> The modern terms and meanings of transgender, gender, gender identity, and gender role only emerged in the 1950s and 1960s. As a result, opinions vary on how to categorize historical accounts of gender-variant people and identities.
> [...]
> A precise history of the global occurrence of transgender people is difficult to compose because the modern concept of being transgender, and of gender in general as relevant to transgender identity, did not develop until the mid-20th century. Historical understandings are thus inherently filtered through modern principles, and were largely viewed through a medical lens until the late 20th century.
> [...]
> Absence of autobiographical accounts has resulted in historians assigning identities to historical figures, which of course may be inaccurate.
I'm skeptical of the idea that fewer are in hiding now. The concept of trans seems to be a western cultural invention rather than some innate quality that can apply to any human.