Living amongst different types of people from different nationalities and with different religions means that they always mispronounce or misspell my name. Some call me Faathima, Fateema, Fatiima. But Hey, as long as I heard the ‘Fa’ at the beginning and ‘ma’ at the end I don’t correct them.

Being a black person people believe that I have another name, but no I don’t have another name. I am just Fathima. Some people raise questions about my name, but I never understand the need of knowing why I have this name.

My name is Arabic which was given to the daughter of Prophet Mohammed(S,A,W). This is also my grandmother’s name, and being my mother’s first daughter, my mother wanted me to be just like her mother. I guess that is why she gave me this name. Many Portuguese people also have this name but they spell it ‘Fatima’.

My name means ‘queen’. I may not be born out of royalty but trust me I am somebody’s queen. I am Fathima.