Call us by name

I applaud the actress Thandiwe (pronounced “tan-DEE-way”) Newton for taking back her name to its original Zimbabwean spelling.

It had been anglicised to Thandie in the credit of her first film and has been spelled that way ever since.

She said of the proper spelling: “That’s my name. It’s always been my name. I’m taking back what’s mine.”

I totally empathise with her because not only have people spelled m y name wrong on so many occasions, but they also pronounce it incorrectly.

I’ve been called everything from Sangeeta, Siren and Sahara to Sierra, Zara and Sarah.

It makes me feel irrelevant, especially when I’m interviewed and they clearly haven’t been bothered to check.

It’s not only lazy and unacceptable, it’s highly offensive. So once and for all, my name is Saira – pronounced SIGHRA.