In comparison to say, Smith or Cooper (lol), Hadjicostas is ‘difficult’. It’s not ‘English’, she would have had to spell it out to some people, and she may have been picked on at school for having a Greek surname.
Yes, she changed it for perhaps questionable reasons, yes, she’s now retroactively regretting changing it now, and yes, she’s trying to insert herself into dialogue about BAME women and their names - all very shabby and very HER. But I would imagine for her, maybe it was difficult to have a Greek name at times, especially for someone who is at odds with who she really is.
I still think she’s a ghoul! Just seeing it from a different point of view. Maybe the main consensus is ‘It’s not a difficult name’, but it wasn’t our name.
I have an unusual surname,
one that looks different to how it is pronounced. I don't like to think of it as difficult, I prefer unusual or different. I did think at one time about changing it, but after talking to a guy at an LGBT group, he talked me out of it, so I didn't. I thought why should I, it's another thing that makes me different and stand out.
It made me the butt of many a joke in school, and I was certainly picked on for it. It sounds rude, and as a gay man, bullies at school slightly changed it to make it sound even worse. They did it to fit the bullying narrative. To this day people snigger when I say it. They soon get over it, especially when I stand there and just roll my eyes.
I have to spell my name for people, as it is not spelt the way it sounds. I can not blame people for not being able to spell a name they have never come across before, and it is better for me to tell them than for them to get it wrong. I don't think it is rude of them if they get it wrong and I haven't told them how to spell it though.
What does piss me off is when I have taken the time to spell it out, they STILL get it wrong.
She chose to change her name once, there is nothing to stop her changing it back should she so wish. Her followers would still follow her. A rose by any other name would smell as sweet. A scammer by any other name would still be a scammer.