I describe myself in my mini-bio as a Maths Enthusiast, Egyptologist and Streetdancer. Can I upgrade myself from Maths Enthusiast to Mathematician?
The answer to this question is a cultural one. We can put aside the question of whether mathematics itself is ‘real’ or not. The names we give to the people that do maths, and how they are organised and paid for is an entirely societal and cultural question. For me, the question of how mathematicians are recruited, trained and regarded by society should be one of the main research goals of the history of mathematics.