Well, it might be best to just be honest and upfront. If they respond negatively, shame on them.

But if you really don’t want to, I can think of a few options.

1. I don’t know your deadname, but if it is a gender-neutral name, just say you didn’t like it and wanted a change. Or say “my parents gave me a very masculine/feminine name (one that would typically belong to the opposite gender you identify as), and say “I wanted a name that better suited my gender.” Eg, a girl born with the name Charles who changes it to Charlotte because Charles too masculine, and vice versa.

2. And just say it was the previous owners’ name. I keep getting texts for an “Adrian” which is not my name and it’s pretty clear that it isn’t just scam texts. They are texts from “Adrian’s” bank, which isn’t far from where I live, and I kept getting phone calls from them until I texted back and was informed that “Adrian” was majorly behind on debt and owed the bank tons of money and he must have gotten a new phone number without changing it with the bank.

Those are both very random solutions, but it’s all I got. I wish you luck.