Is it okay to say Elliot Page’s former name? Deadnaming, explained

Jordan Peterson is at it again.

The divisive YouTube personality and Daily Wire correspondent got himself kicked off of Twitter in late June after gracing the Twittersphere with yet another terrible, and entirely unasked for, take. This time, he took aim at award-winning actor Elliot Page.

Page has a laundry list of accolades in his back pocket, reaching all the way back to his breakout role in Juno. Since then, the majority of his appearances — from Inception and Whip It to the X-Men franchise and Netflix’s The Umbrella Academy — have earned Page high praise.

Following years of success in Hollywood, Page officially came out as transgender in December 2020. He changed his pronouns on social media and revealed his name as Elliot. From that point forward, there should have been no question as to his gender or name, but in the toxic world we live in, it quickly became a hot-button topic.

Nearly two years after Page informed us of his name and pronouns, he is still a frequent target of online hate. The latest of this came in the form of 60-year-old Peterson, who took to Twitter to take aim at Page’s recent transition. His comments quickly spurred virulent online debate, as anti-trans accounts warred with pro-LGBTQIA posters in an ongoing social media war.

The ongoing discourse is spurring a very necessary conversation surrounding deadnaming, trans people, and respect. It’s sparking questions among the less informed about how to respectfully approach a trans person post-transition and about the language used in this ever-evolving world.

Is it okay to say Elliot Page’s former name?

I think you probably realize the answer to this question by this point in the article, but for those in the back, I’ll say it a little louder. No. It is never okay to deadname someone, regardless of circumstances. If family members of trans people can remember to call them by their real name after decades of calling them their deadname, you can too. It takes almost no effort to learn a new name and use it.

Just to be sure, let’s dig into a few details, like what exactly deadnaming is and why it can be so damaging to the trans community.

What is deadnaming?

Deadnaming occurs when a person uses a trans person’s birth name, or “given” name, rather than the name they’ve used since transitioning. It does not require a trans person to fully transition, nor does it require your consent. This isn’t about you or anyone else for that matter — it’s about the person whose name it actually is. These names are sometimes referred to — as noted above — as “given names” or “birth names,” but these alternates are often used — in lieu of “deadname” — to make the practice seem less damaging.

This is not to say that you are a monster if you forget once or twice and refer to a longtime friend or family member by their deadname. The point is to understand and respect their reasons for revealing their new name and to call them what they want to be called. In every imaginable instance, it is rude to refer to someone by a name they do not wish to go by. It is the same for a trans person, but it goes far deeper.

Deadnaming a trans person can have a serious effects on their psyche. According to Healthline, deadnaming someone feels “invalidating” and indicates both a lack of support and a lack of respect. Using a deadname around others can also lead you to — intentionally or not — “out” a trans friend, an act that can lead to their ostracism and can even put them in danger. The issue of legally changing one’s name helps with this, but it can be a time-consuming and pricey process. Plus, in some cases, records and old information continues to label them by their deadnames even years following their transition. This is a particularly relevant issue for Page, who has years of incredible acting credits to his name when he still identified as female. People are leaning on these examples — in particular Juno — as a way to heap more hate on the 35-year-old actor.

Trans people face discrimination from almost all angles, and all it takes to show your support is to call them the name they want to be called. It’s that easy, but on Twitter people are making it out to be the exact opposite. Supporters of Peterson — and trans-exclusionary people in general — have taken Peterson’s suspension as a rallying cry and have swarmed Twitter to share their own toxic takes on the matter. Unabashed stinkards like Ben Shapiro quickly inserted their two cents and ignited a war that continues to split Twitter down the middle.

Thankfully, the debate has led to some stellar takes from the non-douchenozzels of the web. People chimed in to note that “A grown man made us call him ‘Meat Loaf’ for decades but TERFs and transphobes have decided the line is ‘Elliot Page.’ K.”

Numerous people are applauding Page for inadvertently de-platforming Peterson by… simply living his life. They’re lauding him as a “hero” and sharing hilarious — and often thought-provoking — points about trans people, deadnaming, and online culture in general.

It’s going to take time for certain people — see “disrespectful cheese bags” in the dictionary — to come around to the very controversial practice of respecting people’s wishes, but thankfully they are largely in the minority. Even so, we likely have years of bad takes from transphobes to look forward to, but this bleak future is sprinkled with hope in the form of the eloquent allies who absolutely come for anyone foolish enough to deadname.

This leaves us to sit back and agree with Twitter user @lackingsaint, who aptly noted that “Elliot Page has now driven the mental breakdowns of Jordan Peterson AND Dave Rubin and he didn’t even have to say anything. What a king.”