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Comment by the_real_cher | Hacker News Reader

Why doesnt Wikipedia put peoples pre-transition name?

Its a part of that persons history and alot of search engine data is connected to that last name.

Might be that person's wish. A lot, if not most of trans people don't want anything to do with their deadname.

When someone gets a name change and they are well known by their old name it’s misleading and confusing to never mention it. Just like Muhammad Ali‘s wikipedia page mentions his previous name.

I don't know if Heineman was well-known under her previous name or not, but it's literally in the second paragraph of the wikipedia article on her. And wikipedia generally does mention former names in the cases you are describing.[1]

y'all are just imagining things to be mad about.

It would be rude to mention the name in these comments on a post posted in honor of her death though, please don't.

[1] "As the guideline on birth names and gender identity note, birth and former names of transgender and non-binary people should only be included in the lead section if they were notable prior to coming out… Instead, this information may be woven into an "Early life" section… In cases where the prior name is known only as the result of being outed, editors may feel it would be giving it undue weight to include it in the article, unless it was subsequently widely reported in reliable sources." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_LGBTQ%2B...

Right, the old name is correctly on the page. I haven’t mentioned the old name, but I don’t think it’s bad to do so to clarify who the person is. I don’t think it’s fair to pretend that someone didn’t have a previous name or that it’s taboo.

And neither does wikipedia. So what are we talking about?

Oops thats my bad! I didnt see it. Apologies! It is there! I was tired and missed it and spent a few minutes google searching. Just wanted to see her previous accomplishments!

I don't understand what is misleading or confusing about Rebecca or Ali. Either you respect someone else's personal preferences or not.

They may not be well known by that name. Ali is certainly well known by that name but many of his fights are under his previous name. I think the Wikipedia policy is fair, mention the old name. Even if someone doesn’t want anything to do with it, it should still be part of the biography.

It is in general (not just Wikipedia) good policy not to deadname trans people unless they request otherwise.

I appreciate that this creates problems in talking about people who transitioned mid-life and had substantial pre-transition accomplishments, like Sophie Wilson.

It is in the "Early life" section.

Thanks!

it is literally in the second paragraph of the wikipedia article. I think it would be rude to repost it in these comments however, so please don't. Also it is the same last name.

Thats my bad I missed it!

She's had a really impressive life!

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