After some recent shit with my family I've finally made the difficult decision that I need to cut them off one day and that I'm not going to have a relationship with them going forwards. When I get the chance to change my legal name I'm also going to change my last name too as a way of separation from them all. I've already picked a new first and middle name but I really have no idea what to do for the last one. Like last names have histories behind them and a lot of time it has to do with what country or culture you've come from so it would be weird of me to pick a last name based in a culture that I'm not from.

Has anyone else gone through this? Do you all have any advice for how to start choosing one?

  • WannabeBear [he/him, comrade/them]
    ·
    8 months ago

    I changed my last name long before I realized I was trans, because that family is really horrible.

    For me I was a dork and chose a name from a tv character I liked, which was also a super common white person name that no one would ever question.

    I don't feel a deep attachment to my last name, and have kind of toyed with the idea of changing it again, when I change my first name in the near-ish future. If I change it again, this time I will probably choose something that isn't a surname with history (like, basically just a word I like or something. Maybe a plant or something from astronomy. Possibly an animal. Idk.)

    • ElectronNumberSeven
      ·
      8 months ago

      For me I was a dork and chose a name from a tv character I liked, which was also a super common white person name that no one would ever question.

      This was my first impulse but after a bit of thought I didn't want to do that. My favorite game is Disco Elysium but all the last names of characters there are very French sounding so that would be super weird of me to pick so I won't do that.

      A plant could be a good idea, I'd have to think more about which one though.