According to one of the name websites, a usual shortening is "Effie", so now I'm weighing how I feel about "Kia" and "Effie". One of those might work for the "..but you can call me ___" thing.
The beard isn't going away on its own, though it might have started growing more slowly and maybe thinned a little. Testosterone is kind of a one-way trip that way: once it turns on those follicles, they stay on even when the testosterone goes away, barring electrolysis (which I doubt I'll ever be able to afford).
Hearing from others who have had trouble choosing a name is useful. It helps me take the brain-cycles I'd otherwise spend feeling silly for taking so long to decide, and put them to use in figuring it out instead.
I don't know if this is something you would come up against, but 'effie' might sound too much like a shortened term for cursing.
I feel like 'that's not a shortened form i would risk' / 'that's something I would have actively avoided when I was thinkign of things to name kids' is conflicting with 'adults mostly dealing with adults who adult' and 'i think i recall people my parents were friends with with that name, maybe?' Effie sounds familiar-ish in my head in the way I associate with my childhood and adult-maybe-family around my parents.
I'm not sure that para makes sense, but I'm not sure I can explicate it otherwise... my words are only sort of working, today.
But, no. Don't feel silly. You're choosing an essential part of you, for the future. It is a reason, complete to itself, to spend time for All Due Consideration.
(no subject)
The beard isn't going away on its own, though it might have started growing more slowly and maybe thinned a little. Testosterone is kind of a one-way trip that way: once it turns on those follicles, they stay on even when the testosterone goes away, barring electrolysis (which I doubt I'll ever be able to afford).
Hearing from others who have had trouble choosing a name is useful. It helps me take the brain-cycles I'd otherwise spend feeling silly for taking so long to decide, and put them to use in figuring it out instead.
(no subject)
I feel like 'that's not a shortened form i would risk' / 'that's something I would have actively avoided when I was thinkign of things to name kids' is conflicting with 'adults mostly dealing with adults who adult' and 'i think i recall people my parents were friends with with that name, maybe?' Effie sounds familiar-ish in my head in the way I associate with my childhood and adult-maybe-family around my parents.
I'm not sure that para makes sense, but I'm not sure I can explicate it otherwise... my words are only sort of working, today.
But, no. Don't feel silly. You're choosing an essential part of you, for the future. It is a reason, complete to itself, to spend time for All Due Consideration.