deadnaming
{{Short description|Referring to a transgender person by their former name}}
{{distinguish|text = Naming of the dead}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2021}}
{{Transgender sidebar}}
Deadnaming is the act of calling a transgender or non-binary person by their birth name after they have chosen a new name. Many transgender people change names as part of gender transition, and wish for their former name (deadname) to be kept private.
Deadnaming has the effect of misgendering its subject, and potentially outing them as transgender.{{Cite journal |last=Sinclair-Palm |first=Julia |date=May 1, 2017 |title="It's Non-Existent": Haunting in Trans Youth Narratives about Naming |url=https://educate.bankstreet.edu/occasional-paper-series/vol2017/iss37/7 |journal=Occasional Paper Series |volume=2017 |issue=37 |doi=10.58295/2375-3668.1102 |issn=2375-3668 |s2cid=148637812 |quote=Originating in the trans community, the term "deadnaming" describes calling a trans person by their birth name after they have adopted a new name. The act of deadnaming has the effect of "outing," or making public, a trans person's identity. Deadnaming is sometimes accidental, as when a friend or family member is still adjusting to a trans person's new name and unintentionally calls them by their birth name. However, there are also many times when trans people are addressed by their birth name as a way to aggressively dismiss and reject their gender identity and new name. |doi-access=free}} It may occur accidentally, or be done as a deliberate attempt to deny, mock, or invalidate a person's gender identity.{{Cite book |last=Stanborough |first=Rebecca |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kim6DwAAQBAJ&q=deadnaming&pg=PA35 |title=She/He/They/Them: Understanding Gender Identity |date=February 2020 |publisher=Capstone |isbn=978-0-7565-6561-9 |language=en}} Deliberately using a transgender person's deadname is considered offensive.{{cite web |last1=Koles |first1=Taylor |title=The semantics of deadnames |url=https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11098-024-02113-x |website=Philosophical Studies |access-date=20 February 2025 |pages=715–739 |language=en |doi=10.1007/s11098-024-02113-x |date=1 April 2024}}{{cite news |last1=McKee |first1=Jake |title=What is deadnaming and why is it so harmful and offensive? |url=https://www.thepinknews.com/2024/09/09/deadnaming-meaning-elon-musk/ |access-date=20 February 2025 |work=PinkNews |date=9 September 2024}}{{cite news |last1=Mulroy |first1=Clare |title='A matter of physical safety': What it means to deadname someone and the impact it makes |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2024/03/11/what-is-deadnaming/72570856007/ |access-date=20 February 2025 |work=USA Today |date=March 11, 2024}}
Trans people may face bureaucratic obstacles in changing their names. Published authors and media figures who have later transitioned may be troubled by the appearance of their former name in metadata records, which can be difficult to change. Some social media platforms and organizations have implemented policies to avoid deadnaming, such as standardizing the use of preferred names rather than legal names or formally banning the practice of deadnaming.
Background
{{See also|Given name#Gender}}
In many cultures, given names are considered either masculine (e.g. John), feminine (e.g. Jane), or unisex (e.g. Jamie), and chosen according to an infant's assigned sex at birth. Transgender people have a gender identity which differs from their assigned sex, and thus, may choose to go by a different name. In the 2010s, transgender activists popularized the term deadname to refer to such a former name. The Oxford English Dictionary attests the use of deadname on Twitter in 2010, and deadnaming in 2013.{{Cite web |date=2021-06-08 |title=Oh my days! It's the OED June 2021 update |url=https://public.oed.com/blog/the-oed-june-2021-update/ |access-date=2022-02-23 |website=Oxford English Dictionary |language=en}} The term generally carries a negative connotation, with the implication that referring to a transgender person by their former name is unacceptable.
Like misgendering, deadnaming can be a form of overt aggression or a microaggression, indicating that the target is not fully accepted as a member of society.{{Cite journal |last1=Freeman |first1=Lauren |last2=Stewart |first2=Heather |date=September 2021 |title=Toward a Harm-Based Account of Microaggressions |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/17456916211017099 |journal=Perspectives on Psychological Science |volume=16 |issue=5 |pages=1008–1023 |doi=10.1177/17456916211017099 |issn=1745-6916 |pmid=34498530 |s2cid=237454133 |quote=Such microaggressions consist in more than simply using the wrong name; rather, they cut to the core of and question the recipient's identity and self-understanding. |quote-page=1019|url-access=subscription }} Transgender activists consider the deadnaming of homicide victims and high-profile celebrities by news media to be a violation of privacy, and a contributing factor to transphobia.{{Cite web |date=March 17, 2017 |title=Deadnaming A Trans Person Is Violence – So Why Does The Media Do It Anyway? |url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/deadnaming-a-trans-person-is-violenceso-why-does_b_58cc58cce4b0e0d348b3434b |access-date=January 2, 2020 |website=HuffPost |language=en}} Deadnaming may also be done accidentally by people who are otherwise supportive of trans individuals, such as supportive family members or friends who have not yet become accustomed to using a trans person's new name. Repeated failures to avoid deadnaming, however, can be considered disrespectful.{{Cite book |last=Rogers |first=Baker A. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=e2_KDwAAQBAJ&q=deadnaming&pg=PA27 |title=Trans Men in the South: Becoming Men |date=January 31, 2020 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-1-7936-0034-9 |language=en}}
Journalistic style guides, health-practitioner manuals, and LGBTQ advocacy groups advise adopting transgender people's names and pronouns, even when referring to them in the past, prior to transitioning.{{cite journal |last=Glicksman |first=Eve |date=April 2013 |title=Transgender terminology: It's complicated |url=http://www.apa.org/monitor/2013/04/complicated.aspx |url-status=live |journal=Monitor on Psychology |publisher=American Psychological Association |volume=44 |issue=4 |page=39 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130925130527/http://www.apa.org/monitor/2013/04/complicated.aspx |archive-date=2013-09-25 |access-date=2013-09-17 |quote=Use whatever name and gender pronoun the person prefers}}{{cite web |title=Meeting the Health Care Needs of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) People: The End to LGBT Invisibility |url=http://www.ama-assn.org/resources/doc/glbt/tfi-grand-rounds-makadon.ppt |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131020025808/http://www.ama-assn.org/resources/doc/glbt/tfi-grand-rounds-makadon.ppt |archive-date=2013-10-20 |access-date=2013-09-17 |publisher=The Fenway Institute |page=24 |format=PowerPoint Presentation |quote=Use the pronoun that matches the person's gender identity}}{{cite web |date=January 2010 |title=Glossary of Gender and Transgender Terms |url=http://www.fenwayhealth.org/site/DocServer/Handout_7-C_Glossary_of_Gender_and_Transgender_Terms__fi.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131019120607/http://www.fenwayhealth.org/site/DocServer/Handout_7-C_Glossary_of_Gender_and_Transgender_Terms__fi.pdf |archive-date=2013-10-19 |access-date=2013-09-17 |publisher=Fenway Health |page=2 |quote=listen to your clients – what terms do they use to describe themselves |location=Preface}} A 2021 survey by The Trevor Project showed that trans and nonbinary youth who changed their name, gender marker, or both on legal documents, including birth certificates and driver's licenses, had lower rates of suicide attempts.{{cite web |date=November 16, 2021 |title=Deadnaming: How Using the Wrong Name Can Affect Mental Health |url=https://psychcentral.com/health/deadnaming |access-date=1 February 2023 |website=psychcentral.com |publisher=Psych Central}}
Queer scholar Lucas Crawford has theorized that some transgender people insist on preventing deadnaming in part as a strategy of prospective self-assertion: "by insisting on the primacy of the present, by seeking to erase the past, or even by emotionally locating their 'real self' in the future, that elusive place where access (to transition, health care, housing, a livable wage, and so on) and social viability tend to appear more abundant."{{Cite journal |last=Crawford |first=Lucas |date=January 2, 2019 |title=What's Next is the Past |journal=A/B: Auto/Biography Studies |volume=34 |issue=1 |pages=147–150 |doi=10.1080/08989575.2019.1542845 |issn=0898-9575 |s2cid=188098200}} Correcting deadnaming by third parties is cited as a way to support trans people.{{Cite web |last=Johnson |first=Hannah Lee |date=Spring 2019 |title=Rhetorics of trans allyship, toward an ethic of responsible listening and ally labor |url=https://ir.uiowa.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=8273&context=etd |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200306095711/https://ir.uiowa.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=8273&context=etd |archive-date=March 6, 2020 |access-date=August 3, 2020 |website=University of Iowa}}
Obstacles to name changes
{{See also|Transgender rights in the United States#Legal name change}}
Trans people who wish to avoid being deadnamed can sometimes face significant bureaucratic and administrative obstacles. Legally changing names requires time, money, and effort. Changing corresponding information, e.g. names, emails, and class schedules for schools and/or employers can also be difficult.
= Academic metadata =
For creatives, metadata containing a deadname (such as a film credit, a byline on a news article, or a published book with an ISBN), can be difficult or impossible to change. Some academic publishers and scientific journal publishers have taken up policies which allow trans authors to fix their metadata.{{Cite news |last=Fortin |first=Jacey |date=July 28, 2021 |title=New Policy Aims to Help Transgender Researchers Update Names on Old Work |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/28/science/published-research-name-change-transgender.html |access-date=August 28, 2021 |work=The New York Times}} Oftentimes trans authors may resort to republishing their work as new editions while attempting to removing the previous ones from circulation. Some web platforms may still portray their deadname as the primary author and edition.
Journalist and University of California researcher Theresa Tanenbaum reported frustration with attempting to update the 83 publications attributed to her deadname, with many publishers ignoring or refusing her request.{{cite web |last1=Metz |first1=Rachel |last2=Flynn |first2=Kerry |title='It's just human dignity.' Trans writers and journalists struggle to get old bylines corrected |url=https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/01/media/removing-deadnames-trans-writers/index.html |website=www.cnn.com |date=June 2021 |publisher=CNN |access-date=20 December 2022}} In 2021, Berkeley Lab led an effort to simplify name changes for published researchers, which saw agreement from many national laboratories and scientific publishers.{{Cite web |last=rpercz |date=2021-07-28 |title=Scientific Publishing Organizations and National Laboratories Partner on Transgender-Inclusive Name-Change Process for Published Papers - Berkeley Lab |url=https://newscenter.lbl.gov/2021/07/28/transgender-inclusive-name-change-process-for-published-papers/ |access-date=2024-12-31 |website=Berkeley Lab News Center |language=en-US}}
= Film and television =
In 2019, IMDb faced criticism from SAG-AFTRA, the National LGBTQ Task Force and GLAAD over its refusal to remove actors' birth names.{{Cite web |last=McNary |first=Dave |date=2019-06-26 |title=LGBTQ Groups Backing SAG-AFTRA in Member Privacy Fight Against IMDb |url=https://variety.com/2019/film/news/lgbtq-sag-aftra-member-privacy-fight-imdb-1203253473/ |access-date=2024-12-31 |website=Variety |language=en-US}} In response, the site changed its policy to allow removing a name "if [it] is not broadly publicly known"{{Cite web |last=McNary |first=Dave |date=2019-08-13 |title=IMDb Alters Policy on Publication of Birth Names (EXCLUSIVE) |url=https://variety.com/2019/film/actors/imdb-alters-policy-publication-birth-names-1203300451/ |access-date=2024-12-31 |website=Variety |language=en-US}}—on films where they are credited, their previous name is displayed in parentheses next to their current name. GLAAD spokesperson Nick Adams called the change a "step in the right direction" but "imperfect", and that trans people with credits under their deadname "will still be affected by IMDb’s determination to publish outdated information".
On December 1, 2020, the same day actor Elliot Page came out as a trans man, Netflix began updating metadata for films Page previously appeared in to credit him by his chosen name.{{Cite web |author=Brent Lang, Matt Donnelly |date=1 December 2020 |title=Elliot Page Will Continue to Star in 'Umbrella Academy,' Netflix Changes Credits on His Past Films |url=https://variety.com/2020/tv/news/elliot-page-umbrella-academy-netflix-1234843387 |url-access=limited |access-date=2024-08-26 |website=Variety}} PopSugar writer Grayson Gilcrease noted that this was the first time Netflix had made such a change, and speculated that it was due to Page's popularity in The Umbrella Academy; she contrasted this with trans actress Josie Totah, who at the time was still credited under her deadname for her role in Champions.{{Cite web |last=Gilcrease |first=Grayson |date=2020-12-02 |title=Netflix Is Making a Change For Elliot Page |url=https://www.popsugar.com/entertainment/netflix-updates-elliot-page-roles-48023319 |access-date=2024-12-31 |website=Popsugar |language=en}}
Corporate and political responses
Some web platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, and Gmail allow a certain number of name changes per user profile, allowing for any number of reasons for a name to be changed.
In 2013, the English Wikipedia elicited media coverage over its response to Chelsea Manning's public transition. The article about Manning was initially quickly renamed, but a protracted dispute ensued; the matter was ultimately taken up by the site's Arbitration Committee, which imposed sanctions on editors espousing transphobia, but also on those making accusations of transphobia.{{Cite news |last=Hern |first=Alex |date=October 24, 2013 |title=Chelsea Manning name row: Wikipedia editors banned from trans pages |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/oct/24/chelsea-manning-name-row-wikipedia-editors-banned-from-trans-pages |access-date=November 20, 2022 |location=London }}{{Cite news |last=Stern |first=Mark |date=August 22, 2013 |title=Wikipedia Beats Major News Organizations, Perfectly Reflects Chelsea Manning's New Gender |work=Slate |url=https://slate.com/technology/2013/08/chelsea-manning-wikipedia-perfectly-reflects-new-gender-of-whistleblower-formerly-known-as-bradley.html |access-date=November 20, 2022 |location=London }} Wikimedia Foundation executive Sue Gardner expressed disappointment over the handling of Wikipedia's response.{{Citation |last=Gardner |first=Sue |date=September 4, 2013 |title=How Wikipedia got it wrong on Chelsea Manning, and why |work=Sue Gardner's Blog |url=https://suegardner.org/2013/09/04/how-wikipedia-got-it-wrong-on-chelsea-manning-and-why/ |access-date=November 20, 2022}}
On March 12, 2021, the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction announced that its student information system would display each student's "preferred name" rather than birth name, which would eliminate deadnaming on state reports, student report cards, and teacher grade books.{{Cite news |last=Broverman |first=Neal |date=March 12, 2021 |title=North Carolina Ends Deadnaming of Students on Report Cards, Documents |work=The Advocate |location=Los Angeles |url=https://www.advocate.com/transgender/2021/3/12/north-carolina-ends-deadnaming-students-report-cards-documents |url-status=live |access-date=April 2, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210316210528/https://www.advocate.com/transgender/2021/3/12/north-carolina-ends-deadnaming-students-report-cards-documents |archive-date=March 16, 2021}}
In late June 2021, the website Fandom announced new LGBT guidelines across its websites in addition to the existing terms of use policy that prohibits deadnaming transgender people across their websites. The guidelines include links to queer-inclusive and trans support resources, and further guidelines were released in September 2021 related to addressing gender identity.{{Cite web |last=Whitbrook |first=James |date=June 24, 2021 |title=Fandom Launches New LGBTQIA+ Guidelines for All Its Wikis |url=https://gizmodo.com/fandom-launches-new-lgbtqia-guidelines-for-all-its-wik-1847166009 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210627062449/https://gizmodo.com/fandom-launches-new-lgbtqia-guidelines-for-all-its-wik-1847166009 |archive-date=June 27, 2021 |access-date=June 28, 2021 |website=io9 |publisher=Gizmodo}}
In November 2022, following its acquisition by Elon Musk, Twitter reinstated the account of Jordan Peterson, who Twitter had previously suspended for a tweet deadnaming Elliot Page, and The Babylon Bee, which was suspended for a tweet misgendering U.S. Assistant Secretary for Health Rachel Levine.{{Cite web |last=Brandom |first=Russell |date=2022-11-18 |title=Elon Musk begins reinstating banned Twitter accounts, starting with Jordan Peterson and the Babylon Bee |url=https://www.theverge.com/2022/11/18/23466625/elon-musk-twitter-reinstatement-jordan-peterson-kathy-griffin-babylon-bee |access-date=2024-12-31 |website=The Verge |language=en}} In April 2023, Twitter removed deadnaming from its hateful content guidelines.{{Cite web |date=2023-04-19 |title=Twitter removes policy against deadnaming transgender people |url=https://apnews.com/article/twitter-elon-musk-transgender-deadnaming-hateful-conduct-ae1b7285bb906e04b26ff9751ec0c2ce |access-date=2024-12-31 |website=AP News |language=en}}
See also
References
{{reflist |refs=
{{cite news |last=Schmall |first=Emily |date=January 6, 2024 |title=Transgender Candidate in Ohio Is Disqualified for Not Disclosing Birth Name |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/06/us/ohio-transgender-candidate-deadname.html |work=The New York Times |access-date=January 6, 2024 |quote="Had I known this law existed, I likely would have bit the bullet and put my deadname next to my legal name," she said, using a term for a transgender person's birth name.}}
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{{Personal names|state=collapsed}}
Category:Transgender identities