An Easy Way to Make Your Product More Inclusive: Add A "Preferred Name" Field
Resurrecting the dead rarely goes well in fiction. Don't accidentally resurrect someone's deadname with your design by using their legal name when you shouldn't.
Let’s talk about a simple design decision that can make a tremendous impact beyond the additional pixels it’ll occupy: the Preferred Name field. Just the addition of that one input field can save users from future inconvenience and other privacy issues beyond just making them feel included the moment they see the field.
Here’s an excellent, detailed example from Google’s job application form:
If your product uses their user’s name in any context where a legal name isn’t legally necessary (like on a tax form), even just when saying “Welcome back, [User’s Legal First Name]!” upon sign-in -- you should learn what name they prefer to be called.
Knowing your users’ preferred name is especially important if your product publicly prints their name, such as an event management platform that prints attendee badges.
Not using the user’s preferred name when legally permitted may be inadvertently alienating, especially to trans and nonbinary folks who often change their names. There’s a reason why their legal names are often referred to as “deadnames”. They’re “dead” for a reason, so don’t accidentally resurrect the dead. Here’s why using deadnames is harmful to one’s mental health.
“Why don’t they just legally change their names then?” Well, not everyone has the resources or safe circumstances to legally change their name. Even if they do, a name change can take some time to process. That’s why some of us are stuck with our government names longer than we’d like.
While mortgage application forms don’t need to add a Preferred Name field and definitely need the user’s legal name, that’s not the case for onboarding software for the bank issuing such forms: their staff should know how to address their clients. You also don’t need to add the Preferred Name field to simple forms where the user knows they won’t need their legal name, such as general inquiry forms on your website where the name field typically just says “Name” rather than “Full Name”.
The Preferred Name field is usually necessary in longer forms pertaining to situations where “Full Name” is typically used, such as event registration forms where the user’s ID may or may not be validated in person. Users may be unaware whether they can use their preferred name or not in that “Full Name” field and might hesitantly enter a legal name in case of later ID verification.
Only to their dismay, you’re using that legal name to greet them in emails and printed it on their attendee badge.
Using the Wrong Name = More Trouble For You and Your Staff
For trans and non-binary users, that legal name might reflect a gender identity they no longer connect with (or never did). It evokes years of trauma. Using it without informing them and when you really don’t need to makes it worse.
Imagine a trans software engineer is walking to the check-in desk of an AI conference in their new gender-affirming power outfit they’ve been excited to wear for months. They feel amazing — until they see the name badge with their deadname printed on it in 48-point Helvetica. To make things worse, they’ve also booked a boutique hotel that also didn’t have a Preferred Name field. They entered their legal name for billing, assuming it would stay private.
But when they arrive, the front desk loudly greets them with “Welcome, Mr. [Deadname].” And then prints it on the key card. In front of a group of coworkers who know them only as [Preferred Name]. Now it’s awkward, dysphoric, and your hotel just became a place they’d prefer to avoid next time.
“I didn’t know they’d be using my deadname like that. That other conference asked me for my preferred name during a separate check-in process in person. I shouldn’t have assumed this conference would do the same,” they think. That’s often been my own experience with submitting my government name to a product: I wasn’t always informed how they’d be using it, but sometimes had the option to choose my preferred name before a public use case, such as having it printed on a name tag. That hasn’t always been the case though, which is why I’m writing this article.
What if the aforementioned hotel had added the field somewhere in the user flow? Massive difference. It lets staff greet guests authentically, without stumbling into a deeply uncomfortable moment. Sometime after that check-in, that dignity save might warrant an enthusiastic five-star review.
(As previously stated, not everyone has the safe circumstances to change their name. While this user might feel safe enough at the San Francisco AI conference to use their preferred name, that might not be the case when they’re visiting their grandparents in the middle of a town where hate crimes are common. For many individuals, their preferred name may change depending on context.)
Respect Is Retention.
To reframe this design necessity for the business leaders here: being inclusive is not just nice—it’s profitable.
Customer retention goes up when people feel seen and respected. If I can’t trust your app to get my name right, how can I trust you with my data, my payment info, or my monthly subscription?
Event satisfaction improves when attendees aren’t going through the hassle of reprinting their name tags.
Fewer support tickets get filed when fewer people are complaining that they’d like to change their submitted names.
Hiring gets easier when your internal tools respect interviewees and employees’ chosen names—especially if you're aiming to be an inclusive place to work.
Also, let’s be real: if your brand’s values page says “We champion diversity and inclusion,” but your product still calls people by names they don’t use -- well, you could do a better job practicing what you’re preaching.
It’s Not Just an LGBTQ+ Thing: How Many Other Users Benefit
Yes, adding a Preferred Name field is especially important for LGBTQ+ users. But let’s not pretend the rest of the world is walking around loving their legal names either.
One major reason why the Preferred Name field benefits everyone is if your product parses the user’s first name from a Full Name field to greet them. This isn’t ideal because users from other countries may have two first names or write their last name first per cultural traditions. Automatically addressing them by the first sequential name entered may not actually be calling them by their first name. Just use their preferred name.
Here’s a few less common, but still very important use cases for a Preferred Name field involving totally heterosexual, cisgender users:
Your customer is a survivor of stalking (or is being actively stalked) and doesn’t want their legal name floating around your platform or on their name tag, just in case.
They’ve got an international name but goes by a culturally adapted name for ease. While I understand some of you feel that people of all backgrounds should learn to pronounce non-English names, it’s also completely valid for folks to situationally simplify their own name so they don’t have to run an impromptu pronunciation workshop just to order a latte.
They’ve got a 15-letter legal first name (in any language) that’s never been spelled right on a Starbucks cup in history. Understandably, they’d prefer to by “Zee” or “Michelle”. Come on, you’ve encountered this situation before. Don’t you want them to use your product too?
Their parents thought it would be hilarious or hip to name them something totally weird, or intentionally misspell a common name. They themselves disagree, but a legal name change might risk them losing their massive family inheritance you’d quit your job for.
They were named after someone who becomes later involved in more public scandals than Charles Ponzi and Bernie Madoff put together, so they’d rather not be associated with that name anymore.
Literally anyone else who may want to be addressed by a different name in the particular context where your product will be used.
Now imagine use cases where another user on a different end of your product is using the product to say the above users’ name out loud, such as customer service reading their profile or a doctor meeting them for the first time. Having the user’s preferred name already on hand improves the user experience by eliminating the friction of “actually, you can call me Zee.”
Giving users a say in how they’re addressed can feel subtly empowering. It doesn’t just grant your users agency with your product, but also affirms their gender identity, cultural identity, and overall social life.
TL;DR
Asking for legal name? Cool, especially if you really need it such as filling government forms or checking their ID. But also ask for that Preferred Name for other purposes, such as marketing emails.
It helps trans and nonbinary folks feel seen and safe.
It also helps anyone with a long, private, hard-to-pronounce, or culturally adapted name.
Products that do this retain more users, create less friction, and build more loyalty.
You’ll avoid awkward IRL moments where the user’s not-preferred name appears where they really don’t want it to and where it really doesn’t have to.
It’s just one form field that delivers an impact lasting well beyond the couple hundred extra pixels it occupies.
What are some products that you think have done a good job implementing a Preferred Name field? Let’s talk about it!