You wouldn't deadname the Wu-Tang Clan

I once got into an argument an elderly relative about how hard it was to remember the new names of people who had chosen fresh ones to better express who they are. Their argument was that people should just stick with what they were called because that was easier for everyone else, and my argument was that it wasn't that fucking hard to call someone by their preferred name.

And while I didn't make this reference because they were very old, I also wouldn't ever deadname somebody, because that would be like meeting Ghostface Killah and calling him Dennis, and that feels both rude and dangerous.

The concepts of stage names and pseudonyms have been around as long as they have been actors and writers, and nobody ever had a problem with it. So when my friends and colleagues go through any kind of transition process, I will always gladly use their new chosen name, because it makes them happy, and that makes us all happy.

The act of choosing a new name for yourself has inherent power, but it also can have deeper resonance and meaning than your birthname, which always was out of your hands. 

The members of the Wu-Tang Clan are made up of people who were named Russell and Clifford when they were born, but that's not who they are, and the names they are now known by throughout the world also happen to be completely fucking awesome.

The Wu-Tang are, of course, all about honour and respect, while also being badass gangsters, and if I ever did have the fortune to meet one, I would call them by their true name. Because they are not some dudes from Staten Island, they are kung fu master monk warriors from the ninth dimension. I could only show my real life friends, the ones who have happily buried their dead names, the same respect.