My name is Taylor Swift and I’ve gone through hell because of it — employers won’t even hire me
Taylor Swift has gone through “hell” because of her name — but not the Taylor Swift you’re thinking of.
A 19-year-old from the Scottish village of Newarthill, Lanarkshire, shares a name with the global superstar — and is often told she’s an imposter of the pop phenomenon, who released her latest chart-topping, blood-spilling album, “The Tortured Poets Department,” on April 19.
Her ID has been questioned by taxi drivers and border officials to the point that she now additionally carries around her passport to prove she’s not trying to impersonate the “Cruel Summer” singer.
“I’ve had hell because of my name,” the Swift of Scotland told The Sun.
Swift’s parents, Mairi Rice and Peter Swift, both 43, named their daughter before Taylor Swift became the huge star she is today.
The singer’s self-titled debut album was released in 2006 when baby Swift, born in December 2004, would’ve been about 2 years old.
“Normally, most of us only need to have documentation for a few things,” her mom told the outlet. “But for Taylor, she needs it for absolutely everything. Nobody believes her.”
Naturally, Mairi and Peter didn’t know about the yet-to-be global sensation when they named their daughter.
“As soon as we saw our girl, she just looked like a Taylor Swift,” Mairi said. “She is very outgoing, very bubbly. The name Taylor Swift is not a coincidence. Something led to that. It’s in her character.”
A few years later, Mairi saw her daughter’s name pop up on the screen of a music channel — and after that, more people started to recognize the name.
The teen first discovered she shared a name with a celebrity when she was just 12 years old and attending Taylor High School. (Yes, you read that correctly, too.)
After the release of Swift’s 2014 album “1989,” people started coming up to her at school and telling her she had “a famous name.”
“I told them, ‘No, I don’t.’ Then I realized who she was. Now I’m a top Swiftie fan. I love her,” she said of her namesake, who currently is in a well-publicized relationship with Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.
Luckily for her, the name recognition meant she was well-known at school and “never had problems with getting bullied,” she said.
“Maybe in a few arguments, I got, ‘Shut up — your name’s Taylor Swift.’ Some people don’t like her,” she shared. “But I love Taylor. That’s life; you just move on.”
She believes the Swift name has also made employers think she’s not genuine when applying to jobs — and she’s subsequently faced trouble finding work.
“When applying for jobs, I think I don’t get any news back because they’re looking at my name and they think it’s a fake application or something,” she shared.
Her mom agreed: “She thinks her name doesn’t help.”
On top of that, she’s had doctors, dentists, shop workers and others skeptical of her because of her name, which the younger Taylor admits can be embarrassing.
“The last holiday we went on, we were approaching the gate when we could hear the air hostesses saying, ‘We can’t believe her name is Taylor Swift,’” her mom shared. “And when it comes to the passport checks, staff are skeptical. They say to her, ‘Your name is what?’ And they’ll look again.”
She also has issues showing her ID at bars — nobody believes her age — much less her name — because she “looks so young” and shares the recognizable moniker.
“But I’ll get in with my ID. And then everybody’s talking about my name, saying, ‘Taylor Swift is in the pub.’ I need to show everybody my passport,” she shared.
“I’ve been embarrassed so much because of my name that I deserve something good out of it. I do like my name — it’s quite unique,” she said. “But sometimes there can be embarrassing sides to it.”
But the name is where their similarities end.
The “Fortnight” singer has racked up 283 million Instagram followers, but the Scotland teenager can’t even use her real name on the platform.
“When we put her name into Facebook, they were, like, ‘You’re trying to copy her name.’ We sent them documents but they still said she was copying a celebrity’s name,” her mom Mairi shared.
“I get called the wee Taylor Swift,” her daughter quipped, referring to her 5-foot height, compared to 34-year-old Swift’s 5-foot-11 stature.
While one Taylor Swift is traveling the world for her Eras Tour, the other is learning in school and working small jobs.
“I did music, history, home economics and geography at school,” the younger Swift said. “And since then I’ve worked in warehouses, a chip shop and at an amusement park. But I might go back to college to do drama.”
Scot’s Swift is a self-proclaimed Swiftie, admitting that she loves to sing her namesake’s songs at karaoke when she gets the chance.
She’s even hoping to score tickets to the Eras Tour at Edinburgh’s Murrayfield Stadium in June.
“I love Taylor Swift. I was saying to my pals if she comes here, I’ll need to get a ticket so I can go on stage with her,” she shared. “I’d hold up a big poster saying, ‘My name is Taylor Swift.’ I wanted tickets, but they are so expensive.”
