Seeking Name Information From My Transsexual Friends

[Traci Elizabeth]

OK, I have searched the web high & low and cannot find the answer to my question.

As you all know I am Traci but if I want to be called Traci Elizabeth instead of just Traci when I get my name change, how do you do that and is it advisable?

I am thinking Traci-Elizabeth as the spelling but I don't know if that is legal or too long.

My wife thinks it is way too long to combine and that I should just use Elizabeth like any other middle stand alone name.

What say all of you?????????

[Jorja]

I think you will findTraci-Elizabeth is too long. Seeing as how these type of things vary from
state to state contact your local South Carolina DMV and ask them.

[sandra-leigh]

You are right, that information is hard to find for South Carolina.

What did I manage to find... that you have to change your drivers license within 10 days, form 4057.

There are some prep forms you need to know about,
http://www.scfamilylaw.com/2009/05/articles/procedure/so-you-want-to-change-your-name/
but there is apparently no one specific form for the name change itself. Or maybe there is,

http://www.ehow.com/how_6144584_change-south-carolina-birth-certificate.html

I have not been able to find any codified restrictions on the name, such as valid characters, use of symbols, whether a space is accepted.


My *guess* is that the judge would rule that the space would make things too difficult for govt' business, as govt tends to be rather unimaginative when it comes to computer programs handling names. But I really don't know.

[Laura_Stephens]

I would go with the tradtional first, middle, and surnames.

HOWEVER, have you ever noticed that the most well known criminals in the U.S. are always referred to by the full name? Examples, Lee Harvey Oswald, Jared Lee Loughner, John Wayne Gacy, John Wilkes Boothe, James Earl Ray, Mary Kay Latourneau, and Mark David Chapman.

[Deborah_UK]

I don't see how bureaucrats can determine how long someones name can be, although unusual, there surely is no legislation to prevent ?

[JohnH]

My *guess* is that the judge would rule that the space would make things too difficult for govt' business, as govt tends to be rather unimaginative when it comes to computer programs handling names. But I really don't know.

Just some lttle suggestions:

Maybe use a hyphen, perhaps similar to a last name. But I think it would be more consistent to use "Traci" as the first name and "Elizabeth" as the middle name.

Johanna

[Melody Moore]

Hi Traci,

I agree with your wife, it's way too long, and even if you did hyphenate it, there is no guarantees
that other people will address you as 'Traci-Elizabeth' if this is what you are expecting to happen.

That's my 2cents worth.

[sandra-leigh]

I don't see how bureaucrats can determine how long someones name can be, although unusual, there surely is no legislation to prevent ?

Judges are usually granted discretion on permitting a name change, and the South Carolina law in particular requires them to take in to account the "true intent" of the change. "Frivilous" changes are usually turned down. An extremely long name would likely be deemed "frivilous" unless there was particular history to the name (e.g., if it incorporated inheritted titles).

There does have to be some flexibility about what the "first" name is, as some cultures tend to use the same first name for many people and use the second name as the distinguishing name; I read that happens in Mexico. In India, "Singh" can be treated either as a title like "Sir" or as a name on its own. Names get messy in practice.

I believe that I read about a decade ago that someone investigated and the longest space for a name that they found in any of the US government databases was 37 characters -- and that, at least at the time, some of the databases could not handle more than 12 characters for the "first name".

[Traci Elizabeth]

Gee! No one is in favor of my preference. My wife is "right" way too many times. I am getting a complex! :)

[Stephanie Anne]

I say it's not long enough.

Traci-Elizabeth Consuela-Francesca-Doreen <last name and that of your wife in a hyphen too>

If your going to dream big, make it a mouthful whenever anyone has to say your name.

Here is the link for name changes
http://www.scstatehouse.gov/code/t15c049.htm

I suggest calling the court and see if there is such a thing as a summary disposition. Many courts do this so they don't have to waste time. It adds a few documents for you buy is much easier to do.

Are you serious?!? Gender can't be changed on your DL?

After the name change, head straight to the Social Security office.

[sandra-leigh]

I was working on the "single name containing a space" aspect.

There should not be any legal problem with using a hyphenated name, unless the judge thinks it is too long. For an indication of how long is "too long", you could call your financial institute or the DMV and ask what the longest "given name" they support is.

All my government level stuff is registered with my first name and middle name as my "given names"; my banking too as my banking needs that name because they have to send notice of my earned interest to the federal tax people. But for example, how much of "Traci-Elizabeth VonRiechKloppen" can credit card companies fit on a single card?

Hyphanted names are used in practice. Betty-Sue . Bobby-Lee. Billy-Joe . So I don't see anything wrong in using a hyphenated name as your legal name, but I wouldn't expect people to routinely call you by the full name.

NB: "Sandra-Leigh" is a hyphenated first name, not a firstname / lastname combination. I'm finally getting some people to go as far as "Sandra" instead of still calling me "Tess"...

[CharleneT]

Traci-Elizabeth, go with what you want, after all you'll live with it ;-) I seriously doubt any judge is going to tell a grown woman that her name is wrong and she can't have it !! There are hyphens all over the place now, so I don't think that will cause trouble at all. Do you call yourself that now ? Others use it ? I ask only because it helps to hear a name said a bunch of times when trying to get an idea of what you think of it. It is such an unusual opportunity, re-naming yourself - enjoy it and do what you want to !

[Melody Moore]

Betty-Sue. Bobby-Lee. Billy-Joe.
I know there is a trend in the USA to use these types of hyphenated names, but I don't think you will find that happens
in many other countries around the world. I don't know of one single person in Australia that has such a hyphenated first
name & if they did, I don't think I would use the whole name if I was addressing someone face-to-face. These names sound
silly to me like 'Billy-Bob' :lol: and its a pain if you have to write out the whole name every time being so long, but that is
just my personal opinion of course. Whatever you decide on Traci is your choice, but just don't expect others to use your
full name, especially on an international forum like this one.

[Stephenie S]

Sweetie, you are overthinking this.

Your name is what you call yourself. Introduce yourself in the manner you wish to be addressed. If you want people to call you "Traci-Elizabeth", then just say, "Hi. My name is Traci-Elizabeth."

That's all, hon. You can't expect others to know what you want to be called until you tell them. If someone calls you "Traci", or "Elizabeth", just correct them and tell them your name.

Stephie

[JohnH]

I remember a girl called Mary-Alice in grade school. That was what she went by. So it is not that much of a stretch to go by "Traci-Elizabeth".

Johanna

[Traci Elizabeth]

Sweetie, you are overthinking this.

Your name is what you call yourself. Introduce yourself in the manner you wish to be addressed. If you want people to call you "Traci-Elizabeth", then just say, "Hi. My name is Traci-Elizabeth."

That's all, hon. You can't expect others to know what you want to be called until you tell them. If someone calls you "Traci", or "Elizabeth", just correct them and tell them your name.

Stephie



NOW why didn't I think of that? :facepalm:

[Aprilrain]

God haven't any of you guys ever read or seen "Clifford The Big Red Dog"? Clifford's owner is Emily Elizabeth and all her friends call her Emily Elizabeth probably because she calls herself Emily Elizabeth and her parents call her Emily Elizabeth even the dog calls her Emily Elizabeth. I would definitely call her Em though if she were my friend or maybe Bit, yeah I like Bit its kinda cute like Little Bit or would it be Little-Bit?.

[Hope]

Gee! No one is in favor of my preference. My wife is "right" way too many times. I am getting a complex! :)

I'm in favor of your preference.

I say Who gives a flying fig if other people think it is too long, or too cumbersome. It is YOUR name, you are the one who has to live with it. There is real legitimacy in referring to people in the manner in which they wish to be addressed, if you want to be Traci Elizabeth, then dag-gummit that is what you should be.

[Victoria Anne]

Traci Elizebeth is a beautiful name , it is your name so I say yuse it . You will not be limited by companies in general , my legal name is Timothy Victoria Anne M----- (temporarily, I will be having the first name removed later this year) the point is it is your name and if it is how you introduce yourself , and that is how you will be addressed nand known. Use what you want , the name that you know is who you are.

[Traci Elizabeth]

At last - a few who agree with me! :cheer:

[Jessinthesprings]

My suggestion... Do what makes you happy. However, the hyphen looks a little odd my stepdaughter is ZiaDawn. You could try something similar... However, your name will be shortened by most people. Expect: Traci, Trace, Liz, and Beth. Might be something to consider.

[Raquel June]

Do whatever you want, but don't be that person who's always looking to get offended when people say it differently.

My name's Raquel. Pretty simple. Two syllables. ruh-KELL. Even if you don't know someone named Raquel, you've probably heard the name Raquel Welch pronounced at least 20 times in your life. But people screw it up all the time. If I'm lucky they say RAK-ell, but a lot of times they see the name and call me Rachel. I only even bother correcting people if it's someone I'm going to meet several more times. Otherwise what's the point in correcting them? Some of the people I see regularly have started calling me Rocky. Whether it makes you think of the fictional boxer or the cartoon squirrel, it's a terrible name for a girl. But whatever. It's kinda cute for them to have a nickname for me.

But the world is full of people with long and/or unfamiliar names who are just looking to get an attitude. I know a TS girl named Tracilyn. She hates the name Traci. She hates the name Lynn. But she chose the name Traci-Lynn because she likes to aggressively correct people and she can't let anything in her life be easy.

If you go by Traci-Elizabeth, some people will want to shorten it. Are you going to get offended when they do? Correcting people all the time is a little aggressive. But if you're correcting people constantly for not including your middle name every time they address you, it's going to be a hard life.

I'm sure most people will call you what you want to be called, and you shouldn't take a name you don't like just to cater to everyone else, but don't take it as a personal attack. You like a name that is an order of magnitude longer than most people's. Eventually someone will think it's clever to call you Tee-Liz.

[Melody Moore]

But the world is full of people with long and/or unfamiliar names who are just looking to get an attitude. I know a TS girl named Tracilyn. She hates the name Traci. She hates the name Lynn. But she chose the name Traci-Lynn because she likes to aggressively correct people and she can't let anything in her life be easy.
Take my name for example, 'Melody' - Lots of people shorten my name & call me 'Mel', which can also be a shorten version of Melissa, Melanie & Melinda just to name a few. But I don't get my panties in a bunch over the fact people do shorten it. I can also give you dozens of examples of name shortening. Take these other example Kelvin (Kel), Katrina (Kat), Deborah, (Deb or Debbie) William (Will or Bill), David (Dave), Stephen or Steven (Steve), Margaret (Marge), Patricia (Pat), Dianne (Di), Bernard or Bernadette (Bernie), Suzanne, (Suzy or Suz). The list of names that get shortened is long. I think if Traci expects everyone to use her whole name, then she will be in for a huge disappointment because people are lay by nature when it comes to using long names.

Anyway, people can call me anything they want, just just call me late for dinner or a date. :heehee: