Like many trans people, I have eschewed the name I was given at birth. Even before I was trans I knew I was trans I had a very hostile relationship with my name. My parents were proud of it; they made it up themselves, by combining the names of their own mothers, and it was unique. As a consequence it constantly proved difficult for others to spell and pronounce. I was forever correcting people on both accounts, and it annoyed me to no end. As time went on I also had a hostile relationship with my paternal grandmother, eventually breaking ties with her completely around the age of 18, so naturally I didn't want her name dwelling within my own.
I will tell you that "Aaron" is not actually an enormous departure from my birth name. It was almost a letter by letter transformation.
(I will share something that I know to be true of The Trans Community, though I cannot back this assertion with evidence. We LOVE weird names, weird spellings of otherwise normal names, and we seem to be obsessed with the letters K, Q, X, Y, and Z. Also, there is a very strange pattern of trans men being obsessed with names that rhyme with "Aiden." Kayden, Zayden, Rayden, Bladen... So. If you ever meet a "Hayden" or an "Erique" or "Xella" or encounter a group with four or five guys named "Zander" then be warned my friend... the Trans Folks are likely upon you!)
Yes, my name went through many iterations, before I landed on Aaron.
I settled on it at a time when I was very interested in prophets and prophecies, as well as a time when I was reconnecting with my Jewish roots. It was while reading the Biblical Exodus story that I encountered Aaron, the Brother of Moses.
You may be unfamiliar with the specifics, but most people know the basic story of the great prophet Moses: It's Egypt, the Pharaoh is killing Hebrew male babies, Moses is recently born, his mother puts him in a basket and shoves him down the river, where he's found by an Egyptian princess and raised as an Egyptian Prince. He grows up, there is An Incident causing Moses to run away, he joins a tribe in the desert, becomes a shepherd. One day he's out with the sheep, he sees a curious thing, a bush that is on fire but doesn't burn up. Then he hears the voice of God coming from the bush. God tells Moses to go back to Egypt and free the Hebrews. Moses protests. A discussion ensues.
At some point Moses points out that he is no orator. Depending on the translation or interpretation, he may have some sort of speech impediment like a stutter or a lisp, or a condition like ankyloglossia, or it may just be that he has chronic social anxiety. Either way, Moses says "But me no talk good!" (Exodus 6:12/:30) So God says "I'm going to send your brother Aaron to do the fancy talking." Turns out Moses has an oldest sister Miriam, and an older brother Aaron, who are both prophets in their own right.
Then, Aaron and Moses go to Pharaoh on several occasions asking for the freedom of the Hebrew, and for much of the time during the Ten Plagues visited on the Egyptians it's Aaron who does the main talky bits, being eloquent and persuasive, and also does some of the fancy magic in the early demonstrations.
So, we have Aaron in two important roles: as eloquent speaker for those who cannot speak for themselves (both Moses and, importantly, the Hebrew slaves) and as a good big brother looking after his younger sibling. Two roles that I aspire to excel in, as the older brother with three younger siblings, and as someone whose professions all require Public Speaking in some capacity.
But there's more!
Later on in the story of the Hebrews deliverance from slavery, they find themselves in a desert, and while Moses goes up a mountain for fourty days and nights, not only to receive the tablets with the Ten Commandments on them but a whole lot of other instructions (like, several chapters worth) eventually the Hebrews get fed up and go to Aaron whining that they want to worship a tangible god, one they can see and touch. This is where that pesky Golden Calf (Exodus 32) comes to play; Aaron collects gold from the people and makes a statue for them, which they immediately start to worship, for which there are a number of terrible consequences.
This is important to me because it shows Aaron to be terribly prone to being a people pleaser, despite the fact that he and his descendents would be marked for Priesthood, with a specific role of being "decision makers." Aaron fucks up pretty dramatically, and his people suffer for his (and their) mistakes.
So I carry the name Aaron to remind myself to be decisive, to be wary of being a people pleaser, and to stay humble, because I too am likely to make huge mistakes with lasting effects on others as well as myself.
Looking into the history and etymology of the name "Aaron" (or "Aharon" as it really should be pronounced) is also enlightening, pride-giving, and humbling all at once, but I have written long enough on this.
In the end, I am proud to bear the name Aaron, for so many reasons, not least of which is in honour of my Jewish heritage.