Hello, my name is Vedia, rhymes with media

I have a confession to make: I HATED MY 1ST NAME.

I hated it for years. I was that kid who could never find her name at any souvenir shop when we stopped at them on family road trips or school field trips.

Credit: Joshua Styles

I have not used Vedia since the 80s; I was teased unmercifully (called VD, venereal disease, video tape, etc.) and bullied constantly by the kids in my elementary school and my first year of junior high. Over the last 35 years, I never thought to use my government name. Tanya stuck since it is my part of my middle name, which is La’Tanya and I could find it on keychains.

Recently, I won several awards in my graduate program and my college advisor asked me if I wanted those awards to read VEDIA BARNETT or TANYA BARNETT. I was seriously taken aback because I had not used Vedia in any capacity since the mid 80s. I never had to help people pronounce it because I use Tanya on applications and the like. By names matter, right. I saw it all the time that we have to name a thing or use the name that thing or person chooses to go by. Yet, I was not using my name due to past trauma so much so, I forgot about Vedia.

There is a history of Black folks being shamed by their unique, ethnic or phonetically spelled names. I remember when Dr. Marijuana Pepsi Vandyck talked about refusing to change her name. “In school, Vandyck says her name elicited the strongest reactions from white teachers.” I received that from the kids in my school. Teachers butchered my name or would use my last name when they called roll. I cannot remember the last time my name was uttered by anyone other than my husband and my father.

Janice Gassam Asare in her Forbes article, Are Job Candidates Still Being Penalized For Having ‘Ghetto’ Names?, shares how “Name discrimination is a common issue that job candidates from different ethnic backgrounds may face”. Black folks as well as ethnic individuals face all sorts of discrimination when it comes to our names. But we can do something about it.

• I had to fall back in love with my name. Vedia is unique, easy to say and basically no one has it.
• I realize my mother chose my name for a reason. It was different and she loved the way it looked. We are talking about 21yr old naming her Black baby girl 1971.
• Believe it or not, my father and my husband are the only people in this world who still call me Vedia. Even my momma calls me Tanya.
• I asked my kids what they liked and they love Vedia. The more I type it, the more I realize that it is time to use my name. The name Ruth and Rodney Walker gifted me with.

So let me reintroduce myself to you. Hello, my name is Vedia La’Tanya Barnett.