Kayden Clarke and Transgender Naming Issues

2498847226_5ee6962d70_mEarly this month, Arizona police responded to an emergency call about a suspected suicide attempt. When the officers entered the home, they found a distressed individual in a darkened room with a knife. In what the police have described as an act of self-defense, at least one shot was fired and the individual, who was later identified as transgender internet star, Kayden Clarke, was officially pronounced dead.

Public attention to this tragedy has been fueled not only over the questionable actions of the officers, but also over the police department’s repeatedly referring to the shooting victim’s “dead name”, the name used before transitioning.

About Names: Porn Star Names

15825300263_af1174f279_mRaking in ca 14 billion dollars per year, the US porn industry is very big business. With all that cash around, it’s no wonder that the industry continues to attract would-be stars. To help these onscreen hopefuls, the internet is filled with specialized name generators.

Although some may scoff, as porn legend Annie Sprinkle revealed in an interview with Alternet, landing the perfect porn name is critical: “My name helped me to totally change who I was […] and become who I wanted to be.”

Despite these unusual psychological and economic demands, Stanford Linguistics Professor Arnold Zwicky contends that most porn names are actually quite regular. For example, his examination of over two thousand porn star names revealed that the most common first name for erotic actors was… Mark.