“Rae Lovejoy” isn’t my legal name, so let me tell you a little bit about why I go by “Rae” in my daily life, and “Rae Lovejoy” online. This is intentional, and for more than one reason.
First, privacy and boundaries. Using “Rae Lovejoy” creates a layer of separation between my online presence and most of my offline life. Not anonymity exactly—more like context control. The internet tends to collapse audiences. Personal writing, technical work, political thought, and creative exploration all end up in the same searchable space. A chosen name helps me decide how much of myself is legible at once, and to whom. I’m not hiding, I’m choosing my exposure.
Second, gender neutrality. The name “Rae,” spelled like that, is gender neutral. I am agender, though that deserves its own post eventually. For now, what matters is that it’s a name that does not pre-load assumptions (or at least it did when I chose it). It lets interactions begin without immediately invoking gendered expectations, projections, or scripts. That quiet neutrality feels closer to how I experience myself.
Third, continuity across systems. Online, I exist across many systems: logs, repos, notes, posts, commits, messages. “Rae” functions well as a stable identifier across those spaces. It is short, flexible, and human-readable. It fits URLs, usernames, signatures, and conversation without friction. That matters more than it might seem when you live inside systems as much as I do.
Fourth, chosen names as self-authorship. Names are not just labels; they are interfaces. Going by “Rae” is a small act of authorship over my own narrative—one that says I get to decide how I am referenced, framed, and addressed, especially in spaces where identity is flattened into metadata.
Fifth, it just feels right. There is also no deeper justification needed than this.
This is not a rejection of my past. It is an evolution—one shaped by privacy, identity, and the realities of living online. More on gender, naming, and identity later.