The Guardian: ‘My full name is Tanyaradzwa’: the stars reclaiming their names
“Names are important and they have meaning, said the cultural historian and campaigner Patrick Vernon, whether that is familial significance or the time or day someone was born, for example. “The fact that people still feel they have to change or anglicise their names, and water down their heritage to fit in or succeed within the dominant culture, says we’ve still got a long way to go.”
He said people made a conscious effort to learn the names of those in positions of power but did not apply this enough in day-to-day life. “If you’re a prime minister or a royal, that’s your name, people have to respect it. That should apply to all of us.”
People changing their name to reclaim identities was nothing new, Vernon added. At the height of the black power movement in the 1960s, many made a political statement by rejecting European names.”
