Moments of Permanence - We should be clear on certain things: Names, identity, and why certain people need to shut up hard

From: rainbow Date: June 15th, 2009 07:05 pm (UTC) (Link)

The name I was born with makes me actively unhappy. I am, in fact, going to change it legally

I so get this.

Chris started using "Chris" in the mid 70s because she'd always hated "Cindy" (and there were some people who had issues with it and tried to keep calling her Cindy. Mama A, otoh, was perfectly fine with it, and suggested simply ignoring them until they used the right name *g* )

Chris changed the body's name legally in the mid 80s -- and since she'd used our current surname for 10+ years by then with friends and had met our birth father recently and didn't want to use his name, she changed both first and last and just kept the middle.

I may not be that Chris (I'm Carys or Boo to the people who are closest to me, not Chris or Cats [Cats was the name that meant all of us]), but the legal name and "Cats" is still mine in a way the birth name never would be, because it's what soemone(s) in the body chose.

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