Is there a less severe version/ alternative to „deadname“?
Hello lovely people!
So this is something I’ve had on my mind for a while: a word for your legal name when it’s not properly your deadname.
Background: so I have a chosen name I use whenever I can get away with it. However, I have no desire to change my legal name, and still use it on some occasions, especially in surroundings I feel aren’t as queer friendly and I don’t feel comfortable asking to be called a different name.
For this reason it feels wrong for me to call my legal name my deadname. It’s more like… idk, my 'gravename' — I‘d have no trouble retiring it but am alright with revisiting it every now and again and seeing it on legal documents. Is there an established term for that which isn’t just legal/official name?