What is your name? 

Zamira. I always have issues pronouncing the Z sometimes. 

What is the meaning behind your name? 

So my dad named me and I don't really have much of a relationship with him. He's always kind of been out of the picture so I have no idea if there was an actual meaning to it. All I know about my name is that my dad wanted to name me Mira, and my mom said it sounded too much like a witch on TV named Elvira. And like her being the child of someone from the south, she was like absolutely not. And so they switched it to Zamira. But I was almost going to be like, Amber or something, is what she wanted to name me. I was gonna say people have come up to me, and they've said that my name has different meanings in their country or culture, which is interesting. I've had someone who's like Jewish come up to me and say that my name is common in Hebrew. Also in Arabic as well. 

Have you ever changed your name?  

In college I went by Mira for a while, I think sometimes the Z throws people off. So Mira just felt more straightforward. And that's also what a lot of close family friends call me. And then in high school, my friends called me Zam. 

Do you have nicknames? 

Yeah, Zam or Mira or Z sometimes. 

How do you resonate with your names? 

Honestly, I think I like all the nicknames more. I don't know, I just like the Z in my name, but Z throws people off. I don't know if it feels like it doesn't flow off the tongue as easy as Mira. 

How do you navigate your daily life with your name? 

I do go by Mira because again like this is hard, like people don't hear it or they say like Samira. I think Mira is slightly more common. 

How do you name yourself in the digital world? 

Just my name, Zamira. Tenny, my last name also. My Instagram is Mira Tenny because I think I was going to do Z Tenny but it was taken or something somehow. 

Did you run into any problems when deciding on a digital handle? 

It's always Mira Tennie or Z Tennie. I did go back and forth between the Mira. I played music in college, I played out a lot more back then and so I would go by Mira on social media for a while. At one point I tried to spell it with an X, because I thought it looked cool. 

What is your relationship with your digital self? 

I guess I'm a loner type. And so I find spaces especially in neuro divergent type spaces. I don't want to say a sense of community but a sense of understanding myself. I might talk to someone in real life about it because it's like, you don't know who likes to label themselves as that. I think it's easier online to just go on a Reddit group and be like, Oh, that makes sense about why I do that or, you know, little things like that. So I think that's mainly what I use social media for. I really don't communicate much with people on it in general, besides maybe dating apps. I don't interact with people and just read things. I'm mostly like an observer in the digital space, more so than anything else. 

Have you ever thought about changing your digital handles? 

Once I was attempting to go by stage name or my music page that I used to have, I guess I still have it but I think that's really the only time. I think I also think of setting up an art account or something that's like maybe I'll use a different name.  

Would you change your real name if you were given the chance? 

I always have a weird reaction when people say they like my name because I don't. In some ways I don't feel attached to it. I guess when I look up the meaning I like it. I don't really feel that much attached to my name. I almost  associate my name with the negative parts of myself, because a lot of times when I was younger I would hear my name being called when I am being told to not do certain things, like if the music I was playing with was too loud.I hear that in my head when I hear my name more so than anything else. Like the negative things that were associated with it when I was younger. And the way people said it negatively.

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