---
title: "Xe"
date: 2021-08-07
---

EDIT(2022-01-10):

If you are a journalist and using this article as evidence for not calling me
by the name I am asking you to, please reconsider your actions and strongly
consider the idea that I am the expert and only person that can create true
statements about what my name is and how I want my identity to be presented
professionally. Also don't [compare it to Blackwater IN ANY
WAY](https://twitter.com/theprincessxena/status/1479197000667181061). See [this
article](/blog/broken-database-schemas-2022-01-10) for more information.

## Or: Identity is Complicated

You might have noticed that I have changed my listed name on this website to Xe.
I should probably have done this a while ago. I have been starting to go by Xe
in a more professional way and I am continuing this experiment with this blog.
"Christine" has always been a bit of a placeholder name (albeit one that
"stuck") that I have used as a legal name because a bunch of things and legal
processes expect me to have one. Something something [Falsehoods Programmers
Believe About
Names](https://www.kalzumeus.com/2010/06/17/falsehoods-programmers-believe-about-names/)
something something.

As for how this is pronounced, here are some attempts to explain how to
pronounce it in text:

- The way that Americans say the 26th letter of the English (2021) Alphabet "z"
- zee (a spelling that should force you to say it correctly using modern english
  orthography)
- /zi/ in the [International Phonetic
  Alphabet](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Phonetic_Alphabet)
  
I don't expect you to migrate over to calling me this immediately. If anything I
have a weak preference for this name. If you are used to calling me "Christine"
or something else, please feel free to do so.

Incidentally, this also means I have a mythical level of [neopronoun/handle
synergy](http://pronoun.is/xe/xer/xer/xers/xerself) that few others can match. I
also don't expect you to use these neopronouns for me (though it would be cool
if you did).

Let's see where this experiment goes.