Reclaiming an Indigenous name

When Alison Tedford made the decision to change her name it was deeply personal.

Alison is a member of the Kwakiutl First Nation in northern Vancouver Island, near Port Hardy. As an Indigenous relations consultant she has spent years working with government and nonprofits to rethink Indigenous inclusion. (This year, she published a book about the topic.)

And it was important for Alison to first garner the support of her grandfather before she took the steps to take her family name: Seaweed.

In 2021, the federal government made it easier for Indigenous people to reclaim their traditional names. And as one Canadian university researcher told NPR, “most First Nations tribal members have lost their original Indigenous names to history as a result of forced assimilation and poor government record-keeping.”

Fortunately for Alison, she grew up with the knowledge of her ancestral name.

Alison’s grandfather is a residential school survivor who, she said, has “consulted for and advised museums internationally on cultural issues, taught our language at UBC, contributed to language revitalization research, educated about our culture around the world and close to home.”

Alison’s great-grandfather was influential in maintaining potlatch during Canada’s potlatch ban. (You’ll hear from Alison about why the ceremony is particularly meaningful to her family.) He was also influential in fighting against other forced assimilation practices.

Today, the Seaweed family’s carvings and button blankets are on display in museums around the globe. They have also played key roles in keeping their culture alive.

“Our family has been sharing about culture with the world for generations and being able to do that through writing and speaking is the way I get to be part of that tradition.”

FVC: What does it mean to reclaim a name?

Alison Seaweed: For me, it's just been acknowledging who I am and stepping into the work of my family. My family has been educating around cultural issues for generations. And using my name is really, I feel, stepping into that tradition and reconnecting with who I am and claiming that for myself again.

FVC: Did you find that process challenging?

Seaweed: I’m just embarking on the legal process for it. I've been using it professionally, but I'm just starting all of the paperwork. I had to wait because I had some flights that were planned and I needed all of my identification to match my airline tickets. And I was concerned about how long everything was going to take. It is quite a process. But it's been really great to see how many different organizations connected to the process have put things in place to allow Indigenous people to reclaim their traditional names, to reduce the costs associated, which is really helpful.

FVC: How did you make the decision?

Seaweed: It's something I've been thinking about for some time. I had talked to different members of my family about it. I talked to my uncle about it because I really trust his perspective. I had been a little bit shy and timid of identifying in that way so publicly because I hadn't really heard from my grandfather about how he felt about the work that I was doing, whether he felt it was consistent with what we have been doing.

So I was a little bit nervous. But he talked to my grandpa, and my grandpa reached out and asked if I would return to my birth name. So I felt a lot more comfortable taking that step and he has really been encouraging me along the way, and asking me how the paperwork is going and explaining how excited and happy he is that I'm doing this. So that's been really wonderful.

FVC: How did that make you feel? What was that experience like to acknowledge that together?

Seaweed: It's been really wonderful. It's been nice to know that I have his full support and that he appreciates the way that I'm doing what I'm doing. And it just creates this sense of belonging. And it's just been really important to me to have that really meaningful and supportive—because it is hard work and having that support means a lot.

FVC: Can you share a little bit about your First Nation? What does Seaweed mean?

Seaweed: It's actually traditionally Siwidi, I believe it's S-I-W-I-D-I, and it means 'paddle to'. And so basically, what it means is that we helped potlatches that people would travel to attend, people would come from afar to be in ceremony with us. It was changed, like a lot of First Nations names were changed, by Indian agents. And so it became Seaweed, S-E-A-W-E-E-D. And I believe other folks have had their name changed to ‘Sea-ward’ also, or there were a few different iterations of ways the name was changed. But ours was to Seaweed, specifically.

FVC: You talk about your grandfather having the last name …are there documents that say this is your family name? How does that work?

Seaweed: I was born Alison Seaweed. I had a birth certificate in that name and there's birth announcements in that name. And then when I was like six or seven, my stepdad adopted me, and I changed my name to Humeny, H-u-m-e-n-y, and that's Ukrainian. I was raised with that name—I have two half sisters that have that name, and my other sister has that name, and my mom did. We all have the same last name.

I later married and changed to Tedford and so I'm just going back to my birth name. Normally, after marriage, it's a very easy process to go back and there isn't much paperwork, but because I was adopted all of my birth certificate, everything says Humeny on it now, so I have to do a literal name change to reclaim the name I was born with.

FVC: So the process for you, I guess, is somewhat a little bit more complicated than it would traditionally be. Is that right?

Seaweed: I think that other folks who also had their names changed by Indian agents, or what have you, returning to the traditional spelling, they would be going through the same process as I am. But reverting to a maiden name is a lot more simple than the process that I'm going through, because I don't have documents in my birth name anymore because of the adoption.

FVC: Growing up or maybe more so in adulthood, was this kind of on your mind to reclaim your name?

Seaweed: Yeah, it's certainly something that I've considered. I just wanted that for myself and to be able to connect with my family in that way. I've been doing a lot of things to reconnect with my family and my culture in the last year:

I did a First Nations women's yoga teacher training program that included language and culture instruction from elders, I went to my first Potlatch in our home community, and I've been reaching out to relatives who live in the Port Hardy area to build relationships. I felt like that was a natural connection. I think having that name in place is also something that makes things easier in terms of introductions because when I was using my former married name, having to explain how I was connected to community was a bit of a longer conversation. But when it's my name, then people will know. So I think it facilitated those that like recognition of where I'm from and who my family is when I'm talking with people in community and reestablishing those connections.

FVC: If you don’t mind me asking, did you have a relationship with your grandfather growing up?

Seaweed: Yeah, I was raised by my mom and my stepdad. I lived with my mom and my stepdad. But I spent time with my dad growing up, on holidays and weekends, when possible. My grandparents were quite involved, they would take my sister and I on trips and share different cultural experiences with us, like they taught me how to do the bumblebee dance, and we danced at my cousin's wedding. So we've had some experiences of being exposed to culture in those ways growing up, and my grandparents were always very intentional about making sure we felt very loved and accepted and appreciated.

FVC: And I don't know how much you can speak to this, but how common is it to reclaim a name amongst Indigenous peoples?

Seaweed: You know, I'm not sure. I know that there's some barriers currently in terms of the literal structure of the government systems, and that they don't recognize what they determine to be special characters. So not everyone is able to have their actual names reflected on identification because the computer systems don't recognize them. Some of our characters look like sevens and things, right. The identification systems aren't built for our languages. So I think that probably more people would if that was less of an issue. But I'm not sure what the prevalence is. But it's nice that there are systems in place to be supportive of people who are making that decision, and I'm grateful for that.

(Thirty-eight people in BC have filed for a legal name change to reclaim their traditional Indigenous names since the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada released the “94 Calls to Action” in June 2015, the BC Vital Statistics Agency told The Current. An additional three applications are also currently being processed.)

FVC: Is there anything else that you wanted to speak to you on the subject or that I didn't get to ask you about?

Seaweed: Just that I'm really proud to be reclaiming my name and to be able to connect to the legacy of my family. I'm just so proud of the family that I come from, and the work that my family has done. And I'm just grateful to be a part of it in this way.

The details about Alison’s new book, The Canadian Business Owner’s Guide to Reconciliation, can be viewed online here.

This interview has been lightly edited for clarity and concision.