I keep thinking about this, because it would be a challenging thing, renaming yourself.
I wanted to come back and offer suggestions of things you could chose a name from that might hold more meaning than a random surname.
[ul]
[li]Your birthplace - could be the town/city, a nearby town, the county, etc[/li][li]A place you have good memories from - perhaps somewhere you’ve been on vacation?[/li][li]The given name of a relative you admire - grandparent, aunt, uncle… etc[/li][li]The name of a teacher who inspired you in school[/li][li]A name relating to your occupation or hobbies[/li][li]A name inspired by a musician, artist or author whom you admire[/li][/ul]
Based on the above, I’ve decided that, should I ever require an alias, I will be known as Victoria Douglas - my birthplace and my grandfather’s given name combined.
If you’re gonna change your name make yourself sound rich
Rockefeller?
Carnegie?
Gates?
I always thought Alwine was a nice sounding name.
It depends on why you’re changing your name. If you’re hiding from someone, pick something really common. If you’re just doing it for fun, go for something unusual.
I remember being inordinately impressed with the name of Harrison Ford’s character in Witness - John Book. Just an ordinary everyday word but an unusual surname. So I’d go for a word that expresses something you like:
I’m reminded of the joke about the proctologist named, “Ophelia Butts”.
Sorry. I’m sure you’ve heard that one a few times. No help here, other than advising that you remember to crosscheck your intended new name with some 5th graders or puerile adults to make sure it doesn’t lend itself to vulgarisms.
Didn’t a Jennifer change her last name to “Robot”?
Really shock people and change it to Stalin, Hitler or BinLaden ?
Bessemer
Vandenlangenburg
Ultramicroscopicvolcanosiliconiosis
Antidisestablishmentterianism
X
DeMcVan
Blofeld
Moriarty
Xenon
Adamantium
Brian
I always liked “Phoenix” because of the symbolism. I remember reading an interview with River Phoenix years ago about how his parents changed the family name to Phoenix to symbolize their “rising from the ashes”. However, Ophelia Phoenix doesn’t really sound that great together…
Back when our ancestors were choosing surnames, many chose occupations or locations. So, we are named Smith, Baker, Hunter, Hill, Greenfield, or Rivers. You can still use those ways, if you want. It’s surprising there aren’t people named Webmaster, Golfpro, Massage, Alphageek, Wrinklefixer, and Hogbuilder. As for location, you can go with direction, town name, or even smaller, as our forefathers did. More modern location names might be Topstairs, Culdesac, Boondocks, Overbar, Roughtown, and Nowhere.
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