Chennai, Nov 11 : US born Celine R. Gounder, who has been named a member of the Covid-19 Advisory Board of US President-elect Joe Biden, has said that there is no need for her to change her name.
“My father changed his name to Gounder in the early 1970s before I was born. My name is my name. It’s part of my history and identity, even if some of that history is painful. I didn’t change my name when I got married. I’m not changing it now,” Gounder said in a tweet.
Her father Raj Gounder is from Tamil Nadu.
“Many ask why I use the caste name Gounder as my last name. My father immigrated to the US in the 1960s. Americans had a hard time saying Natarajan. Gounder was easier for them to pronounce,” she said.
Tamil Nadu came to know about her Tamil connection only by her caste name – Gounder.
There are some comments on her Twitter account requesting her to remove the caste name from her name.
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