I always make a male and female character and give them the same name from my other games if possible (I gave them personality/backstories in my head, dont ask). And sometimes I make multiple characters from different classes, species, races, skin colors etc. and if I feel creative, their back story/bio. Helps if one is a creative person that likes to write stories.
Literally the same story as my friend from childhood, probably one of the reasons none of us were too surprised by her transition and we were all immediately supportive