Craft is inventory: list every name you answer to and which institution owns it.
Then decide which mismatches are worth the legal friction of a change.
Steps
- 1Inventory the stack
Legal, religious, kin, nickname, handle.
Write the audience beside each.
- 2Mark harm
Note where a name produces misgendering, racism or constant correction.
Emily/Lakisha is about their bias, still your cost.
- 3Check change law
Petition, marriage, koseki amendment, deed poll.
See the name-changes page.
- 4Align documents
Bank, school, publisher, platform — one mismatch can loop forever.
Make a migration list.
- 5Brief your introducers
Family and colleagues need a script.
Silence invites the old name back.
- 6Revisit after moves
Migration and marriage reshuffle identity keys.
A good stack is maintained, not finished.
Checklist
- Legal name located — Passport / koseki / birth certificate.
- Lived name stated — Email, badge, classroom.
- Kin name respected — Generation syllable or saint name may still matter at home.
- Handle mapped — Usernames are identity too.
- Bias context known — Do not confuse stereotype with self.
- No destiny reading — Identity ≠ etymology.
- Form fields checked — Two surnames, patronymics, suffixes.
- Consent for sharing — Who may publish which name.
Pitfalls
- One-name dogma — Insisting a person have a single string across all worlds.
- Romantic true-name talk — Fantasy novels are not civil policy.
- Erasing kin design — Dropping 돌림자 or a Spanish second surname without noticing the identity loss.
- Outing via records — Old names in public databases can override a new identity.
Tools
- Preferred-name policies — University and HR templates that separate legal and lived names.
- Civil-status counsel — Namensrecht and koseki procedures when identity and file diverge.
- Style guides — Journalism guides on deadnames and initials.
- This atlas — Gender-and-names, name-changes, usernames.
Identity work is choosing which key to hand which door — not finding a single true name in the sky.