CUDDALORE: The decision by a young Hindu couple, Mohan and Chitra, to name their newborn girl child Yunus as a sign of gratitude to the man who rescued them from their marooned house at Urappakkam, Chennai has raised eyebrows among those who do not know the back ground.
They believe the choice is curious due to the religious factor as also the gender.
However, people of Tamil Nadu, for a long time, have a penchant for selecting unique names for their children. Here are a few of such names and the reasons behind for christening them as such.
Take for instance the ‘atomic family’ near Chennai. The first son is a diploma holder named Neutron, while the second son called Proton has completed his training at ITI. The third son Electron is in class XII.
“I wanted to give my children names devoid of caste and religion. Whenever we meet new people, they are astonished by these names. However, I feel really proud that I had christened them after particles of atom that are the beginning of everything in the world,” said their father Aruldoss (58), a staff at BSNL and resident of Thirumullaivoyal.
Another case is that of M M Kannan, a writer, from Kothamangalam in Pudukottai district who named his daughters as Kanini (computer) and Inaiya (internet). “I know the significance of both science and the Tamil language and I want both to develop simultaneously and inclusively. Kanini is in college while Inaiya is a school student,” he told Express.
This is not a new trend in the State. Retired from government service and settled in Sendurai in Ariyalur district is Thani Tamil Kottran (King of Pure Tamil), a Doctor. “My father Pulavar Ponnambalam had named me Thani Tamil Kottran and one of my sisters as Thani TamilNadu (Pure Tamil Nation). “When we were young, many teachers questioned me and my younger sister over our names. But we strongly defended our father’s choice of names for us,” he recalled.
For him, a follower of Maraimalai Adigal, who spearheaded the Tamil Purist Movement in the early decades of the last century, naming the kids in pure Tamil was not restricted to his own children. As a teacher, he also had named many his students with such names.
From the same district is the 50-year-old tailor named ‘Jathi Ozhippu’ (Annihilation of Caste), a resident of Periyavalayam, whose father Kaliyaperumal was a staunch supporter of Periyar.
“Some 25 years ago, I was riding a bicycle to Jayankondam. Policemen stopped me for an enquiry. Following a little argument, the angry personnel took me to the station. There, a sub-inspector asked my name. I replied Jathi Ozhippu.
“He asked me to repeat. He was visibly annoyed, as he thought I was kidding. So he made me wait in the station for hours. Finally my friends came and helped me to get out of custody,” he said.
For some, like Anbu Suresh, a retired government employee from Kammapuram near Vriddhachalam and son of former Nagapattinam MP of the Communist party, Kathamuthu, the names of his three sons reflect his ideology.
“I fell in love and married a Muslim woman. We have named our first son Sahul Stalin as a mark of respect to Joseph Stalin, second son Viduthalaipuli Iqbal, out of admiration for Urdu poet Iqbal and the LTTE movement in Sri Lanka and the last son Saddam Hussein, who dared to oppose America,” he explained.