Dayvid Dixon, seven-year-old daughter of Brookhaven native, David Lamar Dixon has co-authored a book with her mother DeShannon Dixon becoming the youngest published author in North Carolina.

The book is entitled “A Girl Named Dayvid” and chronicles the adventures of a young black girl in third grade who has a name most people assume to be a boy’s name and is modeled after Dayvid’s real life experiences in school.

“We didn’t realize people would have a problem with a gender-neutral name,” DeShannon said. “As she started getting older, people would assume she’s a boy and that would upset her.”

Her mother chose Dayvid’s name because the name belonged to a great leader and that’s what she wants her daughter to be. Dayvid’s naming follows in a similar pattern with her siblings, a brother named Zion, meaning God dwells within, and a sister named Shekeena, which DeShannon said means God’s protected place.

“What people call you is what

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

you become,” Deshannon said about her belief that your name can have a reaffirming quality on your identity.

DeShannon said Dayvid had always been inquisitive of her social surroundings and shared an instance where her daughter expressed concerns about her skin being brown when all of her friends’ skin was white. She said when Dayvid started going to school she’d get questions from students and teachers alike to the point where Dayvid didn’t want to go to school.

DeShannon said children usually ask questions at first about Dayvid’s name but accept it then move on.

“The adults look at me like I needed to validate what I chose to

name my daughter,” she said.

This spawned the idea of sitting down with her daughter and writing down her story. DeShannon would say, “Okay, you’re walking down the hall and then what happens?” and Dayvid would fill in the rest for the book.

Dayvid said not much has changed regarding the way she’s treated, but both she and her mother are glad that her story – and the story of other children with gender-neutral names – is being told.

“It feels good and makes me feel like I’m helping others,” Dayvid said.

DeShannon said that’s the main motivation behind the book and their efforts.

“There are a lot of kids who have gender neutral names, and we may not be aware of how they’re being treated,” Deshannon said.

She said writing this book with her daughter was a way of giving Dayvid confidence and instilling in her that “you are uniquely you”.

“Growing up in this society knowing change is inevitable, you have got to give them the best head start that you can,” DeShannon said.

DeShannon and Dayvid hope the book will get people to embrace everyone’s differences. The duo hopes to stretch Dayvid’s story into a short series but want to focus on promoting the current book at the moment.

“A Girl Named Dayvid” is available on Amazon in paperback and Kindle edition.