The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #80613 Message #1471220
Posted By: Azizi
26-Apr-05 - 10:41 AM
Thread Name: BS: How You Chose Your 'Handle'
Subject: RE: BS: How You Chose Your 'Handle'
"Azizi" is a KiSwahili personal name that was given to me as an African free name* in the late 1960s.
Sometimes when I sign my Mudcat posts I will add "Ms" or "Sista" to my name because a number of people here who are unfamiliar with the name "Azizi" and who have never seen me have mistaken me for a male.
* "African free names" was the term used in the late 1960s and 1970s to refer to Arabic and traditional African first names and-less frequently-last names that African Americans {and possibly other Black people} adopted in place of their European or Hebrew birth names. These birth names were called "slave names".
To cite a well known example, heavyweight boxing champion Cassius Clay changed his name to "Muhammad Al" when he converted to Islam. However, for many African Americans like myself who were given or who self-selected new names, this change had nothing to do with religious conversion. Instead it had much to do with honoring our African heritage.
Besides, I welcomed the opportunity to change my name because I
didn't think that my birth name fit me anymore.
What was that name?? I'm not telling.