Controversial American star Kerry Washington discloses Igbo name … says her grandmother would disapprove of it

Kerry Washington is one of America’s notable stars. Though she can’t lay claim to being America’s top celebrity, she’s a celebrity nevertheless, and the things she does and says make the news.

Like all celebrities, she likes to makes the news, and her latest newsmaking gimmick is her disclosure that she also bears Ogechi which is an Igbo name.

Yes, Igbo name, and she revealed to InStyle magazine that has the name because Igbo culture dictates that she must have one because she’s married to an Igbo man, Nnamdi Asomugha.

“Nnamdi’s parents are Nigerian immigrants. His father passed when he was young. When you marry into the Igbo culture, you get a new name. My name is Ogechi. I wear it on a necklace my mother-in-law gave me.”

And really determined to hog the headlines with her disclosure, she added for good measure that her daughter also has an Igbo name, something her own grandmother would frown at and really, really disapprove of.

“My daughter’s name is Isabelle Amarachi. Isabelle is my grandmother’s name. She was a bad-ass. She’d be scowling if she knew I called her that, but she was an immigrant from Jamaica who raised seven children alone in the Bronx. Isabelle’s middle name, Amarachi, is Igbo for ‘God’s grace’.”

Thanks for the information, Kerry.

But when will you actually start speaking Igbo and also dressing like an Igbo woman since you’re so determined that the world should know of your Igbo connection?