This is NPR's Life Kit.

I'm gender reveal podcast host, Tuck Woodstock.

But I haven't always been Tuck Woodstock.

I legally changed my name when I was fresh out of college

and then changed it again seven years later.

So I know firsthand how daunting this entire process can be

from choosing your new name to filing for a court order,

to updating your info with your bank,

and the pharmacy, and the gym, and the library,

and all the utilities companies.

And I could go on here, but the point is name changes

can be intimidating even in the easiest possible scenario.

And when you're trans, nothing is ever

the easiest possible scenario.

Credit bureaus have a very hard time with first name changes.

So they are used to changing women's last names

when they get married, and your credit follows you

and everything is lovely.

For a trans person who is changing their first name,

or even may be more than their first name,

they kind of just short circuit.

That's Charlie Arawood, an attorney whose work focuses

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