How we picked our lady names

Legally I am Donald. Most would think that it would be logical to use the name Donna. However, for some reason, that didn’t appeal to me. But, I still wanted a name that began with D.

I’ve been a motorsports fan since childhood and I remembered that Mario Andretti’s wife (now passed away) is Dee Ann. I liked that, but decided to change the spelling in order to encourage people to say the entire name, DeeAnn, rather than shortening it to Dee. Mostly that works...

I played a card game called Yugioh when i was younger, there was also a cartoon based on the game with a female character called Alexis. She was one of my major crushes and her name felt like that perfect mix of foreign but not too foreign. In one of the vido games based on the card games, i built a custom female character and rememebring Alexis i decided to change it a bit and call my pink haired character Alexa. Funnily enough I also completetly crushed on my design. And that name has been with me ever since.

Mysti is my online handle. I came up with it to hide while being online. I guess you could say it is my closet name. I comes from Mystique, a character from the X-Men comic books. Mystique is a shapeshifter. She can assume anyone's identity. She can be male, female, any color, any race. I wanted to use a name that could reflect the double nature of my online identity. But Mystique sounds too much like a stripper or hooker name, so I chose to shorten it.

My full femme name, Genevieve Bergman, is actually my great, great aunt's name. In doing my ancestry, I found her name and thought it was beautiful. I am going to use it as my alternate name for when I am enfemme. I plan to even get a bank card issued in that name as a "trusted relative who has access" to the account.

I thought about adding a middle name to honor another of my ancestors. One of the first of my family to come to this country was named Valentine. I think Genevieve Valentina Bergman would be a great, classical name.

As others have mentioned good question Danielle.

When I first started dressing I tried out a few different names such as Carmen (for Carmen Electra), Rachel, and Ashleigh. While all these names sounded beautiful and brought to mind different virtues that I strived for when crafting my feminine image, they just didn't feel right. I met a friend who had a huge impact on my view on life. Her English name was Amy. Not only did I like the sound of her name when using it, I wanted to shape this side of my persona to honor her so, I chose Amy.

I’ve always liked certain female names like Toni, Gina, Judy.
toni came from a girl I hung out when I was in my 20’s.
gina is my wife’s good friend who is kinda hot but bitchy, and kinda too skinny for my likes and bit of a fashion diva too

judy is my online persona when I sign into some porn sites. Lol

so I guess Gina it is for here and when dressed and playing with other gurls.

When I started crossdressing I chose the name of Betsey. It was the name of a girl who I went to school with and had a mad crush on. That name stayed with me for quite awhile but it didn't fit the way that I wanted it to. It wasn't me. One day I was dressed en femme and looked at myself in a mirror and the name Janine popped in my head. That was the day that Janine was born and I've been Janine ever since. I have Janine on a credit card and a legal state I D card with my picture on it I'm in the process of getting a driver's license as Janine and hope to get it done soon.

I did almost the same Leslie. My given name was Paul and my middle initial is/was A...so Paula!!!!  It really helped before I got all my id's changed. When people would ask for id, they'd see Paul A..and assume motor vehicles department just made a clerical error.

Many years ago I saw Blake Edwards "Switch", a movie about a guy who dies, goes to purgatory, and is reincarnated as a woman.  When he is asked who he is, he says he is a man, and then the name Amanda comes to him.  Always one to like puns, I thought it was great.

When I had to come up with something, I did something similar.  My given name can be shortened to Al, and so I chose, partly as a pun, partly as a humiliation, "Al is son", a reminder that I wasn't really a girl. There are several ways to spell Alison.  What I see frequently is Allison.  Alison is also common, but less so.  The spelling I would have liked is Alisson but this spelling is much rarer, and if used is more often a surname spelling.  So I chose the single "l" and single "s" spelling as it is closer to the pun (the "s" would be shared).

My surname "Anderson" came from the street I originally lived on.

I dread coming up with names for anything. Often I feel like I overthink them and they feel a bit dull. I took a different approach with CDH and decided to use the first name that came to me, Samantha. I've always liked the name. For a second name, I looked around the room and saw an old Murphy's law calendar hanging on the wall so Murphy was chosen for my last name. I've never gone out in public dressed as Samantha so I'm not sure if I would use the name outside of CDH. I've thought then I might use the femme version of my real name, but then again I've grown attached to Samantha as a name.

I always liked the name Rachel, and it was nod to the character of Rachel the replicant in Blade Runner (I loved her outfits!)

In my high school, I used to admire a beautiful girl named Jahnavi (in short Jaanu).

She is so beautiful that I could'nt miss seeing her even one day. So, I used to attend to school daily even though I've hated it. First I've thought I liked her just as a normal boy.

But, as time passed I realized that I love to be like her. That is when I gave myself the femme name derived from her name. I've always dreamed to dress like her and style the hair the way she does.

My dream is to go infront of her dressed up exactly like her...

That's how i got my feminine name 'Jaanu'

Thanks for making me remind those beautiful days. Love you...

There was an actress in a video I was watching named Timea, and since it was close to my given male name (3 guesses...) it stuck. My femme side is a little slutty (yeah, it was one of ‘those’ videos) so it fits well. Jane is the affectionate, happy, loving part of me; I picked the name because I associate it with those qualities and I’ve always liked two-name handles. West comes from Mae West, the OG bad girl from black and white films.

I used to write sexy crossdresser short stories up until about a year or 2 ago. Never posted/shared anything, but a way to get some pent-up feelings out I'm guessing.

My favorite character to write about was Allison, and named myself after her. I would spend hours coming up with different scenarios for her. She started off innocent enough as most of us, a closeted crossdresser. She eventually came out to some of her female friends getting advice and perfecting her look. Convinced by her friends to start going out in public with them (shopping, eating out, clubbing etc). Allison started meeting boys and having relationships. Over time she transitioned, and ended up getting married. Another character of mine is Jenna that I was very close to picking, but felt it was to close to my actually name. That's my story!

- Allison