Nigerian Actress Amandla Ebeye Gives Reason For Changing Her Name

Amandla Ebeye, a popular Nigerian actress, who was formerly called Amanda Ebeye, has talked about why she changed her name.

She says she changed her first name because she wanted something closer to her African roots.

In an interview with Saturday Beats, she said, “I’ll attribute it (change of name) to knowledge of self. 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 tribes) name, meaning ‘power’. It was a popular chant used during Nelson Mandela’s fight against apartheid.”

The actress also stated that the name change would not affect her past productions.

Speaking on how married life is treating her, Ebeye said, “Marriage is good. We have been sailing the boat for close to two years, and I am loving it completely.”

On her new projects, she said, “For about a year, we had been in the process of editing the new series I just released, titled, ‘30s, Single and Bored’.”

Ebeye also maintained that relocating abroad had not affected her career.

She said, “I have not relocated completely. But being away for longer periods has helped me to make better choices of not being in every movie. I love acting passionately, but I love being a mum and wife too. Being out of Nigeria has given me the freedom to choose the things I want to be a part of.”