For most, Alejandra was impossible to pronounce and most settled on Alexandra. When I came to the Netherlands in 2015, another array of names was added to the ways people called me. Back then I was trying to live life passing as a cis woman, so I never complained to them, because I didn’t want to raise suspicion. There was a guy from Colombia who used to call me Aleja (A-le-ha), which is a term of endearment in Colombia, but which I also don’t like, because it feels as if it is incomplete. I don’t like it when people call me Alex, it adds to my gender dysphoria. Some also started calling me Ale, and there was someone who called me Alex. While living in Guadalajara, it was easy for people to call me Alejandra (A-le-han-dra). And Maria, the quintessentially traditional –and very Catholic– female name). That name is Alejandra Maria (Alejandra, from Hera Alexandros protector of mankind. When I moved back to Mexico in 2010, I decided to pick a name that would be close to me as well as very traditional, so as not to raise eyebrows. Not Alexandra but Miss A, and sometimes Alexa. For the purpose of this article we will call him Misha (Bear in Polish). In 2009 I met a man who became my mentor. To them I was still Alejandro or Alex (heck, some even called me Oscar despite my complaints). Meanwhile, others continued deadnaming me some were work colleagues, some friends, and some were my own relatives. After my transition I decided to call myself Alexandra, yet my colleagues started calling me Alexa. That’s why I shortened it for American audiences, and people began calling me Alex.
Now Alejandro is a very common name in Spanish, but for non-Spanish speakers, it is a difficult name to pronounce (A-le-han-dro). For years, people called me Oscar, but when I was around 19 and already living in Dallas, Texas, I switched to Alejandro. The name my parents gave me when I was little is Oscar Alejandro. Everywhere they go, people know them by those names and call them by those names as well.īut with me, something strange occurs: either people call me the way they understand my name, or they call me the way they want. Two people, or names, come to mind: my friends Natsumi and Kaye. Of the people around me –trans people that is– some are known and called by the same name by almost everybody. It changes depending on who is talking to me. One of the things that goes around my head lately is the way others call me. I write because I want to make sense of my life and things that happen around me. That is why most of the things I write are thoughts or analyses about myself. Beeld Jan Broekhuizen Many years ago, a writer said to me that I should write about a subject I know best.
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