What’s in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet;
So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call’d,
Retain that dear perfection which he owes
Maybe Shakespeare wasn’t thinking proper when he went and wrote all this praise for Romeo. ( Not that the bard had a very easy name either, but I shall refrain from tossing further muck at the great man).
Fact remains that the above two lines have become a good excuse for parents world over when their children start questioning the names given to them. I mean how would you feel if your parents named you Pistol. Think about it. “I am playing with Pistol”, “Pistol is an angel, a darling.” Even worse “Pistol weds Revolver”. Yes that is another name. Guess the dynamics of such a combustible relation will be nothing sort of nuclear.
Or if you were bestowed with the might name of “Military”. The child’s career options are limited by the time he is 4 months old. I mean you can’t be Dr Military. Or Nurse Military. Doesn’t really roll of the tongue does it. “Hi, meet Military. He runs a nursery for kids. ” Guess you know where to send all the brats in town. Uncle Military will handle them.
For foodies, options for naming your kids include Jilebi, Mysore Pak, Biscuit and Jelly. Glucose for the health conscious foodie. (Wonder if that category even exists). There lives a Japan in India. Also a Hitler and a Napoleon. Granny – Granpas across the country loving call their granddaughters “rani” (princess). But some people took it one step further and named kids as Cycle Rani, Apple Rani and Delhi Rani. FYI, the before mentioned “ranis” are not related. In fact India has her own Queen Elizabeth too. Or as her parents named her, “Elizabeth Rani”. God save the Queen.
Recently a women had to go through birth pangs on the humble Indian Train. On successful delivery the child was named – no points for guessing this one – MAMATA BANERJEE. Guess some people are destined for battles throughout life.
My school teacher once told the entire class “We Malayalis have a very easy way of christening our kids. You take the first letters of the names of both parents, add a dash of vowels in the middle and voila – a name is created.” (And I am not even going to get started on the number of names we manage to fit on each child.) So if you have any Malayali friends whose names seem a bit too original, simply check up on his/her parents. You might just crack the puzzle.
My parent’s names both starts with “V”. Wonder what effort would be involved if they tried to name me V——V. (Feel free to push letters in.The more the merrier.) After all like the Great Bard said “What’s in a name ?”
