So what would you do if one day, your Facebook account has been deactivated because they want you to use your first name and not your middle name, though people know you by your middle name?  Sucks, right?  It’s not really about hiding your identity but for people who are known for a certain name, this could mean confused and decreasing followers, and raises the important question of users’ rights.

And this is what exactly happened to Salman Rushdie, the Brittish-Indian Knight Bachelor novelist and essayist known for his controversial piece The Satanic Verses, when Facebook decided to deactivate his account because he uses Salman, which is actually his middle name.

Rushdie contacted Facebook as to what happened to his account, and he was informed that he has to prove the he is really Salman Rushdie, so he did so and sent them his identification to Facebook.  The social network then insisted that Rushdie use Ahmed since that’s his first name, but Rushdie insisted that people know him as Salman and not Ahmed.

Rushdie took his frustration out on Twitter.  His tweets documented what happened and what the Facebook team wanted him to do until his victory.

“Amazing. 2 days ago FB deactivated my page saying they didn’t believe I was me. I had to send a photo of my passport page. THEN…”
“…they said yes, I was me, but insisted I use the name Ahmed which appears before Salman on my passport and which I have never used. NOW…”
“They have reactivated my FB page as “Ahmed Rushdie,”in spite of the world knowing me as Salman. Morons.@MarkZuckerbergF? Are you listening?”
“Maybe @MarkZuckerbergF is a phony. Is the real #Zuckerberg on Twitter? Where are you hiding, Mark? Come out here and give me back my name!”
“So if @finkd is the real #Zuckerberg: what are your people up to, sir? Why have I been denied my name on FB? An answer would be nice.”
“Have been trying to get somebody at Facebook to respond. No luck. Am now hoping that ridicule by the Twitterverse will achieve what I can’t.”
“Good idea. Dear #Facebook, forcing me to change my FB name from Salman to Ahmed Rushdie is like forcing J. Edgar to become John Hoover.”
“Or, if F. Scott Fitzgerald was on #Facebook, would they force him to be Francis Fitzgerald? What about F. Murray Abraham?”
“An interesting list: Middle Name Users. James “Paul” McCartney, Francis “Scott” Fitzgerald, Edward “Morgan” Forster… more? #Facebook”

Finally, Rushdie’s issues were addressed and Facebook finally gave in.

“Victory! #Facebook has buckled! I’m Salman Rushdie again. I feel SO much better. An identity crisis at my age is no fun. Thank you Twitter!”
“Just received an apology from The #Facebook Team. All is sweetness and light.”

Though he achieved victory, he still went on tweeting well-known people who used their middle name.

“Best of #MiddleNameUsers 1: ARTHUR EVELYN ST.JOHN WAUGH WILLIAM BRAD(LEY) PITT GEORGE ORSON WELLES MICHAEL TRENT REZNOR JAMES RICK PERRY”
“Best of #MiddleNameUsers 2: JAMES PAUL MCCARTNEY HENRY CHARLES BUKOWSKI CHARLES BRUCE CHATWIN LYNN NOLAN RYAN ADELINE VIRGINIA WOOLF”
“Best of #MiddleNameUsers 3: JAMES HUGH LAURIE DAVID JUDE HEYWORTH LAW EDNA ANNIE PROULX FRANCIS SCOTT FITZGERALD FAHRID MURRAY ABRAHAM”

Then someone asked him if he was ashamed of the name Ahmed because it sounds more Islamic to which Rushdie responded:

“@kofi_annanomous Ashamed? Don’t be silly. My parents called me Salman & so has everyone else. My father was Anis Ahmed, hence the Ahmed.”
Then Rushdie went back to posting famous people’s names.
“Best #MiddleNameUsers 4: Joseph Rudyard Kipling, Nelle Harper Lee, Christopher Ashton Kutcher, Willard Mitt Romney, Keith Rupert Murdoch”

Our name is our birth rite, whether it’s our first or middle name.  No one has the right to tell us that we can’t use our middle name, it’s still our name.  And the point is, why did Facebook ask for proof of Rushdie’s identity then still insist on making him use his first name?  It’s not like Rushdie used a fake name, it’s still his name.