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What Is Deadnaming, and How to Avoid It
Earlier this week, Elliot Page posted a statement on Twitter introducing himself as transgender . In the same sentence, he told us his name and prono
lifehacker.com
The glossary, as well as the rest of the document, was written by trans journalists, a fact that happens to coincide with lesson number one: Listen to trans people.
A trans person’s given or former name that they no longer use, also often referred to as a “given name” or “legal name.” … While deadname is usually a noun, it’s also used as a verb to refer to the act of using the wrong name for a trans person.
Deadnaming is far more than simply calling a person by the wrong name. It can also have a significant impact on a trans individual’s well-being. “We choose names that are correct for us. And often, our legal name, deadname, former name isn’t appropriate for trans people,” Oliver-Ash Kleine, a journalist and founding member of the TJA tells Lifehacker. “It takes away our autonomy. It takes away our right to self-determination, and often undermines our gender, and our identity. It’s really unaffirming, and it can be quite distressing.”
(I)t also should be unnecessary for us to spell out why you shouldn’t deadname someone. You should use a person’s chosen name because it is the name they have chosen—it the very least you can do to show them respect.
Not deadnaming a trans person is so simple. All you have to do is change the name by which you refer to them. We do this all the time with last names; why not extend this to first names?
Unfortunately, some people are stuck in their gender dogma and refuse to call trans people by the name that they have taken. You wouldn't want to be misnamed; why would you deliberately misname someone else?