I can’t reveal my first name but it is old-fashioned English–think Meredith, Esther, Olga, Gretchen…
My last name makes me too identifiable. It is an Ellis Island misspelling that makes me the only person on this earth with my exact first and last name combo.
I thought I would change it with marriage but I don’t think marriage is going to happen for me, at least not anytime soon, and I’m not putting anything on hold for it anymore.
I think with my old-timey first name I could afford a zany last name. I like Winter and Snow. I don’t want it to be too “out there” or difficult to spell, so I’m not going to do something like Zephyr, and I would like suggestions that aren’t too tied to a specific concept. Interesting enough but not excessively unique.
My background is Taiwanese and white American without ties to any specific country strong enough to pick a name from some European country I only have a bit of a connection to from generations ago. The white side is Irish, Welsh, and French. I am not trying to stand out excessively. I do not feel a strong connection to my Taiwanese side, and that could be its own post. I don’t want something commonly mispronounced. I was thinking something like Shaw? It might make my ex think I’m obsessed with him but he already thinks that so whatever.
If it’s an Ellis Island misspelling, could you not just correct the misspelling and go with the corrected version?
(your name) Mc(your name)ey face
I knew a woman a long time ago that took the last name von Finglebum-Smythe. People would ask if it was German, or English, or whatever. She would always reply “No, it’s fictitious”
I have always loved that
Could go with the “last name thats just a job title” like baker or smith or computer scientist
me: Is that Gretchen from marketing?
my coworker: No, that’s Gretchen Marketing. She’s in sales.
Jane Softwarearchitect
I genuinely need people to start doing this
Ten years ago, it was Alan Student.
Seven years ago, he called himself Alan ITSupport.
Four years ago, he changed it to Alan Servicemanager.
You want to know what he goes by now? Alan Stayathomedad. It’s really annoying that he keeps changing his surname for each job.
Ronald Promptengineer
Becca GISTech
John Customer Success Account Manager is a handful and not something you want initialed.
John CSAM… wait WHAT
Yea… Amazon is weird.
Hi, I’m Peter Unemployed
Be the unemployability you want to see in the world!
Which reminds me of nominative determinism. OP should choose “Rich” “ Wise” “Smart” “Dollar”. And also - first Impressions are everything.
Or Hacker, which is a surprisingly legit name.
Dr. Hacker would be interesting. I had a Dr. Ripper in training who was brilliant.
I was roommates with Dr. Funk.
Wouldn’t a “zany” last name become just as identifiable as your current unique name?
It wouldn’t have my police blotter attached to it though. I’m being jokey about it but it sucks that something I was wrongfully arrested for a decade ago is just there every time you search me. Like, I wasn’t even charged, I was just arrested for a second, but since I don’t do anything to get into papers that’s one of the top things if you search me.
Might be worthwhile to look into SEO optimization instead of changing the name. Seems like it’ll be a lot of work either way.
If you were in the EU, right to be forgotten laws would help, but I guess you are not.
But that is definitely a good reason to name change, it would be a problem for job interviews :/
I’m actually shocked that I got into a good medical school with my name. I wonder if they googled me and decided it wasn’t a big deal.
Don’t pick your ex’s name for the love of god?
Lmao I was kidding (maybe)
If it’s currently a misspelling, why not use the correct spelling?
Best suggestion IMO.
Or research the history of your correctly spelled last name and see if you like any more common historical variants.My immediate thought: the paperwork system of the world would fail. Correcting an extremely unique misspelled name (let’s say it’s two letters transposed) falls into that weird bucket of “close enough typos” that the OP would never recover. I’d be worried most about the financial systems screwing me over.
IMHO, best to change to something clearly different so that the paperwork world is given a clear indication of intentional change. Broadcast the intent loud and clear to force systems to change and not ignore it as “some stupid typo.” $0.02
edit: sorry replied to the wrong comment my bad, meant the parent
Maybe you could develope it from your current name like from “Lin” to “Lindstrom” just to keep the connection if that makes sense.
Power
or maybe Danger, although that’s better as a middle name
Idk about the optics of Dr Danger
Sounds pretty fucking badass if you ask me, Doctor.
or maybe then go for “Who” or “Hu” if you like to make friends with nerds
- Chesty LaRue
- Busty St. Clair
- Hooty McBoob
Rigby
Siobhan might be out since people will think iit is Si-Bohan instead of the correct pronunciation She-vaugn.
There is some good unique but easily spelt and pronounced Celtic names and mixed with a single syllable last name could make you plain and neutral like you want.
There is a YouTube channel with a guy saying Celtic names. Maybe hearing someone say the names would help sell you on one.
My in-laws almost named my partner Siobhan. My first name is also unique and not intuitively spelled. We have a family joke about this name and my partner dodging a bullet.
If you’ve never dealt with regular people, outside Ireland, it would be an utter nightmare to say “last name is Shu-vahn, S, I, O…” and get cut of by O by aggressively stupid people who have already written down “Shuvaughn” and moved on. I’ve been told by people I don’t know how to spell my own name, or that my first name is now something that sounds similar and is more familiar to them, and not what I’m telling them.
Only people with EU passports should ever mess with Celtic spellings of names.
It was almost my sister’s name. But they went with Gillian which apparently in the Americas is less common than Jillian.
I vote for Name Mc(Name) face
Olga McOlgaface has a very nice ring to it.
Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho
The only true good suggestion on here.
Its odd both the last names Winter and Shaw appear in my bloodline, though I carry my step fathers last name not these.
I too have wanted to change my last name, and have thought about it often. Id actually go back to my Great, great, grabdmothers name before she married, I think, but I dont know.
Shaw imo is ugly, but common. Winter or Winters is nice.
