I will always keep the original MC name if it's available. ⸜(。˃ ᵕ ˂ )⸝♡
Honestly, to me, putting my own name in would feel very weird. I did grow up seeing that sort of thing online, esp. in otome-adjacent spaces, but it's never felt quite... right to me, I think? I like experiencing the story with the MC being a full-fledged character, even if she'd be a bit different from how I usually am. I suppose it speaks more to how I interact with stories in general. For me, a self-insert doesn't even need to be very specific, I suppose it's just more of a... putting myself in MC's shoes rather than having her be in MY shoes... or something like that. (๑﹏๑//)
So it's kind of like a self-insert, but not really...? I dunno, aaaah. (ᵕ • ᴗ •)