie”, sullivan “liv” and victor “vicky”
I think this mindset is a bit off? Since any name is trans-friendly. Like @Waverly123 mentioned, not all binary trans people are going to change their name to a feminized or masculinized version of it. It’s very common to pick an unrelated name entirely to distance from one’s birth name.
That being said, since names don’t have genders, choosing a “trans-friendly” name requires one to gender names, which in of itself isn’t “trans-friendly.” Basically any name whatsoever can be changed to be more traditionally masculine or feminine.
For instance, [name_u]Marian[/name_u] and [name_u]Marion[/name_u] are both neutral in the Nameberry database. A transmasc person named [name_u]Marian[/name_u] at birth may not find [name_u]Marion[/name_u] to be different whatsoever, whether it’s technically more masculine or not. So “trans-friendly” depends on the trans person’s personal taste, not the person who named them.
That being said, I think a name with neutral nickname options is the closest you’ll get to trans friendly name! If your child turns out to be trans it allows them options.
[name_u]Max[/name_u], [name_u]Sam[/name_u], [name_u]Jo[/name_u], etc. are all pretty classic options in this case. Other than that, no specific names come to mind.
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