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My parents named me my mother's great grandmother's maiden name. It can be a male or female first name. In fact, my son's 5th grade teacher liked my name so much, he named his first born, a daughter, with my name. So, with all that going on the female side, why not use my given name? Or conversely, why chose another name?
I am not sure I actually chose a name as adopted one with a little help from the Beatles.
About 40 years ago I overheard a conversation between the owner of a plus sized women's dress shop, Beloft's, and the woman cutting my hair, Rita of Rita's Hair Salon.
Beloft was telling Rita that most of her customers were out of town business men shopping for themselves.
A memorable conversation for a closet cross dresser.
A while later, while driving past Rita's new location, Lovely Rita Meter Maid was playing. My mind substituteed Hair Dresser for Meter Maid.
Add the fact my given name and Rita start with the same sound, so easily catches my ear. Thus, Rita Dresser was adopted.
@ritadresser River came from Dr Who and as Im always in the outdoors it just clicked with me. The second part was tough. But since I enjoy singing so much and Im French I eventually put 2 and 2 together and voila.. RC was born. Cheers. RC again. 
@river Of course, since you are female on this site, should it not be River Chanteuse?!
Becca (The Devil's Advocate)
@rebeccabaxter Lol I considered that over and over and decided that because I cant sing well in a female voice. though im getting better. at the time I felt I needed to come clean and be sort of a contradiction. I may look female as long as I keep my mouth closed.. and it was harder to spell lol.. 
Cheers RC
@ritadresser OMG Its ok for me to say that about myself. but I would advise against suggesting it RC
@river Love the name origin story. Also a fan of Dr Who and love that connection and inspiration. Still thinking on what my name could be as I embrace this side of me.
Hugs
@zaszaria Our daughter was named after a Dr Who character (Nyssa), played by Sarah Sutton. She was from Traken.
I loved her clothes, too.
@harriette That's amazing. I really liked Nyssa too. Grew up with Tom Baker as my favorite Doctor back then. She did have some fun clothes.
@harriette Brilliant!! such a beautiful name!! .and such a good series that changed with the times but also stayed the same , although I doubt anyone named their child after the Dalek(s) lol. Have a fab day. RC
Brilliant!! such a beautiful name!!
That's what I told everyone, too!
Because of its source, I had to look it up, to see if was made up for the show or not. Found out that it means truth and is common in Greece and the middle-east.
@harriette The greek goddess of truth !! nice. which come to think of it Greek goddesses are a pretty good place to look for a female name. Cheers RC
@river Exactly where I found mine. Perse is short for Persephone, Queen of the Underworld. She is hidden in the shadows from the real world but positively glows on CDH
@mariannepc Perse is lovely and usually where you keep your phone!! lol. I jest. all hail Queen Persephone goddess of the underworld. love it. Cheers RC
@zaszaria It will come, I wasn't even looking for a name, now, I can't live without her.
@zaszaria Thank You !! yes Its certainly a big decision naming yourself. especially now as you have so much to look back on vs when you were a child. Take your time and find something that resonates with you but Ive also seen many change their name after a while so in this case nothing is permanent Try a few on for size 🙂 Have a great day.
@river omg, i also love doctor who, who is your favorite doctor and companion? I love David Tennant and Rose.
@crazycynthia David was always our favorite as well . Rose and Clara. but I have to say I really liked Jodi As the first female Doc she brought back the quirky that was missed with the last few. Have a Great Day RC
@river jodi was great, but the stories were really lacking. Love the new stories tho. Im also pretty hyped for the torchwood revival!
@crazycynthia Showing my age here, but I remember watching the very first episode of Dr. Who. William Hartnell was the Doc then. I can't say that I ever had a favourite.
I tend to overthink things at times. I "tried on" a variety of names before making my final selection. In my journey of coming to understand who I am and accepting myself I wanted a name that helped me feel my feminine best but one that also kept me grounded so that I didn't lose sight of my other side. When I tried names that were quite different I felt like an imposter in my own body. So, I chose a my name to be close to my birth name. I also discussed it with my wife and she also liked what I chose because for her it's easy to use either name without feeling odd. On the other hand, a couple of times when we have been out in public and I'm in "Michelle mode" she's accidentally used the wrong name. We just laughed it off and went on about our day.
@mkat3874 Michelle, you are fortunate to have a wife to share your self with. I am happy you can laugh it off.
Hugs to you both.
Rita
I had a bit of fun choosing my femme name. Lizzy-because that was what my mum would have named me if I'd have been born a girl. Quattro-after my favourite female rock singer-Suzi Quattro. Thinking I may go by the name Lizzy Quattro if I ever decide to do drag.
@lisadouglas thanks did consider a few others with a musical connection was very nearly Turner (Tina Turner) or Twain (Shania Twain)
I was named after my Great Uncle and I took part of my middle name and came up with the first part of my femme name Andria. As for the second part I thought Lynn went well with Andria a strong but yet feminine name.
Andrialynn xx
My femme name comes from 2 television stars of the 1980s - I chose it when I was 14 (1986) and kept it hidden to last year. My surname is my hair colour.
Hugs,
Anna xx
@annaredhead She was a redhead, no hair, just a red head: Morecambe and Wise, I think.
My wigs tend towards dark red/auburn kind of thing. I've looked at blonde, then dismissed it out of hand as I don't recall seeing any seventy-year-olds with bright blonde hair—it certainly would not suit me.
Becca
@rebeccabaxter I wondered where that came from, I had a red-haired colleague years ago and she got her leg pulled with that.
Blonde is a total disaster on me - have tried it. With dark brunette or black hair I look much more like my sister than I would want to.
Anna xx
This is both an interesting and a fun topic. We are all given our birth names, we have no say in them. But choosing our femme names, well.....
Our names, and reasons for choosing them, is interesting. My mother once let slip that if I had been born a girl, I would’ve been called Miranda. I like that name, certainly more than my given name. So why not call myself Miranda? Partly sheer principle, that it’s my choice this time. But I love the sound of Tamara, it’s a bit exotic, and it still has the “ma-ra” of Miranda, so not that far removed really.
Great topic, Rita. Thanks for starting something ❤️
Hugs, Tamara 💋
@tamaramagenta I love this site for stuff like this (as well as the chats). Glad you enjoy the topic. 
I was watching a British mystery show one night and saw a woman who played the inspector's wife and thought that she was very attractive. I didn't know who she was so when the credits rolled at the end I looked for her name, Fiona Dolman.
I had been searching for some time for a replacement name to use instead of Dianne that I had been using for a while. As soon as I saw the name Fiona it jumped out at me as the name I wanted and I've been using it ever since. And I love it.
A great story Rita. Amazing how you linked it all together.
@ab123 Thanks, Angela. I reread after seeing your reply and realized I left out a small bit. By the time the second verse came around, Hair Dresser was replaced by Cross Dresser. Here I am.
My name comes from a strong woman who is a character in a [long] story I wrote; why I gave her that name, I have no idea, I think it just sounds nice. Of course, she is called Rebecca and when I told my wife that's what I wanted to be called, she said "It's too long, Rebecca always gets shortened to Becs or Becky." I agreed, so shortened it myself to Becca. For semi-official things (as far as that can go) I use the full Rebecca Baxter, but for people closer to me (like the girls here), it's Becca.
Hugs
(Re)Becca
xx
I love hugs, thanks, Becca.
not sure why I picked my name guess it’s simply and a name of both worlds never really thought about this this is an interesting form indeed Erin definitely don’t fit my style of wear maybe it’s the kinder softer fem inside 🤷🏻 very interesting tho thanks for sharing with use lady’s TC
I had viewed CDH as a lurker and decided I wanted to join. I didn't have a femme name so I went to a baby name website. Autumn seemed to leap off the screen and grab me. It just fit. Valiant for the bravery I needed to join, and for the bravery I still need to progress
@augustvaliant we all need a little courage, I'm happy you are finding yours.
Mine was a minor character in the Batman tv series. It was a supernatural young woman who could do anything. I dont remember the episode or that well, im not even that big of a superhero fan. But the character made an impression and was the first time i ever wanted to be a woman. So years later when i needed a femme name it came natural. Winters was added when i first used this name as a pseudonym for romantic/erotic fiction a few months ago (ebook releasing december).
Interesting name origins.
I chose mine as it is close to the pronunciation of my given name and because of the Johnny Cash song "A Boy Named Sue". I liked the sound of the title not the violent nature of the song though. I went with Suzanne because it is a bit different but can be narrowed down to Sue so worked for me. Also can be narrowed down to Suzie like in the song "Suzie Q".
XOXO
Suzanne
I've used several names in my crossdressing lifetime. I concocted my present one when joining CDH. Jacqueline is the feminine form of my drab given name, and Larkspur is the flower associated with my birth month, July.
Mine came about as I was using my phone and the 'swipey' keyboard to type my name, this came out instead, it's not particularly like my other name but I thought, haha, I like that, that would be good. So here I am.
Yvette
