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Thursday 22 August 2013

What's in a name

What's in a name!What is the importance of a name? What difference does it make whether someone calls me Usha, Asha or Nirmala! Well it does!  It will lead to utter chaos, confusion, complication and pandemonium. Name is not simply a conglomeration of words. It is  some thing which gives an individual  his/her identity. When the child is born ,not only the parents, but friends and relatives suggest various names. The name given to the baby is for all times, till he/she lives on this earth.  I read a quotation long ago{don't remember the name of the author} which says when the tiger dies it leaves behind his skin, but when a man dies he leaves behind his name and along with it his legacy.
Name gives an identity to a person. Just imagine if people had no names ,what a chaotic place the world would have been! There will be no difference between human beings and animals.  After a baby is born, it is imperative that he/she must be named.  Among Hindus the name is selected according to the ruling  Nakshtra of the baby. It is believed that the name of the baby will shape his destiny.It is quite common to name the child  from the characters from mythology.Therefore names like Rama, Krishna, Vishnu  are quite common.Girls are named  after Durga, Gauri, Lakshmi Savitri etc.
                  It is  sometimes interesting to know a person's name  vis-a vis his  personality,status in life and character. You might have heard some poor man by the name of 'Dhani Ram' or a rich man  named 'Garib  Das'. A quiet and shy girl may be 'Chanchal' and an outgoing, extrovert type known as 'Shanta'. It is interesting that people are naming the girls as  Shakti Durga,a civil services officer,who dared to expose the mafia gang indulging in malpractices, after hearing about her grit and indomitable spirit. 
                         In western countries too it is common to name the babies  after the  biblical characters Mary, Smith,Daniel, Angel, Oliver etc. In the Times of India dated 13th August 2013, I read an interesting report, which I would like to share. It says that in U.K. in  the year 2012, 7139 baby boys  were   named  Muhammad which  ranked 2nd after Harry which was ranked first having a lead of only 29. It stated that the popularity of names from eastern countries is due to a large number of people migrating from eastern countries.Speaking about popularity we find certain names become popular at a particular point of time. There was a time when Vijay, Ajay, Pradeep etc were common. These were followed by Prashant, Sushant ,Anil etc. The popular names for girls were Nisha,  Aditi, Shreya etc. These days young couples  think of new names unheard  before. Have you heard of Aarav, Arshiya, Ojait, Dacia as names for modern  babies?
   Many people change the name of the daughter in law after she goes to her marital home. This practice is demeaning. It was a widely accepted norm. It is now declining,since many girls resented the change in their name.




































19 comments:

  1. A name is something which tells you who you are.Well-written.

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    1. Thanks Sarala.The name gives a person an identity.

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  2. Very true Ushaji, a lot's in the name :) It becomes our identity

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  3. Thanks Reshma.Without a name a person will have no identity.

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  4. True, a name is our identity!
    Regarding the names given to kids now-a-days... well, out of 10, 6 would be so unique and unheard of names. Recently, I accompanied my sister for her son's Parent Teacher Meeting in school. As we were waiting in the classroom, I couldnt help notice a chart which had birthdays of all kids in the class and almost all the names were so uncommon ones! Parents really work hard now-a-days, to give a name to their children!

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    1. Shilpa you are correct.These days people make great efforts to keep unique names to their newborns.

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  5. True it is the name that one remembers! Reminds me of some aberrations like 'Ankh ka Andha naam Nain Sukh':)

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    1. You are correct Rahul.Names should be such which one can remember and also pronounce easily.

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  6. Yes Usha, The name is a pretty important thing. We have websites specifically for picking baby names which give the meaning as well :) And we do get books of baby names in shops. These days some go for Russian names like 'Sasha', 'Misha' etc and some go for names in some different language :)

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    1. Yes Jaishree, people go to extremes to give some unique and unheard of names to newborn babies.

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  7. I have a longggg time pending post on the same title :) don't know when I will finish it...I know...in my agre group,there would be at least one sirisha or one neelima per class..in my son's age, one shriya per class...and these days parents have the notion to name unique and some of them are seriously unable to remember.

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    1. Yes Latha, some names become popular and vanish to make way for new ones.You rightly said that modern names are are quite difficult to pronounce and remember. Waiting for your post.

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  8. The sense of personal identity and uniqueness that a name gives us... is the reason why names are important to us. Nicely written, usha.:)

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  9. Thanks Panchali.I am glad that you liked it.

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  10. I read a book some time back. An excellent book called Hunter of the Light by Risa Aratyr. The book was a fantasy fiction about ancient times. In it, names were not revealed lightly, and telling someone your real name was a supreme gift. It meant you trusted them completely.

    In a way, this is true again. As we create profiles on social media, we do not always reveal too much about ourselves. To give someone our personal details always means that we trust them completely.

    Lovely post.

    By the way, I was named after Ava Gardner, who was my mother's favorite actress. Now of course, people are more accepting, but when I was young people would not understand my name and make fun of me.

    :)

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    1. Thank you Ava.Actually I used to wonder whether your full name is Ava or is it your pet name.Even if we give a false name, that becomes our identity.
      It may be of interest for you to know that my daughter is married in a Suri family.

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  11. I too don't like the custom of changing the girls' names after marriage. Thank god, we see very minimum people doing it now.

    Name is very important and an easy name to pronounce will be better.

    Enjoyed reading this post, Usha.

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    1. Thank you Sandhya for visiting my site. Your words of appreciation mean a lot for me.

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