What's in a name?

Happy Monday! This week I’ve decided to talk about Misuzu. Some things I often get asked are:

Where does the name Misuzu come from?

Why is your Instagram account @misuzu_solo?

How did you get into modelling?

I thought I’d write a post about these things so that you can get to know me a little better.

Where does the name ‘Misuzu’ come from?

So, what's in a name?

My given name is Tonia, which has it’s own interesting story, but that’s not for this blog post. The name Misuzu is something that people always ask me about. Obviously it’s a Japanese name and I am not Japanese. The meaning of Misuzu in Japanese is 'beautiful bell': ‘mi’ means beauty and ‘suzu’ means bell. But that’s not why I use it as my modelling name.

The reason behind me using the name Misuzu for modelling is actually quite nerdy! As a teenager, I was really into anime and one of my absolute favourite anime series is called Air. I just really resonated with the main character, Misuzu Kaimo. She’s clumsy, loves dinosaurs and gets freaked out around new people. And that’s basically what I was, and still am like. Because of this, I used the name Misuzu as a username for everything, long before modelling was even a possibility. When I came to sign up to PurplePort (more on this later), it asked me for a user name… I just panicked and typed in the familiar username that I had been using everywhere: Misuzu. And it just stuck, hence, the model Misuzu was born.

If you’re interested in checking out more about the original Misuzu, here is a link to a page about the character, and one about the anime. I've included a picture of the character Misuzu Kaimo below. I did try (unsuccessfully) to find a picture of me cosplaying as Misuzu from when I was at university. I found a whole host of other really embarrassing photographs of myself, but not a single one from that day, which is disappointing to say the least!

Below is an image of a book by a Japanese poet, also by the name of Misuzu and an image of me reading that book in a studio. The book is called, ‘Life and Poems of a Lonely Princess’ and was bought for me by Dave Edkins. Unfortunately between the two of us, we couldn't find the images we took that day of Misuzu reading Misuzu (glitch in the Matrix?) but I did manage to find this photo on my phone.

One of the lines that really spoke to me from that book was this:

’I wish dreams were the real world and the real world were dreams’

I officially changed my middle name to Misuzu in 2022, so I am now legally Tonia Misuzu. The name was always a part of me, but since I started using it as my modelling name and was beginning to be recognised as Misuzu, it became too big a part of my life not to be official. And now it is! Yey.

Why is your Instagram account @misuzu_solo?

Another thing I always get asked is why my instagram account is @misuzu_solo. People always assume it’s because of Han Solo in Star Wars, and more so since I got my Star Wars tattoos. But that’s not the reason for the name of my Instagram account, and subsequently, this website.

I first joined Instagram back in 2013. At the time, I had recently adopted my super cute bunny best friend Yorick. Naturally, my instagram account quickly became flooded with super cute bunny pics. It all got a bit out of control and that account ended up mostly being Yorick talking to his bunny mates and it wasn’t really my account anymore. I made a new account in 2014 and decided to call it @misuzu_solo because it was my account for me... going solo without being under the shadow of my super adorable rabbit companion!

Interestingly (nerdiness incoming) in 2018, the film 'Solo: A Star Wars Story' came out, and it explains how Han ended up taking the surname Solo. He loses Qi’ra while trying to escape Corellia, and ends up alone. When he is joining the Imperial military, he states “I don’t have people. I’m alone,” which leads to him being given the surname Solo. Obviously not at all the same situation as me breaking free from Yorick's hold on my instagram account, but the nerdy side of me loves that both myself and the character of Han Solo took the name ‘Solo’ after striking out on our own (one way or another). Apologies for the extreme nerdiness there but I really wanted to put that in this post, because although it's not why I use the name, a lot of people have assumed that's why, and it's quite nice that there's a parallel. When I watched that film for the first time, I got really excited about that bit.

Here are some screenshots from the first few posts I made on my @misuzu_solo account, after leaving my original account for Yorick. The first one is my first post on that account: 'forever me' makes me cringe. The second one is me with my little Nikon camera: it makes me laugh looking back because I captioned it, 'I was made to be behind the camera. Not in front of it'... clearly no plans to be a model at that point, yet less than a year later I began modelling. The third one also makes me smile, because it's me and Yorick... he still got a mention on my new solo instagram. That image is one I have framed by my bed and it has been by my bed in every place I have lived since it was taken.

And just for fun, here is a picture of myself and Pixie at a Potteries Museum and Art Gallery exhibition called, “The Toys Strike Back’… no Han Solo, but we are with Darth Vader and both looking pretty happy about it.

Finally, here is a picture of the Instagram account stealer himself, Yorick:

Rest in peace little buddy: 2013-2023

This new website is www.misuzusolo.com because my old domain name is no longer available and since I've been @misuzu_solo for so long, it just made sense for my new domain name to echo that.

How did you get into modelling?

I started modelling in January 2015 after moving back to Stoke-on-Trent from Canterbury where I went to university and studied Psychology BSc and Forensic Psychology MSc. Although I had thoroughly enjoyed studying these subjects, I wasn’t sure exactly what I wanted to do after I graduated… But I definitely didn’t think it would be modelling.

My dad had always been into photography and he got me my first proper camera on my 21st birthday. I’d been taking pictures on a compact camera before then, so photography was always a part of my life. At one point, my dad had a studio and I ended up modelling for him a few times, as well as helping out on a few shoots he had with models he had booked through PurplePort. After modelling for my dad and helping him out on a shoot, I decided to sign up for PurplePort... I thought that maybe I could do some modelling as a hobby. This is when I was asked to choose a username, panicked and instinctively put Misuzu (zero regrets around this, by the way… I definitely think the name suits me!).

I wasn’t on there for long before I started to get approached by photographers for TF shoots. After I'd done a few of those, I begun to get paid to model very quickly. It was something I fell in love with doing and was apparently quite good at. By September of that year, I quit my job and started to model full time. And here I am today, back doing what I love after a little break to become a Mama.

Here is a (slightly embarrassing) picture of me before I was Misuzu, taken on a steam punk shoot with my dad:

Finally, here are two images from Kevin Sheldon in 2015. The first image was my first ever shoot after I joined PurplePort, which was in the January. The second image was my first ever art nude shoot in the February.

And that’s all from me for this week. I hope you feel like you know me a little better after reading this post (and I hope you’re not judging me too much!)

Leave a comment below about why you use the name you do for your modelling or photography work. I'd love to hear your story too!

Next week’s post will be fun: I will be sharing images from the Halloween shoots I’ve been doing because, obviously, it’s spooky month! Until next Monday <3

Misuzu x