i can't remember where my name came from. but i remember thinking about it for a while before it left my head for the first time in a diary entry in january 2024. since then i used it lots within my journal until i finally started using it with other people around august 2024. i've been thinking about middle names a lot recently. rebecca is nice but i keep hearing more names that i want. luna really sticks out to me, i saw it on a board game in the board game shop i go to and i just think it sounds super cute. i also really like the name astrid. i used it for my d&d character at my partners suggestion for a swedish girls name for my dwarf druid (who i do a swedish accent for) and honestly really like it.
a while ago i found this video [youtube] that talks about names in a way i really like. while reading about deed polls i found out that england doesnt have the concept of a 'legal name'. that is, i dont actually have an assigned name, beyond whats written on my birth certificate, passport and drivers licence. that same name is used for bank accounts and everything else. a deed poll merely shows that i have an intention to use a different name consistently.
it may seem obvious but all this made me realise that names are a lot more flexible than i thought. i can have packages addressed to other names than the one on my birth certificate even without a deed poll. and i regularly register for important things (flights or online payments) with a truncated version of my full legal name.
it might be nice to think of names like i think of identities: like pin badges i can pin to my clothes and wear them with different outfits. i can swap them out as and when i like and they dont have to be official.
~ b e c c a a s t r i d l u n a
wed 17th sep 2024 @ 16:00