What is a Lived Name?
Lived names (preferred names, names in use) are names that an individual wants to be known by in the University community, regardless of whether they have completed a legal name change.
Lived names are chosen for a variety of reasons, including:
- Names that reflect a cultural, religious or familial preference/practice
- Names that students select for campus use because people mispronounce their given/birth names (e.g., international students, staff and faculty who have adopted Anglicized names)
- Names that better reflect a person’s gender identity
- Names under which someone has published academic works and wish to retain despite having married or had a legal name change.
Lived names are used to identify campus community members in most day-to-day University business, including public settings, and on some documents. The University reserves the right to remove or deny a lived name submission if used inappropriately.
What is Pronoun Recognition?
Pronouns are a way of indicating the set of pronouns by which you should be identified. An example of pronouns is she/hers or they/them. More information about pronouns may be found at mypronouns.org.
Using a lived name or displaying pronouns is encouraged and is entirely optional. For many people, it makes sense to have the name they go by be reflected across campus systems.
If a UVM affiliate (including students, faculty, or staff members) refuses to use your lived name or pronouns and you would like to report this, please fill out the Bias, Discrimination, & Harassment Incident Reporting Form. All members of the UVM community may use this form to report bias incidents.
For more information about where lived names and legal names will appear, and how to update your information please visit the UVM Knowledge Base.
