August 7, 2006 4:02 PM BST
This is what I sent to my colleagues at work (about 250 of them) when I changed my name.
It is translated from Swedish to English and keep in mind that I had been on hormones for nearly 6 months and was already full time when I sent this out.
Hi!
With this email I would like to inform you all that my name change has now been legally aproved and as of this monday my name is now Hanna.
I know many of you asked me before what you should call me but I have not been able to tell you until I got the legal bits sorted out.
This should as no suprise but as of today it is official that I have changed my name.
Since this doesn't just affect me but in fact everyone in my surrounding, I'd like to adress one or two practical issues by writing a little FAQ...
1. How do I adress you?
Hanna is good, that is my name from this day on.
Pronouns can be harder but "she" is of course the way I'd like to be adressed. Most of you already adress me as "she" so I hope it will not be too hard... "Hey you!" will of course continue to work as a replacement for Hanna!
)
2. I am going to make mistakes...
It's not that strange that you will make mistakes and I will not get upset just because someone uses my "old" name or the wrong pronoun. You will probably not get it right from day one and I don't expect you to.
3. How does this affect our relationship?
I hope that it will not be affected at all. I hope that we can continue to have the professional relationship that we have always had. After all, I am still the same person.
4. What do I tell <someone> if they ask me about you?
Tell them the way it is or send them to me. I'd gladly answer questions regarding myself, causes and effects but I will leave that out of this email.
5. Yikes, this is hard, I don't know how to handle all this...
I know that this can be hard to understand and all but I don't really mind answering "stupid questions" (since there are no such questions) and I don't mind discussing this with you. I have a fair amount of self distance so don't worry that I am going to feel hurt by any questions that you may have.
Best Regards,
Hanna R
PS. This was sent out some time ago now and it doesn't at all reflect my situation today but perhaps it can inspire someone if they plan on sending out something similar.
August 7, 2006 9:34 PM BST
Hi Trisha,
I forgot to say that I showed the email to my manager first to get her aproval before sending it out.
I work in a fairly conservative environment as a project manager and I try to keep my personal feelings and problems out of the office.
I got some really positive responses by email and one guy at the office gave me a flower wishing me a happy namesday. One guy that I occasionaly shoot rubberbands at told me that "our relationship was hardly professional to begin with", wich was fun!
Some 10-15 people also told me that that they thought the email was really good and that they had shown it to their wives and family who liked it (some of the humour in the email get lost in translation unfortunately).
I haven't got a single negative reaction from anyone but then again they had known me for me since the very beginning.
Since then I have actually kissed one of my colleagues at a company party which was pretty fun... and it was the talk of the office for weeks, haha.