Another Challenge For Transgender People: Choosing A New Name

Some pore through baby-name books. Or think back to favorite movie stars or characters from fiction. Many turn to a family tree, hunting for inspiration among beloved relatives and long-lost ancestors.

For a transgender person in transition, the act of choosing a new name often isn’t that different from naming a new baby.

Except, of course, that they’re naming themselves.

“It’s one of the hardest things in life, choosing your own name,” Caitlyn Jenner told Vanity Fair last year. The Olympian formerly known as Bruce ultimately picked “Caitlyn,” simply because she’d liked it for a long time.

Misty Plowright started her search by scouring the Social Security Administration’s website for lists of the most popular baby names in the early to mid-’80s — she was born in 1983.