N for Names!!!

What's in a name? Does it matter? Do you like your name? I like mine. I had always wondered how parents came up with the names of their kids. My parents rather mom named me Prudhvi Latha. Prudhvi means earth and Latha means a plant creeper. Does that mean I am plant creeper on earth? Makes sense or sounds weird? In my growing up years and later as well, many would ask me, isn't Prudhvi a boy's name? I washed it with a smile at first. Later when I learnt to apply logic in life, I would retort back saying, "Prudhvi means earth. Earth is a stri ling (A feminine gender) and Akash (Sky) is a pum ling (A masculine gender). In my head I would curse, you dumbos...since Pruthvi Raj Chauhan or Pruthvi Raj Kapoor are males doesn't mean that girls cannot be name Prudhvi. I always boasted that I had the most unique name in this world.

In school, I had a classmate named John Ramesh Khan. We giggled when heard it for the first time. Like many wonders that I wonder, I wondered about it too.  Nearly after two decades of leaving high school, I met him on FB. Ramesh xxxxxx. The face looked similar I thought. When inquired, he informed that our Principal advised to change it for better. Though Ramesh had the most secular name and his mom was very pious, he never gave much importance to religion or god. On a conversation, he said he felt proud of his name and may be subconsciously groomed himself. I think a person’s name contributes to his personality.

Talking of unique names, these days parents are in the quest for uniqueness. The rarer the name, the more unique it is. Some of the unique names I heard in recent times are Krishay, Arnesh (sounds like varnish to me), Akira, Aishli, Ruru, Aranyak, Acanda (does it rhyme to Anaconda) Daaruk, Daarun, Ehimay (like himilay) oh the list could go on and on.

When trying to name my son, we had a choice of letters to choose from Ru, Re, Ro and Ta. (If not for my dear grandma, I wouldn’t have named him after his birth star). As we didn’t get a name, we called him Rurerota for a while. :P My son is Rushik and he always goes with that extra sheeek in the cheek. Amulya becomes Amelia or Emulya.

Living in the U.S, Indian names are cacophonic to the locals here. They are surprised that every Indian name has a meaning to it. Someone named their kid Harshit and his teacher called him Her-shit. Nikhil in my team is baptised as Nee-kill. Each time he is called, the Indian inside me screams, ohh please don’t kill him, he is too young. Shravan reformed into Chevron, Venu is pronounced as Menu, Valli is Valley,  Don’t think I am not one of the bali ka bakras. If I tell them Prudhvi, they would do a somersault to say it. So, I go by Latha. Do you think they get it right? Latha becomes Latte. But, yours truly doesn’t let them go. When I am able to say Schwarzenegger, can’t they say Latha? This is how I teach them. Say “Thai, thigh” ..that’s how soft the ‘t’ is; not Latte. 

There was a new team mate. She introduced herself as Samantha. After the introductory Hellos, I looked back, “Samantha?? Is that your full name?” She smiles and says, “No. Samantika actually.” I try not to scratch my head and think. Poor girl, would I leave her alone? I bug her again, I never heard a name like that. Then came the real story. Her actual name is Samantakamani a.k.a Samantika a.k.a Samantha J Okay! Okay! I'm stopping now...before you run away..

So, what’s the name story you have got to share? 

Disclaimer: Any names used in this post are purely unintentional. No offense to anyone.