In Illinois, changing your name can cost around $300 to $350. In other states, that cost can be up to $500, covering the cost of changing documents with your previous name on them and court proceedings.
For some, the idea of changing their name might never cross their mind. The name assigned to them at birth works just fine, and the inconvenience that comes with changing your name would never possibly affect them. The same cannot be stated for most transgender people, like myself.
For the longest time, I had a very complicated relationship with the name I was given at birth. On one hand, it was unique in the way it was spelled, and I really liked that. On the other hand, it was a name that was strictly given to females and was very feminine, which caused me a great amount of distress as a child because I didn’t identify as female.
The day I decided on my new name, Byrdie, was one of the best days of my life. While some people may argue the name is just as feminine as my previous one, this one is important because it is symbolic of me flying away from the pain in my past and being free.
I am also not the only male that I’ve heard of having this name or something similar, especially with more names becoming gender-neutral.
Unfortunately, ever since I decided on my new name, I haven’t had the chance to get it legally changed, mostly due to the cost of filing it. This means that every time I’m required to deal with anything legal, I have to use my legal name, which causes me a great amount of distress.
It reminds me of who I was forced to be as a kid. It allows other people to associate me with a name I do not identify with.
The name I’ve given to myself is not just a nickname and it never will be. It is my name, and the only name I respond to, and I am not the only person who feels this way.
My experience is very similar to that of other transgender people. Most transgender people, especially those who were given names that don’t align with their gender identity, experience a great amount of distress when they are forced to go by their legal name rather than their chosen name.
For us, deciding on a new name is not a change to be taken lightly, because the right one can boost our self-esteem and well-being.
With all of the anti-trans bills that have been passed in America in recent years and the discrimination that trangender people experience on a daily basis, I think the government deserves to give us some grace and allow us to change our legal names for free with ease, potentially by re-allocating government funds from large expenditures like military spending to fund it.
Life is already complicated enough for transgender people. Figuring out who we are and trying to get comfortable in our own skin is enough of a battle. We don’t need anymore complications that come with being who we really are.
We, and everyone else, should be allowed to change our name free of charge.
