Amandla (previously Amanda) Ebeye, a well-known Nollywood actress, claims she changed her first name to be more in keeping with her African heritage.
The newlywed movie star further stated that Amandla Ebeye was chosen as her name because she has no business going by a white man’s name, Amanda.
In a recent interview, she attributed the change of name to knowledge of self.
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She said, “Amanda is a Latin name that means ‘loveable’. Obviously, I am not Latin; my dad is from Agbor in Delta State, while my mum is a Yoruba woman.
“I truly had no business bearing Amanda, but for colonial reasons. There is no reason for me to bear a white man’s name.”
“How many of them bear our names? I badly wanted to change to something close to my birth name, so it would be easy for people to adapt.”
“Then, I found Amandla, which is a Xhosa and Zulu (South African ethnic groups) name, meaning ‘power’. It was a popular chant used during Nelson Mandela’s fight against apartheid.”
She hasn’t experienced racism
The actress also stated that the name change would not affect her past productions.
Speaking on how married life is treating her, Amandla Ebeye said marriage was and even though it was just 2 years, she loved the experience.
Concerning new projects, she revealed that she was working on a new series, ‘30s, Single and Bored’.
She also maintained that relocating abroad had not affected her career.
The actress said, “I won’t say I have relocated here completely but in a way you are correct. Being more away has helped me make better choices of not being in every movie.”
“I love acting passionately but I love being a mom and a wife too. When I am present for my family then I’ll be excited to be on set.”
“So being here has given me the freedom to choose things I want to be part of. I won’t say it impacted it in any sort of way cause whatever happened, I allowed it happen.”
The mother of one spoke on dealing with racism over there in Canada saying she had never really experienced racism.
However she recounted an experience that could be profiled as racist.
“I was in a shop in the UK and the attendant was so rude and condescending and just called her out on it and walked away. I think Europe is racist to Africans naturally, it’s always subtly imbedded somewhere.”
Actress Sarah Martins says she married at age 19 as a virgin
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Meanwhile, popular Nigerian actress Sarah Martins reflected on her failed marriage to celebrate International Women’s Day.
She posted pictures of herself on her social media page to celebrate herself and her fellow women.
In the post, the actress recalled how her marriage failed despite being married as a virgin at age 19.
