Jim's Cafe - Sunday, June 8, 2025

Hello family, I hope this finds you well today!

If you got to choose your name, what would it be and why?

If you got to choose your name, what would it be and why?

Ariel - sounds like a graceful ballerina.

When I was a girl, I wanted to be called Maggie.

If I had to have a name that is different from the one I have now, I'd still go for Margaret, or Elizabeth.

No I would keep my name. At my age I am firmly rooted in it.

however, I named my daughter Kyra after a college friend. I regret that as it gets pronounced wrong all the time. But I didn't have another name picked out for a girl so i named her that. Kyra - the original - was a self sufficient, independent woman and my daughter has followed that path. My daughter likes her name and wouldn't change it for anything.
@JMG @Lane @Lisa the Goatgirl @JanisSPK @SillyOldBear please help tag

I am ok with the birth name given. And use it at times like in here. The spelling is the same as how Joplin and Ian spell it so that gives it a different vibration as well as than the spelling of Janice. Even though I was not named after either one of them….
The name I go by and have for decades is the spiritual name I was given by my teacher when I was in my 30’s. That is what the SPK represents.
I always loved the name Sabrina and if I had had a child and wanted to use a western name I would have possibly chosen it for her.

Ericka, just because I've always liked it.

Thanks to @Angie for opening, and @cymbele for tagging me.


...Lisa. I know cos i did choose it.
Although i also considered Emily, Emma, Sarah, and Eileen. Although Eileen was a very complicated name with a lot of baggage.

Real talk though, that's one of the cool things about being trans. Gets you to pause and ask who you really are, and start forming an identity more raw and real than most people get to experience. And it all starts with choosing your own name. Kinda makes you wonder why it isn't more standard practice to decide your own name when you reach adulthood. Sure, it's scary, but you get to find a name that feels like it accurately conveys the concept of you. There's no way your parents can ever hope to actually achieve that when you're this squalling, helpless little thing with zero agency.

Aye aye, cap'n.🫡

@Witty_Sarcasm @1964dodge @Gonz @Citizen Insane @Auri @Brân @Atreides @Sunspots @Reality @Inanimate @puffymilk @seabird @LumberJack @KM76710 @Inastorm @Licorice @Fbr27 @FFurry @Gard @CrashBandicoot @Road to Nowhere @Harmony @AmberMarie

Also just for if you guys feel like talking about the thought process behind your names, no pressure of course:

@Neko~boy @Shelly @Baywasp @AnHeroTransGirl @Walker @Megan. @foundlostsoul @Kai Nashi @dandelions

Shelly, because I love living and staying in my shell

A professor called me Valerie in one class back in 2010s and for some reason I kinda liked that name too. We corrected her many times and she kept saying that I definitely look like Valerie to her…

Thanks for opening the cafe @Angie and @Lisa the Goatgirl for tagging me.

My mum wanted to call me Jamie, but my dad choose the name I have now. I would have preferred Jamie, as I like the shorten version to a single letter - J.

I would stay with the name I use. My auntie gave it to me, from a character's name in a book she was reading me.
Names are serious things. When they are shared it implies a level of trust between the people so doing.

Thank you for tagging so many. You are incredible!🫶🏼

@AvidFan @FFurry @Mid Night @MagickLynx @nicktheundoer @Harrow @AmberMarie @Bergerac

@Auri @From_Venus @Holding my breath @Innocent Forever @Road to Nowhere @Reality @cinnnamonflakez @JMG

Thanks for the Cafe and tagging me @Angie and @cymbele.

I've always liked the name Heather and Sharday. I did have the name Angie when I worked at the club. Hope everyone's doing fine today.

I hope you are doing ok too.

Tysm for posting a cafe for today Angie, and for the tags cymbele and Lane

There are a LOT of names I would like a lot more than the one I have (it is far too common which annoys me a lot lol). These are some of the names I like the most and that I think would suit me:

Alissa, Amanda, Belinda, Cecilia, Clarise, Clarissa, Elizabeth, Harmony, Janine, Joy, Lilian, Marina, Miranda (this is one of my absolute faves, love all these names though lol), Naomi, Ramona, Sarah, Valerie, Vera, Veronica, Zara

Ya, I guess there’s lots of names I like a lot lol. There’s lotsa cool Latina/Spanish and Japanese names I like a lot too, but not sure how well most of them would suit me :p

I'd change my name to "Noname" because it would be funny to hear teachers and everyone have to say that with my last name. A lot of people had fun with my last name too, it's easy to make a joke of it.

Thanks for the tag @Lisa the Goatgirl

I actually started writing this post a while ago but fell asleep before finishing.
I got to choose my name when I decided to transition, but I kind of regret my choice now, because I picked based on similarity to my birth name since I thought it would make it easier for people and they wouldn't get mad at me, but it didn't really work. I also ended up picking a fairly unusual name that people frequently get confused for a more common one. (The more common one has much less overlap with my birth name, so it wasn't on the list. And I didn't realize people would get it mixed up.) I had another, more common name I was considering, but there were too many guys at the college I was going to with that name already, so I didn't want it to get too confusing. (I was going to a pretty small college, and I swear I knew at least 7.) I probably would have liked that name better. Or if I knew people would get my name mixed up anyway, I could have just picked Yossarian after the character in Catch-22, because that's a badass name.
Either way, I wish I would have let myself consider more widely rather than just going on what I thought would make others happy.