Quick Usage Question...

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...on neé vs né in a TG situation.

Storme Aerison was born Charles Daugherty. Which one applies?

Eric

Dunno but

I would think that this question applies to all, not just TG.

Any woman who changes her name and then gets married is going to be in the same position. What do you call her previous existence?

Are there any precedents, legal or otherwise, to refer to?

In the TG case, I would guess that the female name would be the choice one. It depends, really, on what her relationship with her birth family was. If she's not retaining the family name, there is usually a good reason.

Penny

Sorry If I Wasn't Clear...

The question I had wasn't which name to use; current usage dictates (with good reason) that someone presenting as female is always properly referenced by the female name, except in some legal documents.

It was whether to use the male or female form of "born", since Charles was born male and Storme now presents as female. Should the word for "born" reflect the male birth or the female present?

Eric

nee

nee is the acceptable abbreviated form that stands for, 'previously known as'

So it would be Storme Aerison nee Charles Daugherty

We the willing, led by the unsure. Have been doing so much with so little for so long,
We are now qualified to do anything with nothing.

As I interpret the question...

I would use née, the feminine version.

What you are saying is (more or less) is that the person currently named Storme used to be named Charles, or She used to be named Charles.

Storme has apparently transitioned from M to F, and so presumably will be using feminine pronouns to describe herself in the present and in the future. Therefore, I would go with Storme née Charles. (Note: the accent is on the first e, per the Merriam-Webster online dictionary.)

For F-to-M, 'Peter who used to be named Elizabeth' would be Peter né Elizabeth.

Lindsay

nee

From a French point of view, if you choose to go with nee, you should write it née instead of neé.

Deen

Typo

Thanks -- I'm annoyed at myself because I did know better.

I prefer

AKA - Also Known As. Avoids all the silly french nonsense.


"Life is not measured by the breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away.”
George Carlin

AKA != née

While AKA denotes an alias, i.e. multiple names valid at the same time, née means "born (as)" and thus a previously valid name that has been replaced with another.

Not

Useful information unless you are a lawyer. AKA indicates you have a primary name, but have also been known by another name. Short, sweet, and neat.


"Life is not measured by the breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away.”
George Carlin

...and wrong

You spoke of lawyers; AKA has legitimate use only in law enforcement and similar arenas. Used for transpersons it is insulting, ugly, and just plain not accurate because it implies currency for the old name.

See Anne's reply below.

Lulu

- Gender is between the ears, sex is between the legs and anywhere else you can get it. - Lulu Martine

There's the Rub

Was Charles born a male or a female?

That is for the author to decide.

This is much like the blond versus blonde argument. Which is applicable is up to what is going on between the character's ears -- and not what is between the character's legs.

Jill

Angela Rasch (Jill M I)

For a transperson

For a transperson, you just never reference their dead name, end of story.

Anne Margarete

Ne, née, AKA, WKA, ...

0.25tspgirl's picture

Let’s summarize with an example! (Then you can flame me.).
I’m using Megan Campbell’s character Tia Carrera here.
Tia Carrera the pop star AKA Megan Campbell the high school student WKA Brett Campbell the boy (WKA was known as). Not using the dead name Brett is a combination of politeness and acceptance. Megan Is only Tia when she is being a pop star. She actively uses both names. To tell the whole story of her life she will use nee Campbell when Megan marries and “for a long time I thought I was a boy named Brett but I was wrong”.
We can also use WKA like this: Barrak WKA Barry back in high school.
AKA means all the names are being used. Ne/nee means legally changed to from. I think....

BAK 0.25tspgirl

Flame?

It's Sarah Carerra, not Tia Carrera. (I always thought it odd that Megan-the-author doubled the second R instead of the first one.) And it's Barack Obama, not Barrak.

Not that the names in the example matter a whole lot. But née is French for "born" and I'm pretty sure I've seen it used for name changes -- e.g., Winona Ryder née Horowitz, which shows up in Google Search.

Eric