I’m adding ‘Kit’ to the list of names I respond to :)
My given name is Christopher, but most people call me Chris. I have zero feelings about that, except that as a writer and producer I much prefer to be credited or bylined as ‘Christopher Phin’. That’s something of an affectation, though, since the reason is just that I think ‘Chris Phin’ typesets in a really ugly way!
I have been thinking for a few years about styling myself ‘Kit’, which is indeed an alternative diminutive of ‘Christopher’ — I like its sparkiness, I like its hard consonants, I just like its attitude, y’know? — but always vaguely thought people would Think Things about me changing my name.
Then the MP Kit Malthouse came along and was such a monumental bellend it killed the idea stone dead.
Then two things happened, basically in parallel. First, I met someone very sweet, funny, kind and smart called Kit, which acted in the background to neutralise the Malthouse stench without me really even realising it.
And then second, I was inspired by my trans friends changing their names. How dare I — a cis-presenting white dude, who wasn’t even changing his name but just swapping to a different diminutive, and who didn’t even have to change a single scrap of paperwork — worry about what people would think, when folks switching gender have to deal with the four horsepersons of the transpocalypse: deadnaming, disgust, mockery and forms.
And so, in yet another in a long series of the advantages trans people gift even to people who aren’t trans, in their often unasked-for battle to expand our understanding of gender, today I’m just deciding, because I can:
You can call me Chris, you can call me Christopher, you can call me any time you need help… but you can also call me Kit.