Why I decided to change my name

Have you ever thought about what your name means? Does it have any social, cultural or political significance to you? Does it tell some truth or indeed any truth about you? The New Yorker article Why Your Name Matters argued that names can influence choice. Names can also determine if “we are accepted to a school or are hired for a particular job.” In particular, minority-sounding names can complicate job search due to bias. As a result, people with ethnic names may choose to whiten their names to increase their chances of success in job-seeking efforts.  In this article, I discuss how names can inform adoption of a colonised identity.