On Choosing and Refusing Names: Gender in Transition in America

In this dialogue, a father and a daughter consider gender and personal names in the United States, including the choices we make when crossing borders—in Laura’s case, when changing her name during a gender transition, and in Celia’s case, in refusing to change her name during the gender-inflected transition of marriage. The authors situate their memories and interpretations within the literature on personal name changes; the reader will find that their conversations move back and forth in time over a space of fifty years.