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Hey, swell. So you may have noticed that I changed my name and I wanted to tell you the story behind that. So in general, I have never loved my name. It was an upgrade from the name Missy, short for Melissa, which is what my mom originally wanted to name me. But when my grandmother found out, she essentially said, Absolutely not. H*** no, we are naming this child Rachel
Bowie Rowan has a great ring to it. And I'm thrilled that you shared your story here with everybody. And I'm excited to see that you're excited and to hear it in your voice. And I think that that's really what gets me going is just knowing that other people are happy. So welcome. Bowie
phil spade
@Phil · 2:23
It couldn't have been an easy decision and was probably even harder to actually go through with everything, just from a logistical standpoint. I just can't imagine all the steps that you need to go through to get this done. Seems to me like it'd be a lot. Every institution, everything with your name on it has got to be reworked and just got to imagine that. That's just not easy. Just doesn't sound easy. So Congratulations. This is just amazing
Bowie Rowan
@bowie · 1:30
And you reminded me that that's a beautiful and courageous act even when we feel really afraid and vulnerable when doing it. So thank you for sharing. And it was just really nice to hear both of your voices tonight. So looking forward to talking. Bye
Bowie Rowan
@bowie · 2:07
Phil, I am not surprised at all that you just cracked me up where to begin. First of all, I loved hearing the story behind your name and thinking about names has been so interesting because I think about names probably more than the average person a lot already, because as a fiction writer, names are important. Right? And where do character names come from? And how do we figure out the name of the character and all these things?
Shahnaz Ahmed
@bookishpodcast · 1:15
It's cute, Bowie. Okay. And it has a bounce to it. And it mirrors the bounce in your personality, which the other name really didn't have as much. But what you feel like who you are is who you are. So, Bowie, it is welcome. And I guess I should change all our private chats and everything else to change my address book for a book club and everything and change it to Bowie. All right. Good deal. Good deal. So
Bowie Rowan
@bowie · 1:56
I have many Rachel in my life who I love dearly, and I love feeling like that part of me will live on within my friendships and how many people in my life I get to call Rachel regularly. So that's kind of funny. But anyways, please feel free to update my name everywhere. And everyone, too, can reach me at Bowie, at Sal Life as well
Ren Dirt
@SurRenDirt · 3:02
I actually just supported and witnessed my partner going through the process of legally changing the name. And yeah, it just feels really cool to think about you putting something out there in writing to help folks through that and fun little fact about my name while I'm here. So my name is Ren. This is the name I lovingly gave myself. And Ren came from a book series by Margaret Atwood. It came from the Mad Adam series
Bowie Rowan
@bowie · 2:02
I also think the timing of your response to this well is kind of magical because after what's almost been a year now of trying to figure this process out, I actually just found out a couple of days ago that I was approved for an official name change hearing in a couple of weeks. So it's going to be really interesting to actually go through that process and then figure out what the next steps will be as far as getting everything changed for everything, credit cards, documents, whatever
So because it's more simple and easier to pronounce, I went primarily by my middle name up until I became an evolved adult and I got in touch with my first name, which again is Lavidus. You cannot Google it and find the meaning because there is no one else with that name. However, there is a rock group called Lavidus with a slight difference of the spelling
Bowie Rowan
@bowie · 0:43
This is such a beautiful story of your name and your journey with your name and names. And Levidius is one of the most beautiful names I have ever heard. So. So I'm so happy to hear that you're claiming it. And just the movement I heard and how you came to fully embrace both your first name and your middle name was really inspiring to me. And I could hear how good it feels to you and your voice. And it just put such a smile on my face
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