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Recently, I was involved in discussions on naming babies. Based on my observations, newborns are having more and more “exotic” and unique names. Why is this happening?
According to my wife, it is likely that the parents do not want to be reminded of someone else when the call out their childÂ’s name. For example, if I have a friend named Ganesh, I most likely wonÂ’t name my son Ganesh, according to her logic. So thatÂ’s why we seldom hear children being given their parentsÂ’ friends, grandparents, ancestors, relatives, leaders, religious/spiritual heads or other famous personÂ’s names.
My observation on the naming process reveals the following:
- Naming is complicated due to the various “ogies” – numerology, astrology, psychology, family interferencology.
- Religion/Race/Ethinicity/Caste also plays a role in the naming process
- Those who are more “educated” tend to give more “exotic” names. Perhaps to show that they are “educated” or symbol of “sophistication”?
- Names are more globalized in a sense that there will be elements of English/Western sounding words. Is it a plan to ensure that the child can easily migrate and adapt in other countries in the future?
- Use of Sanskrit words supposedly to reflect a more spiritual meaning of the name.
Seriously, what happened to names like Saravanan and Ganesan? Or Nadeswaran, Ramanathan, Geetha, Saminathan, Gopi, Sivakumar, Perumal, Santhirasegar, Valluvan, Kanthasamy, Muniswaran, Gomathi, Kavitha, Asogan, Valli, Saraswathi, Mullai, Srikanth, etc.? Are these names condemned to no further than 1980s and 1990s era only?
A newborn was given the name Rahul, which means sun (well, I didnÂ’t check on it). To me, Rahul sounds like Shah Rukh Khan’Â’s (or any other heroes) characters in Hindi movies. Why not just name the boy Surya (Nathan/Kumar/Kanth etc) and get on it with. I wonderÂ…
Another friendÂ’s sonÂ’s name sound like a girlÂ’’s name to me. I keep forgetting that itÂ’s a baby boy, unless the name is mentioned in full.
How about influence of India cinema? I Heard that Shreya is the number one chosen baby name in US for the Indian (Southern Indians?) community last year. Now my niece is named Shreeya as well 🙂
Anyway, as you may point out, itÂ’’s their child and they can name him/her any which way they like. I canÂ’’t agree more! As long as you donÂ’t make it difficult for me to pronounce it or IÂ’’ll just make up my own name for your kid. 🙂
A rose by any other name would smell as sweet – Shakespeare!
