26 January 2021
Deadname, or dead name, is a term for someone’s old name after a name change, especially in regard to a transgender person’s adoption of a name that conforms with their gender identity. It is rude to refer to a trans person by their deadname.
Deadname was in use by the trans community for years before cisgender English speakers became aware of it, a pattern common to slang terms where a niche use long precedes general awareness.
The earliest instance of deadname that I have found is a tweet from 19 July 2011:
Change ups can be good. Though its weird to hear my deadname in use two days straight...
From the tweet’s wording it’s clear that the term was already in use within the trans community by this date, and earlier uses will no doubt be found.
Six months later, a Canadian clothing line featuring “Stuff Cis People Say” included “What do you mean your ‘dead name’?” as an option on some of their clothing. The designer, going by the avatar Patience Newbury, had this to say about it. Her claim to having coined the term is incorrect, but it is one of the early published uses of the term that I have found:
Fifth from the “Stuff Cis People Say” series (a derivation of the 2011 Sh*t White People Say meme). Apparel typesetting produced under the Patience Newbury avatar for the Cisnormativity Project.
This intertitle gave accidental birth to “dead name” (also “deadname”). It was a genuine surprise to realize it took on a life of its own. Dead name was the second instance of having introduced a linguistic expression now part of an everyday vernacular, but it was the first for which I was glad to bear witness to its widespread adoption.
Deadname makes its way into Urbandictionary on 16 September 2014 with this entry:
deadname
n. The birth name of somebody who has changed their name. Most commonly attributed to trans people, but can be attributed to any person who has changed their name. (sometimes written as two words: dead name)
v. 1. To call somebody by their deadname.
v. 2. To out somebody's deadname to the public.
Don't call her by her deadname. She hasn't gone by that name in years.
The Boston Globe is the earliest “mainstream” publication I have found that used the word. From a 5 January 2016 article about model and performer Hari Nef:
I feel like I have always been Hari, said Nef, who prefers that her “deadname” not be used in print. (Deadname, she explains, “is a word we use to describe the name we were assigned before Choosing our own.”)
And in April 2016, Anastacia Tomson’s autobiography, Always Anastacia: A Transgender Life in South Africa, had this passage:
I stand in front of the mirror as I remind myself that I don’t have to wear the uniform anymore. I don’t have to dress myself in men’s attire. I can grow out my nails, and paint them with polish. I am finally free to have my ears pierced. I can speak in the voice that I’ve spent so many hours cultivating with my speech therapist. I don’t have to hide my disgust anymore at being called “boet” or “sir.” I no longer have to tolerate any references to my deadname.
The fact that deadname was being used by the trans community globally before traditional media outlets started using it can be chalked up to the internet. The online information networks allow niche communities to find and connect with each other in ways that were not previously possible, opening up new channels for neologisms to propagate within a particular community before speakers generally become aware of it.
Sources:
@mynameisalice87, Twitter, 19 July 2011.
“Anastacia Tomson presents her story in Always Anastacia: A Transgender Life in South Africa.” Sunday Times Books Live, 26 April 2016.
Matchan, Lindo. “Pioneer Woman.” Boston Globe, 5 January 2016, G7. ProQuest Newspapers.
Newbury, Patience. “Intertitle: ‘What do you mean, your “dead name”?’” Accozzaglia.ca, 11 January 2012.
Urbandictionary, 16 September 2014, s.v. deadname.