Fourteen thousand names, the girl: from Guinea to France, a real mess

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In France and, no doubt elsewhere in Europe, many sons and daughters of West African immigrants, like me, have a surname that is not their own on their identity papers.

Katia with her sister. (Photomontage Libération/Katia Dansoko. Getty Images)

No one really knows what to call me these days. I'm not a celebrity, but the somewhat frayed history of this mess has a certain interest which, contrary to what I long believed, does indeed place me somewhere. Byline of my articles from 2011 until 2018: Katia Touré. Then came Katia Dansoko Touré. Today, at Libé , here I am simply Katia Dansoko. On Facebook, Katia Dansoko Fofana. As for Instagram, it couldn't be worse: Katia Dansoko-Fofana [Touré]. Quite a mess, isn't it?

Usual question: "So, you got married?" Missed. Who am I, then, beyond the journalist and first-time novelist of Guinean "origin" (quotation marks are required to honor Maryse Condé ) who works in Paris? And why this "nomenclature" with multiple variations? It's the result of a "strange affair" of identity that is not really my fault. We are going to begin the necessary steps with the civil registry services to finally try to harmonize all that by retaining Katia Dansoko Fofana.

I am a member, on my mother's side, of a Guinean family.