Elwin (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
elwinfortuna) wrote2020-07-18 06:57 am
elwinfortuna) wrote2020-07-18 06:57 am
Entry tags:
I'm changing my name
I've gone by the name "Amy Fortuna" in fandom for well over twenty years now.
When I created it, I was 19 years old, still living with my family, and searching for a pseudonym that was nothing like my own name but could still be used as a name. I was utterly terrified of my parents finding out about my fanfic habits (which did happen three years later, with consequences fully as unfortunate as I had feared). The name was, in part, made as a "magic spell" to help me change my fortunes, as "amy fortuna" loosely translates to "friend of fortune."
The magic spell absolutely worked. Thanks to fandom, I made friends who gave me hope, met Iroshi who became my first girlfriend, and then through LiveJournal metwibbble who became my husband, and my whole life changed completely. The friendships, the love, and all the happiness I have I entirely owe to fandom.
Over the years, though, the name "Amy Fortuna" has started to feel more and more like an ill-fitting suit, partly because of the assumptions regarding gender of the name "Amy" but also because I have no huge pressing need to hide or compartmentalise myself anymore. I literally have no job to be fired from (and would not take a job where being fired due to writing fanfic was a risk). I do not need to hide from my parents; I live almost halfway around the world from them.
On the other hand, I don't want to write fanfic under my real name.
The name I use in RL is also very gendered, and while this is less uncomfortable to me, it still is a little uncomfortable, which is why I'm like "Call me E!" to my friends. This has extended online too, where I've been asking people to call me E even though that has nothing to do with the name "Amy Fortuna."
A couple of years back, I came up with the name Elwin as a solution to this problem. I love this name for multiple reasons: it starts with an E, it means "elf-friend," it's the name of the narrator in C S Lewis' Space Trilogy (love the first two books, HATE the last one!), and it just feels right to me.
At the same time, I don't want to abandon my "roots" as it were entirely. Fortune has been a friend, and I'd like to keep that "magic spell" element in my new pseudonym.
So, I will be Elwin Fortuna, friend of elves and fortune!
Call me Elwin. Call me E. Call me by my RL name, if you know it and want to (but it's the least preferred option, for my friends). My pronouns remain the same: they is best (and always makes me smile), she is fine as well.
I'll be changing various usernames: Ao3, Discord, here on Dreamwidth. Other fanfiction sites might change or might not, depending. My Tumblr, edgeoflight, will remain the same, and so will my Twitter, star_brow. My Facebook will stay as it is for now.
My ultimate goal is, if I can, to change my RL name to be Elwin [Name] [Surname] so that I have both names.
When I created it, I was 19 years old, still living with my family, and searching for a pseudonym that was nothing like my own name but could still be used as a name. I was utterly terrified of my parents finding out about my fanfic habits (which did happen three years later, with consequences fully as unfortunate as I had feared). The name was, in part, made as a "magic spell" to help me change my fortunes, as "amy fortuna" loosely translates to "friend of fortune."
The magic spell absolutely worked. Thanks to fandom, I made friends who gave me hope, met Iroshi who became my first girlfriend, and then through LiveJournal met
wibbble who became my husband, and my whole life changed completely. The friendships, the love, and all the happiness I have I entirely owe to fandom. Over the years, though, the name "Amy Fortuna" has started to feel more and more like an ill-fitting suit, partly because of the assumptions regarding gender of the name "Amy" but also because I have no huge pressing need to hide or compartmentalise myself anymore. I literally have no job to be fired from (and would not take a job where being fired due to writing fanfic was a risk). I do not need to hide from my parents; I live almost halfway around the world from them.
On the other hand, I don't want to write fanfic under my real name.
The name I use in RL is also very gendered, and while this is less uncomfortable to me, it still is a little uncomfortable, which is why I'm like "Call me E!" to my friends. This has extended online too, where I've been asking people to call me E even though that has nothing to do with the name "Amy Fortuna."
A couple of years back, I came up with the name Elwin as a solution to this problem. I love this name for multiple reasons: it starts with an E, it means "elf-friend," it's the name of the narrator in C S Lewis' Space Trilogy (love the first two books, HATE the last one!), and it just feels right to me.
At the same time, I don't want to abandon my "roots" as it were entirely. Fortune has been a friend, and I'd like to keep that "magic spell" element in my new pseudonym.
So, I will be Elwin Fortuna, friend of elves and fortune!
Call me Elwin. Call me E. Call me by my RL name, if you know it and want to (but it's the least preferred option, for my friends). My pronouns remain the same: they is best (and always makes me smile), she is fine as well.
I'll be changing various usernames: Ao3, Discord, here on Dreamwidth. Other fanfiction sites might change or might not, depending. My Tumblr, edgeoflight, will remain the same, and so will my Twitter, star_brow. My Facebook will stay as it is for now.
My ultimate goal is, if I can, to change my RL name to be Elwin [Name] [Surname] so that I have both names.
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
My nan had a cousin Elwyn, pronounced the same, and Iâve always loved the name.
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
I am also glad you are in a place where more life is safer for fan fic, appropriate names and best pronouns for you.
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject