Of names, surnames and caste names

by Sarita Mohan

(June 02, New Delhi, Sri Lanka Guardian) Namkaran Sanskar is an age-old custom in Indian families. Considerable thinking goes into giving a name to a newborn child. Surnames and caste callings are also tagged along. But the first name remains the first love, always. Also, it is a matter of pride to have indulgences and references that are good in relation to one’s own name.

I am amazed at the variety of names. Some people are named after various incarnations of God like Ram Lal and Krishna Chandra. Some others after appearance like Tilak Dhari and Roop Chand. There are also the ones given names in contrast to their personality — like a fair complexioned person named Kalu.

Some people are named after cities like Mathura Prasad and Banarsi Das. But Chalti, Hinku, Bhagelu, Panchu, Chithroo, Jhakkan, Lotan, Koora Ram, et al, leave me more confused. Tradition-bound and dyed-in-the-wool mothers, who have successively lost newborns, name their latest one with an appellation like Koora Ram or Ganda Mal so that even death would not take it away, being put off by an unpleasant name. Misri Lal, Makhan Lal, Ilaichi Devi and Imarti Rani may not be the foodies only.

Western influence makes Ram Lal Srivastava become R.L. Srivastava. Also, Indrasen & Company becomes Anderson & Company; Harmohan becomes Harmons and Shaminder becomes Sam. Sweet names like Avni, Kanika, Sonica, Bhavya, Divya and Neha lose their beauty when a caste name is appended, I believe.

Surnames make funny situations many times. If one Khandelwal is on a Selection Board, then there is the likelihood that a Khandelwal aspirant may find favours. Surnames have their offshoots too like they have more than a dozen among the Kayasthas. Guptas may be there in Baniyas and Kayasthas both. But Gupta becomes Gupto in Bengali.

Certain places and regions are known to have typical surnames like the Soods of Shimla or Bahadurs of Almora. I remember when one Naval Kapoor became Navaljeet Kapoor as the clerk who committed the mistake was from Patiala where they add “Jeet” and “Singh” to the names of males and “Kaur” to the females.

Women carried their maiden names and thus had a separate entity all their life not very long ago. After marriage the girls generally adopt their husband’s surnames. But some women do not change their caste names even after marriage and they continue to use their old names, for they may be renowned ones and may want to be known that way only, even after marriage.

I will though recommend that those performing marriage out of their castes should be encouraged to have caste names as suffixes so as to let it be known to the rest of the world that caste barriers are breaking and making place for a larger bonhomie among the homosapiens.

Caste names give rise to emotional attractions and repulsion too. For example, if you meet someone who introduces himself as Raman – his first name – it is all right, but if he introduces himself as Raman Agnihotri, you feel, “Oh, he is a Brahmin and I am not. “It gives an instant feeling of attraction or repulsion, which may not be conducive to national integration.

In lighter vein, one may say that it is better to have a unique first name to avoid looking for innumerable Aggarwals and Jaiswals in a telephone directory. Also, it we stick to having one-word names and avoid longer ones, we may save on telegrams and other postal charges. No naming of yours truly, please.