Naming Kids and More

How do people name kids? Kings had it easy, as in just repeat the name with a roman numeral to prove that you could count, until a coup removed the last-mentioned numeral from the throne.

Why I was called Rajendra is that a great man turned into our first President, and his name was Rajendra Prasad. We had a brainwave about Prarthana (our first) and were influenced by film stars Pooja (Bhatt and Batra) for our second.

Many surnames emerged from professions- worldwide. What inspires people to still retain a name like Smith I cannot fathom. I like Wodehouse's Psmith idea, for its use of the differentiation strategy. I also like the U.P. style of renaming your surnames or not using them (sometimes to hide your caste)- free-for-all, in other words, like the state itself seems to be.

The feminist version of not changing surnames after marriage is fine, but may lead to confusion about the family tree. Though if there are no trees, families may vanish in due course, so it might not be that important in the longish run.

The weirdest (sur)name I have encountered is 'Cabinetmaker' ; combined with the first name Armaity, even more so.

Messi

What's with names? Can they be your nemesis (Ok, this word comes from reading Phantom (the nemesis of pirates) comics, folks)?

I mean, Messi? Why not Tidy? Ok, if that sounds like an advertisement for Proctor and Gamble (another crazy name, by the way), maybe Clean. While we are at it, company names too sound odd at times.

My theory about cricketers' names was that you ought to have a name that sounds right. My guess that Lalchand Rajput would never make it with a name like his, came true.

Many film stars realise it and change their names in time. Haribhai Jariwala wouldn't have the same appeal as Sanjeev Kumar, would it? Tun Tun is the only exception I know. Uma Devi was actually a better name, but maybe the new one 'positioned' her well for those funny cameos in films. Yusuf saab benefited from becoming Dilip Kumar, and Jatin Khanna from turning into Rajesh. Madhubala sounds shaayarana compared to her original name, which I have forgotten.

So, the upshot of all this is, I am now looking out for a new name. Suggestions?

American Desi Names

Most people in the US can't (or think they can't) pronounce Indian names. Anyway, whether that's true or not, names of Indians in the US get modified (no, this is not a political statement, even if it contains the word 'Modi' hidden somewhere).

So the names of people change, usually to a short and easier-on-the-tongue version. I used to teach at the Clemson University as a grad student, and my name Rajendra was shortened to Raj, which was similar to Rog (for Roger) and therefore easy to say. A friend in California, Kiran, shortened his to Ken, which proved useful to him in business- he was into real estate broking. He also converted his last name from Kenjale to Jolly, which I think is a stroke of genius.

In academics, we now have several Indians at US universities, who have adopted a different strategy. They use a name twice, one in a shortened form and another in the original. So you have a Nat Natarajan, or a Das Narayan Das (who is a friend, incidentally, a prof at Harvard), or Rajan Varadarajan (not sure if his is of this form, because Rajan could be a name too). I think this is an interesting way to do it, from a marketing point of view. Remember, there is an adage in advertising that the more you repeat your (product) name, the better it is for people to remember. So it is with people's names.

So I henceforth will rename myself as Kar Nargundkar. By the way, that does not rhyme with Car.