Re-naming ceremonies

Tsk. Well, perhaps it says something very positive about your DH - 40+ years of marriage have obviously led him to an enlightened space where he feels able to explore and embrace his feminine side ... obviously repressed because no doubt, generationally he would have been gender- stereotyped and deprived of the opportunity to find his true self in earlier years.

Incidentally, I think it was the wonderful John Peel who, in the early noughties dryly commented on the concept of a 'gap year' being needed to 'find yourself' with a remark along the lines of 'I found myself in a caravan in Yarmouth' or something similar.

The ' grumpy old woman' in me, that hadn't been aware of this re-naming trend before reading your post, sees it as symptomatic of a generational trend to be evermore self-orientated / self-obsessed about personal fulfillment.

P.S. I don't think I will be choosing a new name, but I do think it highly likely that I will start wearing purple and learn how to spit as two of my 'new things' when I am sixty ..

Gertrude!
I fancy something like Mercedes as my new name. A bit racy (unlike me, but I can dream)

Scarlette! (shades of Gone With the Wind?)

I think I'm a Euphemia!

I found that when I worked with the elderly (meaning more elderly than us, obviously!) they often used names which they had decided on as teens, rather than their own.

Does have to be a flower? Can I be Grace? Then I'd become sort of brainy, willowy and elegant.

I do see you as a Grace kitty can you see me as an invasive ever spreading bush? Gertrude is in his/her study at the moment- let you know how the rest of the day goes.

I wish to be known as pebble, as I am in tune with all things natural, it is gender neutral/fluid and enigmatic.?

I see a Gertrude as a large man-ish sort in cardigan, tweed skirt and brogues a bit like MrsDoubtfire, does this fit your DH Teetime?

Completely off-piste, but . . . Gertrude reminds me of an occasion years (and years and years) ago in Italy. A friend and I got chatted up by two young lads and she told them that our names were Gertrude and Ermintrude. They thought that we were sisters called Gert and Ermine Trude!

I love Here's Teetime, they are brilliant fir flowers arranging!!

Bloody phone - Hebes

I'm with you all the way lemongrove think I'll be Ripple as I like to cause them.

Do like Euphemia though,

?? Euphemia sounds as if she were slender, pale, forgetful and a pain in the ass, choose another name Christine or stay with Ripple.

Years ago, there was a contraceptive pill called Eugynon. I'm told it means Happy Woman.
If that IS the case, I wish to be known as Eugynon. ?

Or pill for short?

Being of royal blood, I now wish to be known as Elizabeth.

I will choose Mafanwy , I can fantasise the singers who sing it are singing to me ? I rather like -" the sound of your sweet words" .

Brilliant mumofmadboys best laugh all day.

When I was a child I always wanted to be Jill (as I idiolised my much older brother called Jack). When I first went to work at the age of 15 yrs in a hairdressing salon, there was already someone with my real first name there, so when I was asked what I would like to be known by I naturally said Jill. Stayed there, with that name for some 18 months, by which time, not only did I know I was no good as a hairdresser, but also knew I hated (with a passion), the name of Jill.
Never felt the need to change my first name since that time.

My name puts me firmly in a four year period post war. I disliked it until I began to see it as a special gift from my mother, who loved me and thought she'd chosen a wonderful modern name. I was to have had my maternal grandmothers name but eventually my parents decided it was too old fashioned. Ah Well - I've embraced my name and wouldn't change it for the reasons I've given. If I did change it, it would be to my own mothers name, which I gave to one of my children. I have friends who did change their names after their own parents had died.

Ah yes I too see DH as a Mrs Doubtfire or possibly Sybil Thorndike whom he much admires especially as he has a Corbynesque beard and is generally very hairy.

Yes, MissAventure, I know a few women, now aged 80-100, who chose their names when in their teens. In some cultures this is a recognised tradition. Never met anyone who chose Gertrude though!

Yes, I met an Eliza, which I think is really pretty, who called herself Lil when she was a teen, as she thought it sounded more exciting!