‘No One Can Really Get it Wrong Unless They Call Me Kenneth’: Eddie Izzard Clarifies Her Name and Pronouns

Eddie Izzard has something to clear up: She will always be Eddie, but her name is Suzy. 

Back in March, the prolific comedian joined Matt Forde on The Political Party podcast and announced the addition of Suzy to her name. She told Forde, “I’m Eddie,” before continuing, “There’s another name I’m going to add in as well, which is Suzy.” Izzard has wanted the name since watching fellow Brit Suzy Kendall in To Sir with Love at the age of 10. She went on to proudly declare, “I’m going to be Suzy Eddie Izzard.” The podcast appearance came just months after the comedian waded into political waters with an unsuccessful bid as a Labour candidate in a recent U.K. election. 

To kick off Pride Month, Izzard took to Twitter to clarify her name and personal pronouns, noting that she prefers Suzy and she/her but doesn’t mind Eddie and he/him. After offering some grace and leniency with how she is addressed, she went on to say that unless you’re deliberately misgendering her by calling her Kenneth, you can’t really get it wrong. It’s as simple as that. 

Suzy is just one of many notable trans and gender non-conforming celebrities in the public eye sharing their journey in the wake of political crusades against them. As someone who unwittingly found herself in the middle of the contentious bathroom debate, Suzy tries to tune out the toxic minority and embrace her supporters. To that end, in an appearance with talk-show host Lorraine Kelly, she said that she’s certain there are better times coming for “people who are being their authentic selves.” 

And it all starts with addressing people how they wish to be addressed.