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I WON’T SHAKE IT OFF
I’m called Taylor Swift – companies won’t hire me and I’m banned from using my real name
The young teen explained how her unique moniker means she needs to carry her passport with her everywhere
TAYLOR Swift has told of the living “hell” — of sharing her name with a global superstar.
The 19-year-old of Newarthill, Lanarkshire — who studied at Taylor High School — says she’s tormented by claims she’s fake.
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Taxi drivers and even border officials don’t believe that is her real ID.
But despite the massive effect on her life, Taylor has revealed she’s her namesake’s No1 fan and belts out the icon’s hits at karaoke.
The self-confessed Swifty said: “I’ve had hell because of my name.”
Scotland’s only Taylor Swift claims she struggles to find work because employers think her celebrity name is a wind-up.
Taylor carries her passport everywhere to prove she is not pretending to be the superstar singer.
She told how she first realised she shared a name with the Shake It Off billionaire, 34, when she was a pupil at Taylor High School in nearby New Stevenston.
And the teenager, who is 5ft in height compared with the towering 5ft 11in icon, thinks employers can often be sceptical she is genuine.
She explained: “I get called the wee Taylor Swift.
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"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.”
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. But sometimes there can be embarrassing sides to it.
Taylor Swift
Her mum, carer Mairi Rice, said: “I think they must think that she’s at it sometimes. She thinks her name doesn’t help.”
While American Taylor owns eight plush pads in New York, Rhode Island, Los Angeles and Nashville, the Scot shares a modest two-storey home with her mum.
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And she says she knows her life is worlds apart from her namesake.
As the chart-topping performer was preparing for a break from her record-breaking Eras Tour over Christmas, Taylor was stacking shelves in a warehouse.
She added: “I did music, history, home economics and geography at school.
"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.”
Taylor, who believes she has suffered prejudice after coming out as gay, added: “I think it’s just a bit of discrimination.”
Mairi and dad Peter Swift — both 43 — named her two years before the singer shot to stardom.
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The pop idol launched her career penning songs as a 14-year-old before her self-titled debut was released in 2006.
Scots Taylor is a karaoke superfan and loves to belt out her namesake’s Grammy-winning hit Anti-Hero in Glasgow’s karaoke bars.
The Celtic supporter is desperate to see the icon during her sold-out three nights of gigs at Edinburgh’s Murrayfield Stadium in June but couldn’t afford the tickets.
The bubbly teen, who last got up on stage to sing her hero’s Love Story at Katie’s Bar in Glasgow, added: “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.
“I’d hold up a big poster saying ‘My name is Taylor Swift.’ I wanted tickets. But they are so expensive.”
Taylor did not realise she shared a global celebrity’s name until she was 12.
She is very outgoing, very bubbly. The name Taylor Swift is not a coincidence. Something led to that. It’s in her character
Mairi Swift
It followed the release of Swift’s 2014 album 1989 — named after the year she was born — and the hit song Shake It Off.
She recalled: “People at school were like, ‘You’ve got a famous name’. I told them, ‘No, I don’t’. Then I realised who she was. Now I’m a top Swiftie fan. I love her.”
Mairi said she and Peter were totally unaware when their child was born of singer Taylor, who has sold 114million albums.
She added: “As soon as we saw our girl, she just looked like a Taylor Swift.”
But the mum told how a few years later she was shocked to see her child’s name on the bottom of the screen on a music channel.
When Taylor went to nursery, other parents were stunned she shared her name with the star, who revealed previously: “Most of our family can be traced back to Scotland.”
Scotland's only Taylor Swift
Name: Taylor Kathleen Ann Swift
Age: 19
Born: December 2004
Place of birth: Lanarkshire
Height: 5ft
School: Taylor High School, New Stevenston, Lanarkshire
Jobs: Ex-warehouse and chip shop worker, former amusement park staff member
Team: Celtic
Celebrity crush: Taylor Swift
Relationship with: A teenage Taylor Swift fan
Instruments: The drums (also sings karaoke)
Also known as: The wee Taylor Swift
Mairi continued: “More people started to recognise her name.
“She took over one year at a school Christmas concert — and the head teacher announced, ‘We’ve got a prima donna.’
“But someone shouted, ‘That’s not a prima donna, that’s Taylor Swift.’ She made a lasting impression.”
The mum believes her daughter was given the name for a reason.
She said: “She is very outgoing, very bubbly. The name Taylor Swift is not a coincidence. Something led to that. It’s in her character.”
And Taylor told how she became well known at school for sharing her name with the Bad Blood singer.
She explained: “Everybody knew me because of my name. I never had problems with getting bullied.
“Maybe in a few arguments I got, ‘Shut up, your name’s Taylor Swift’. Some people don’t like her.
“But I love Taylor. That’s life, you just move on.”
The teenager still has hopes of one day getting to see the Wildest Dreams superstar, who is dating Kansas City Chiefs American football player Travis Kelce, 34.
She said: “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.
“But sometimes there can be embarrassing sides to it.”
The pitfalls include having doctors, dentists, door stewards, shop workers and others who are sceptical of her real name.
US billionaire Taylor Swift
Name: Taylor Alison Swift
Age: 34
Born: December 1989
Place of birth: West Reading Pennsylvania, US
Height: 5ft 11in
School: Hendersonville High School, Hendersonville Tennessee
Jobs: Most streamed woman on Spotify and Apple Music, Highest grossing female touring artist, multi-platinum recording artist
Celebrity crush: Travis Kelce
Relationship with: American football hero (see above)
Team: Kansas City Chiefs
Instruments: Vocals, guitar, piano, banjo, ukelele
Also known as: Tay Tay
Her mum said: “Normally, most of us only need to have documentation for a few things. But for Taylor, she needs it for absolutely everything. Nobody believes her.
“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’.
"And when it comes to the passport checks, staff are sceptical. They say to her, ‘Your name is what?’ And they’ll look again.”
Taylor is banned from using her own name on social media while her mega-popular namesake has 282million followers on Instagram.
Mairi added: “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.”
Even Taylor’s 18-year-old girlfriend did not believe at first her name was legitimate.
Any time that I go to the pub, nobody believes what age I am or what my name is... 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.
Taylor Swift
But the youngster said: “She loves it. She is a Swiftie fan as well.
“She never believed me when we first started talking. That carried on for months and months.”
Despite the drawbacks, Taylor’s name causes a buzz when she goes on a night out.
She said: “Any time that I go to the pub, nobody believes what age I am or what my name is because I look so young and I’m also called Taylor Swift.
"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.”
But the Scots Taylor’s family are also really proud of her name, which is now a global brand.
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Mairi even calls her daughter to convince people she is telling the truth about the teen’s monicker.
She said: “I am really proud of my daughter’s name being Taylor Swift. If she’s not with me, I will phone her and say to her, ‘Can you just tell them your name?’"
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