Wednesday, October 07, 2015

What's in a name?

When my 1st child was born, we named her Roanna - derived from a latin word meaning 'sweet and gracious'. My dad said, "why such a complicated name? By the time she learns to say her on name, she will be in college!" That's my dad :)

Well, from what I have seen, heard and learnt over the years, however simple or complicated your name may be, people will always find ways of making it sound complicated or different! My name for instance, considered to be simple by my dad, with only 4 letters, is quite a common name in India, yet pronounced in a zillion different ways by a zillion different people. So what's the point?

I believe we have every right to name our children what we think is good for them. We just need to use our rational thinking and not come up with names that may sound embarrassing or lead to 'name calling' when they grow up.

People in Kerala have a history of getting carried away with names, though of late it's definitely better. Names are either rhyming words for the whole pack of children (Biju, Ciju, Riju, Shiju, Tiju, Niju...and so on) or different combinations of their parents' names (which means a Jethro + Susanne can actually name their son Jesus!) or alphabetical order (Anand, Biju, Chandran, Dinakar...)and there's a fetish for names starting with 'A', and that too with double a, so they're always first in class (Aaron, Aakash)! Some choose situations to come up with names. There's even a Shield and his brother Trophy, can you beat that!

I wonder if it's a good idea to let kids choose a name when they're big enough to understand and choose what's best for them! What do you think? Also share some of the names you think can't get any weirder.... ;P