Name Change

[Lily]

Hello Everyone,

 

Today I have a court hearing to legally change my name from Lee to Lilith. I had a conversation with my HR rep about notifying staff, and they've deferred this daunting task to my judgement. Ideally, I'd like to send out an email to all staff notifying them of the name change so as to avoid frustration (on both ends) and confusion. I would also like them to begin using they/them/their.

 

I am, of course, nervous about how to approach this task, but I know it's something I want. I know it won't be an instant change, and people are going to accidentally or deliberately refer to be incorrectly. Does anyone have any advice on approaching this in a work environment?

 

Thank you.

[Cthorne]

Hahaha I told my boss and I got back that they are fully supportive but I can't have Connor as my name because she don't like it lol she said that Connor paired with my surname sounds like a spaghetti meal (her exact words!!!) Good luck with everything tho  

 

My boss told the two people that will be covering for others so they are prepared but it seems like I will be the one to tell everyone else... fair enough I only work with three other people and one of them happens to be my brother who already knows.  

[Jani]

Lily it depends upon the size of the company you work in.  Unless its small, I would just communicate to the team you work with.  Some people do send emails.  If you do, don't go overboard with explanations and all.  You're changing your gender and presentation and this is your new name and pronouns you want to be addressed as.  Leave the details to one on one talks with friends.  Others do not need that data.

 

Jani

[Lily]

Thank you for the replies. Jani, that makes sense that I don't want to overcomplicate the email; if they have questions, they can ask me directly instead of giving everyone a novel to read.  It's really tough to explain sometimes what non-binary means anyway, and I doubt an email would suffice, but that's a whole other topic.

[Jani]

Personally I prefer not to use email as it can passed around later without your knowledge, whereas actually telling people is a nice direct way to communicate.  Best of luck with whatever method you select. 

 

Jani

[Ravin]

For a lot of people, simply changing your signature line in emails should be enough to get the point across, I'd think.