This is a true story. I was interviewing several candidates for a role. It was the end of a long day. This girl walked in and handed me her resume. I blinked twice when I saw her name. She was obviously used to the reaction. Her expression was that of a season actor who was repeating the lines she had rehearsed a hundred times before.“Yes my name is indeed Rouble.”“Is your brother called Dollar?” I tried to be funny.“No that’s my sister. My brother is called Franc.”Rouble is probably the most unusual name I have come across. There are many things that people could be named after in India. I categorized the names of people I know or have heard of, based on the meaning ofthe name in Hindi or Bengali – the two languages I know. There are names that are specific to a religion or based on a historical character of the region. I have not added those to this list.There are differences in the naming ceremony and approach in every one of the states in India. Every family has its own version of the naming ceremony. Some families have a first name and a middle name. Some regions will have the name of an ancestor as the middle name or even the first name. In some cases the names are repeated and the person’s uniqueness is demarcated by a numeral (eg Benedict the XIV). Those who believe in numerology will spell the same name with and without a certain alphabet to achieve the magic number that will bring them good luck.People are named after role models. India has a large number of children named Sachin after Sachin Tendulkar. The actor of yester years Pran was famous for the villainous characters he portrayed on screen in the sixties and seventies. Not too many people chose to name their children Pran such was his impact. Some names are not specific to a gender eg Kiran or Sunny (think Deol and Leone). Most names also have gender associations. I always associated the name Jodie as female because the actor Jodie Foster until I met a male colleague who was called Jody. There goes the rule. Countries have their own rituals and rules around names.Here are names of people I know or know of. The categories are based on the literal meaning. Some of these names also have religious and historical significance. I have not refered to those.- Clothing and Jewellery: Aanchal, Payal, Kangna- Gods, Apostles and Sages: Murugesh, Venkat, Ram, Mohammad, Jesus, Valmiki, Agastya- Planets, Nakshatras: Varun, Ravi, Rohini, Vishakha, Swati- Time of day: Usha, Sandhya- Season: Hemant, Varsha- Elements: Vayu, Vyom, Anal- Rivers Ganga, Kaveri- Metal and precious stones: Sona, Rupa, Kanchan, Heera, Panna- Taste: Mithi, Madhu (sweet is the preferred taste clearly)- Birth order: Anuj, Divij- Raga: Sohini, Purvi, Kedar- Instrument- Veena, Bansi- Bird, fish or flower: Hansa, Meena, Kamal- Feeling: Khushi, Anand, Mohit- Thought: Vichaar, Chintan- Verdict: Nirdosh, Vijaya- Size: Chhotu, Vishal- Color: Gora, Kaala, Gulabi- Designation : Karnail, Jarnail, Kaptan- Country: Bharat, even foreign countries Jarman (German), Cheena (China)- Pilgrimage Spots: Kashi, Kedar, Badri- Quality: Vinaya, Praveen, Akshay, Veer, Pritam, Sushant- Mythological characters: Karan, Arjun, UrvashiHow were you named? What are the categories I have missed? Which category do you think has the most names? What is the most unusual name of a person you have come across.—————Read my column in Times of India
11 Comments
Great story, as usual… full of surprises and info-filled! Super like!
Mercedes and Benz….sister and brother..the story goes the dad wanted to own one:)not sure if the kids made up the story:)
When I first read this post..I just recollected my own interview :o) How I was asked how I pronounce my surname..something that I have lived with and learnt to laugh at all my life. Haha.The funniest names that I have ever come across are1. Anal – Yes! A Bengali colleague..so he was lucky enough to be called ‘Onal’ but oh buoy that is something!2. All the punjabi names of the likes Smiley, Honey, Lovely, Happy..the list is endless 😀
Anal! Really :)How about a go at rhyming names of Twins!Names based on body parts 🙂 – Naina, Palak
Nice article!It seems there is another interesting angle to names in India – the female names somehow always reinforce control & limits while male names are the opposite.Like “Seema” can only be a female name while a male has to be “Aseem” always.There could be other examples…
have known brothers named “judge” and “engineer”; both in a different profession now…
Hi Abhijit, wonderful article.To share my story. I am a frenchman living in India since 2000 and married to a frenchwoman. We had both our kids in India and had some trouble in naming them.. For my son, we wanted him to have an indian name as he was born here and will probably spend a good chunck of his life in India. However, we also had to consider the fact he might want to look for a job in France, where recruiters are not very diversity friendly in general one day. As a consequence, we gave him 2 names: Raphael-Kailash. We thought things would be simpler for our daughters as most western countries are now used to non christian names. We wanted to call her Sita. Both my wife and I have read Rajaji’s Ramayana and are fully aware of what Sita represents in Indian culture. Not being religious, or superstitious, we thought the name sounded beautiful and that was enough. What surprised us was our indian friends’ reaction to that name. All of them, without exception, did everything they could do deter us from naming her Sita they they see it as an unauspicious name (understandable when aware of Sita’s fate). Bowing to peer pressure, we decided against Sita and named her Maya instead.what’s in a name, indeed!
Here are some more categories and names of real friends:1. Fruits and Vegetables – Potol (parwal), Lebu (nimbu)2. Symbolic of event – Sputnik3. Historical figures – Lenin, Marx, Ashok,
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“Yes my name is indeed Rouble.”“Is your brother called Dollar?” I tried to be funny.“No that’s my sister. My brother is called Franc.”Lol.Funny & interesting read :)What was Shakespeare thinking ?What’s in a name .Everything , if you ask me.Your name stays with you all through your life and after you are gone .In earlier times, Whenever a Political Leader or Celebrity used to die, used to hear slogans likeJab tak sooraj chaand Rahega …….Tera “Naam” Rahega.Seems folks ain’t interested in remembering anyone anymore. Wonder why We don’t get to hear such slogans 😛 sounds so 80’s .Coming back to Shakespeare .Name.One of the most unusual name I heard in recent times is “Titi ” – my colleague in Recruitment.I asked on SameTime (ST, internal chat collaboration platform)Why don’t you upload your profile pic.Pat came the reply from other sideMy name is unusual . I like to keep the mystery .haha 🙂
One day, my phone was on table, visible to the others during a meeting with my seniors. I was very embarrassed, when it rang displaying ‘Sweety’ as name of caller. They asked me to lift the phone assuming that was from my wife unaware of the fact that it was the name of our meditation coordinator.