Her Old Name by Hannah Gregory
Associate fiction editor Zoa Coudret on today’s bonus story: Changing your name is not an easy task. The old ones lurk in unexpected places, on the lips of family and old friends, and in the mundane messages that arrive in our mailboxes or email. Hannah Gregory succinctly captures this long, difficult, but empowering experience with honesty and humor.
Her Old Name
She purged every instance of her old name when the official letters—sealed and stamped by a probate judge—declared her Anna. She threw away magazines, re-ordered her college diploma, and updated her driver’s license, admiring the happier person in the picture’s window. She waited on the phone for hours with customer service, explaining the differences between sexuality and gender to update her bank accounts and monthly donations. She moved into a new apartment and over time, reminders of her old name stopped, as she settled into a life of affirmation and correctly addressed junk mail. Years later, Anna received a menu-sized Bed Bath & Beyond coupon addressed to her old name: a forgotten person who she used to hate. She held onto that coupon because she needed a new shower curtain for her dream bathroom. In the store, a beautiful linen one called out to her. Green and patterned with peaches, it tied everything together.
Hannah Gregory is a trans, queer writer from western Massachusetts. She lives with her wife and dog.
