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Notes -
Well I'd still retain my surname. The issue is that my name translated into English is one of the most common Anglophone names in existence, up there with James, Michael, David, and John.
Your thought process kind of sounds like all the trans people who end up calling themselves some stripper name like Lola or Lilith or Brayden.
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That’s good. Never pick a name you can’t scrub the floor in, and never pick a name that makes you look like a try-hard. If after a year you decide that the anglicisation isn’t enough, then change.
As a metaphor take cosmetic surgery - one should always get somebody else to decide the procedure or one just ends up with a face structured around your insecurities.
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I'm guessing it's Matvei/Matthew or something like that, not a bad name. Our most common names aren't nearly as high-frequency as the most common names in Russian, I don't think it's terrible to have a common name unless you really don't like it for some other reason.
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