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.
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…
