Since she was 6 years old, she's been Addie Randel.
"I never really understood why," said the redshirt junior forward on the Colorado Mesa women's soccer team, who is now going by her given name, Sauvelyne, or Sauve for short. (Saw-vuh-LEEN or Saw-VEE).
She came to the United States from Haiti when she was 6 years old, adopted by Scott and Tracey Randel and grew up in Eaton, graduating from Northridge High School in Greeley.
She didn't know English, and her parents helped her choose a nickname that was easy for her to pronounce and spell.
"I was learning English and I needed an avenue that I could spell, something quick and easy and I could for sure get those down," she said. "The first two, three letters in the alphabet kind of thing. So Addie kind of fell out of that, and it was also in my second name."
For the record, her full name is Sauvelyne Shaddaielle Addie Randel Francois.
As she grew up and reconnected with her Haitian family, Randel wanted to honor who she is.
"I think the name change was really monumental for me, because I've always believed that there's a power to a name," she said. "And I believe that what you call yourself and what you allow people to call you is super symbolic about who you are as a person. (Addie) just wasn't me, it just never felt like home, and I've gotten an opportunity to reconnect with my Haitian family in the last four or five years and just that opportunity has allowed me to kind of figure out who I am outside of soccer, outside of Colorado, outside of like, my American family. It's been a really great journey."
She talked with some of her friends last year about the name switch and asked what they thought.
"They were like, 'We love it. … We didn't really ever see you as Addie, we just went with it.' Everyone knew my real name, but it was always a hassle because everyone mispronounces it," she said. "Then after probably my sophomore year, I was just like, that's not my problem. You not being able to pronounce my name is not my problem. It takes practice to do anything, to play a sport, to learn an instrument, to say my name, whatever it may be. There's plenty of grace to be had, I don't mind correcting people. There's people's names that I struggle to pronounce, but I'm not going to not say their name, you know? I think that's important."
She didn't have to wait long to hear her given name called after a goal, scoring on a penalty kick in the Mavericks' season opener at Community Hospital Unity Field. Cupping her hand over her ear, Randel not only heard the student section roar its approval, but "Sauvelyne Randel!" over the loudspeaker.
Randel and Evelyn Hammer are the Mavericks' top scorers returning from last season, tied with with six goals and two assists each. With Lila Dere (23 goals last season) transferring to the University of Colorado, CMU's attack is likely to be more spread out, and Randel should be a main cog in that attack.
"I really mulled it over in my mind, and teams win games, and you have to have players who make it a team kind of thing," she said. "I hope that I can step into a role that in any way aids the team to (get) where we want to be."
How Randel even got to Grand Junction was a bit by happenstance. She and her father had taken a trip to Phoenix to visit Grand Canyon University, and as they were driving back, he told her they were stopping in Grand Junction to check out Colorado Mesa. Her godparents live in Delta, so she was familiar with the area, but she had it in her mind that she wanted to go to school out of state.
"I was like, no. I was exhausted and I was like, I'm not going. He was like, we're going, I paid for (a soccer camp) already," she said with a laugh. She said she didn't talk to her father on the entire drive to the Western Slope.
At the camp, she got to know some of the Mavericks, and one night, asked them to give it to her straight.
"I was like, 'Do you really love it here? I want you guys to be honest, because I don't want to come to a university I don't want to be at,' " Randel recalled. They convinced her that they were happy at CMU, loved the soccer team, and before she left campus, she got an offer to sign from former coach Dani Thurman.
"On the spot I knew, and my dad was like, 'Yeah!' He was super stoked," she said, joking that she was upset to admit her father was right about attending the CMU camp. "I was like, I'm gonna do it, this is it, this feels home, and I have family close if I ever need them, and the girls were amazing, so it worked out."
In the past few years, her family has expanded, from her American family (her parents adopted another girl from Haiti, Abiah, a couple of years after Sauvelyne), to her CMU soccer family and now, her family in her hometown of Port-au-Prince, Haiti. She regularly video chats with her birth parents and sisters, which has allowed her to embrace her heritage and her name.
"At first I was a little hesitant to tell people, because I know who I am, I don't need you to believe in me for me to believe in me," she said. "Particularly with my name, I didn't need that external validation, but my friends were like, 'That's your name, come on.' I was like, 'You're right, I do need to like, man up and tell people, that's what I go by, who I want to be.'
"The coaches changed everything. They said, 'The girls have been calling you something else, what are they talking about?' I told them I started going by my real name and they were like, 'Sauve, why didn't you tell us? … We love that for you.' They even changed my name tag in the locker room, and that meant so much to me.
"Even my parents are like, 'We love this, are really excited for you.' I think the best part is when people make a mistake, even my dad would say 'Addie … shoot, Sauve,' I don't have to correct him any more. I really appreciate that about people. It's just a little change."
