What’s in a name? That which we call a rose/By any other name would smell as sweet—Shakespeare wrote for all ages which holds true till today. He told us long back that there is nothing in a name and that your deeds should speak for you.
But I, for one, have been enamoured of names. I was particularly fond of names like Parthasarathy, Arjun, Jawahar and Ranjan for men and Gayathri, Srilekha and Sugandhi for women.
Indian parents, especially in south, have an incorrigible yen for giving “fantastic” names to children, unheard of anywhere else.
The other day I happened to come across many such “pet” names in the Malayalam newspapers. The first one that struck me was Shabby—a name of a girl who looked an angel and as clean as a dewdrop! The child, one honestly feels, would have thrashed her parents had she known the import of her name.
It was with tears of joy that one of my friends greeted the addition to his family—an adorable girl child. After consulting many friends they called their baby girl Silly!
There are many more curious names. The girl next door is called Lousy. She is in fact a walking dream and should have been called Lavanya or even Sundari. But many parents and some of their relatives are opting for strange, uncommon names. These silly names land the children in big trouble once they grow up or go abroad and make others laugh.
In Kerala, people are fond of adding Mol (daughter) to the actual names of their daughters, like Minimol, Manjumol, Ninimol. These “Mols” will face the music when they happen to be in Europe or the US or even in north India. These artificial and unimaginative appendages add to their worries wherever they go.
Boys, too, are not far behind in being bestowed with curious names by their “dear” parents. There’s one Tenson in my town who happens to be the 10th child in their family. Sometimes, they call a lean child Mottu out of “pure affection”.
The most curious name I came across recently was Reject for a handsome boy. It seems his birth was an “accident”. Still, he succeeded in visiting this wicked world. Everyone began to call him Rejected. Needless to say, his life became extremely frustrating. They say a name doesn’t matter when you have something at the top! Mr Reject is now the CEO of a reputable firm.
They say, especially about girls, that your face is your fortune. To a great extent it is true. But we have all seen beauty without brains! But as they say, it is a part of the game called life.
I honestly feel everything is in your name as your name and face make your fortune!