In late 2016, shortly after the election of Donald Trump, feminists in Seattle met to discuss their branch of the Women’s March. The march’s name, which would be printed on all the local promotion materials, soon came up as something that could be updated.

“Our organizing group is superdiverse, and one of the core organizers, who is a nonbinary person, proposed that we use the word ‘womxn’ to make sure that everyone felt included,” said Elizabeth Hunter-Keller, the communications chair for what soon became known as the Womxn’s March Seattle. Ebony Miranda, the organizer who proposed using “womxn,” said her understanding of the word was: “women and those affected by misogyny, or women-related issues.”

Ms. Hunter-Keller said: “There were a lot of, for the most part, white women, who wondered why we had to use the ‘x’ and asked us about it. But when we talked to them online, most were totally understanding.”

Sarah Faith Gottesdiener, an artist in Los Angeles, read widely about lesbian communes in the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s during work for her master’s degree in design at the California Institute of the Arts. Part of her thesis project showcased several variants of the word “women,” including “Women,” “Wimmin,” “Womin,” “Womyn” in blue and yellow letters printed on silk.