Suzy Eddie Izzard Opens Up About Inspiration Behind New Feminine Name
Suzy Eddie Izzard has opened up about her recent revelation that she has begun alternating between a new feminine name and her original moniker.
The gender-fluid comedian – who announced in 2020 that she would be using “she/her” pronouns moving forward – shared during an interview earlier this month: “There’s another name I’m going to add in as well, which is Suzy, which I wanted to be since I was 10. I’m going to be Suzy Eddie Izzard.
“That’s how I’m going to roll, so people can choose what they want. They can’t make a mistake, they can’t go wrong.”
Suzy was asked about this during an interview on Lorraine, and told the host the name was inspired by watching Suzy Kendall in To Sir With Love as a 10-year-old.
“I just thought, ‘I’d like to have that name’, but of course at that time I wasn’t telling anyone,” she recalled.
“I knew I was what seems now to be trans, [but] I couldn’t define it when I was a young kid, I just sort of said, ‘that’s not happening’. And then I took off as Eddie, and I thought, ‘well it doesn’t matter’.”
She continued: “It’s got Edward John in my passport, so I just thought, what if I add ‘Suzy’ in there? And then all these people are not sure what to say, and I said, ‘I prefer Suzy, but I don’t mind Eddie. I prefer she/her, I don’t mind he/him’.”
“No one can make a mistake with me,” Suzy added, joking: “Unless they call me Gregory or Sabrina, and then that’s not quite right. But everything else, no one can make a mistake, and they can choose.”
Lorraine also spoke about the difficulties faced by trans people in the world right now, pointing out: “It’s got really toxic and it’s really hard.”
Drawing comparisons between the arguments lesbian, gay and bisexual people found themselves at the centre of in previous decades, Suzy insisted: “This is just a time we have to go through to get to the better time. I’m sure of this.
“Because when I came out 38 years ago, in 1985, no one was talking at all about trans people. We were non-people, we weren’t toxic people, we were just ‘other’ and we were not in a conversation. Now the conversation’s happening – it’s quite heated – but this idea of culture wars, I think that’s the right-wing just stirring things up.
“Most people, when I was campaigning in Sheffield to be an MP, just said, ‘hello Eddie, how are you doing? Good to see you’, and they were lovely and chatty.
“I think 90 to 95 percent of the country, maybe the world, are just saying ‘live and let live, it’s your own personal self, you’re being your authentic self’, and then there’s two to five percent of people who want to stir it up and get angry and shout and get very angry on the internet – which I just ignore.”
During a wide-ranging interview with HuffPost UK published in 2021, Suzy said of her pronouns: “I spent 50 years predominantly in boy mode, so let’s try the next 50 in girl mode.”
“It’s just a language adjustment,” she added later in the interview. “And no one should get het up about it.”
She also stated: “I’m still gender-fluid and I tell everyone that’s supported me, ‘Relax people, he or she, it doesn’t really matter.’ The pronoun thing isn’t the important thing, the important thing was coming out [as trans] back in 1985, that was the tough time.”
Help and support:
- The Gender Trust supports anyone affected by gender identity | 01527 894 838
- Mermaids offers information, support, friendship and shared experiences for young people with gender identity issues | 0208 1234819
- LGBT Youth Scotland is the largest youth and community-based organisation for LGBT people in Scotland. Text 07786 202 370
- Gires provides information for trans people, their families and professionals who care for them | 01372 801554
- Depend provides support, advice and information for anyone who knows, or is related to, a transsexual person in the UK