Say my name
JACK MONROE EXPLAINS TO THEIR SON WHY DEADNAMING IS ESSENTIALLY IN-REAL-LIFE TROLLING
“Mama, why do some people call you by a different name?”
We were on the train, that place where twice a day, most of our most important conversations seem to happen. I sighed. I changed my name by deed poll before Small Boy could talk, so had hoped this was a conversation we wouldn’t have had to tackle for a while. And yet, because of some people’s refusal – and it is refusal – to call me by my legal name, I was having to find answers, and fast.
“When I was born, my Mama gave me a very frilly name. That’s the funny thing about naming babies, you decide what they are going to be called before you meet them. Uncle Yannis was called David when he was born. Tombo had a different name too. And so did I.