Deadnaming

Deadnaming is calling a transgender person by a former name they no longer use. It can disregard their identity and stated name.

Chosen Name: A name someone selects for personal, social, or professional use, rather than one assigned to them. Using a transgender person’s chosen name is the direct alternative to deadnaming.
Name Change: A legal or customary process by which a person adopts a different name. Changing a name can reduce deadnaming, though legal changes do not update every record.
Minority Stress: Chronic stress arising from stigma, discrimination, and other social pressures faced by members of marginalized groups. Repeated deadnaming can add to stress linked to anti-trans stigma.
Affirming Care: Care that recognizes and supports a person’s stated identity and needs. Using a person’s current name is one ordinary way care can affirm their identity.
Gender Identity: A person’s internal sense of their own gender. Deadnaming can deny the gender identity a person’s current name expresses.
Chosen Name Policy: An institutional rule allowing people to use a name other than their legal name in specified settings. Such policies let schools and workplaces use current names without requiring legal name changes.
Psychological Safety: A sense that one can participate or speak without fear of humiliation or punishment. Deadnaming in a group can make transgender people feel less safe participating.
Legal Name: The name recorded as a person’s official name by a jurisdiction or institution. A legal name may differ from the name someone uses, but that difference does not require using it socially.
Misgendering: Referring to someone with language that does not accurately reflect their gender. It often accompanies deadnaming, though it can happen independently.
Gender Marker: A gender designation recorded on identity documents or administrative records. Updating a gender marker and updating a name are separate processes that can leave records inconsistent.

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