dead name

1. verb To refer to a transgender person by the name or pronouns they used before transitioning to the gender they currently identify as. Please stop dead naming Caitlyn Jenner as "Bruce." My parents still do dead name me occasionally, and I don't necessarily blame them—I had that name for most of my life. It's hurtful when you dead name me, OK? Stop.

2. noun The name and pronouns a transgender person used before transitioning to the gender they currently identify as; a transgender person's birth name. "Bruce" is Caitlyn Jenner's dead name. A: "Wait, who's Anna?" B: "Ugh, no one anymore. Anna is my dead name—please don't use it." The name a trans person was born with becomes their dead name.

dead naming

The act of referring to a transgender person by the name and pronouns they used before transitioning to the gender they currently identify as. Dead naming is just a way to show contempt for transgender people. Just stop, OK? Dead naming is really hurtful. Dead naming occasionally happens when I'm around my parents, and I don't necessarily blame them—I had that name for most of my life.