Yeah, I mean, imo the comic makes it pretty clear that he’s not mad about her wanting to use a different name, but instead he’s mad about why she’s using a different name (because he thinks she’s being pretentious). I understand why Everett is mad and I can sympathize with him because pretentious people can be annoying as shit.

That said, while I can sympathize with Everett, I can also understand why some people might find it kinda offensive or concerning because it implies that Everett (and by extension, other people) have the right to judge whether or not your decision to change your preferred name is valid.

However, one should remember that this was the turn of the 20th century; most people didn’t know that trans people were a thing and externally, there wasn’t much that separated a trans woman from, say, a male crossdresser (I highly doubt stuff like HRT or GRS existed yet, or at the very least, that doctors who were aware and willing to carry out those procedures were very rare). As such, the idea of changing a base aspect of your identity was mainly a social thing imposed on you by the government and/or your peers (nicknames, marriage, academic/military titles, etc) and not something you picked yourself.¹

In other words, I think this comic isn’t a great indicator of how Everett would actually react to someone who’s trans. If anything, I think it’s more likely that Everett would be supportive of trans people who are nice, begrudgingly look the other way if a trans person was getting in people’s faces about their identity² while grumbling something about “they’re being an asshole but I don’t know if I can blame them, all things considering”, and completely destroy people who get pissy about trans people.

(Also, my personal head canon is that there are two, identical-twin Everetts: Everett True and Everett False. Everett True is the one who holds progressive views (or is shown to be progressive for the time), while Everett False is the one who holds views we consider to be offensive today. Why? It helps explain his wildly varying or contradictory views while also creating a sort-of meta game where you try to figure out if you’re seeing Everett True or Everett False. Also, Everett False is absolutely a bad actor hired by regressives to defame and slander Everett True for his progressive views and strong beliefs in social justice.)

¹ Remember how picking your own nickname used to be seen as fairly cringy unless it was a simple shortening of your real name? You don’t pick nicknames, friends do.

² Guys, listen, it happens, they exist, and they’re just as valid as anyone else. Sometimes it’s just the result of a misunderstanding, stress, and/or frayed nerves; but that doesn’t mean they’re not assholes for jumping down people’s throats. To be clear, I’m referring to the people who shoot first, ask questions later; and NOT people who are simply trying to correct mistakes or fight people being intentionally transphobic.

Edit: what I’m trying to say is that there are comics where Everett is a legitimate PoS, I’m just not sure if this is really one of them.

Putting on airs not heirs. Not sure if autocorrect or bone apple tea. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/put on airs

No he’s saying she’s disgusting because she changed as got money by making her name needlessly fancier. That is distinctly different from gaining a name that fits and matches the named when their old one did not.

People not understanding political cartoons, as true today as it was in 1906.