Wednesday, August 13, 2008

The Misery of Names...

This topic really came from the recent baby boom that has been around us....coz presumably we have reached (or rather already crossed) the age by which we should have adorned parenthood!(ouch...ok so I have nearly revealed my age with that one...or are you guys smart enugh to figure that?:-)

So obviously all our school, college and other peer mates are now either already with little "babies or babas" or getting there or well trying to get there...phew!...(just writing this is exhaustive...imagine actually being in it!!)

And so with one such potential parents we were having a random discussion on names and how the types of names has evolved over the period of time.....and to me there seem to be four broad phases of this evolution:

1) The "lata/mati/Bala/veer/Kar/Kumar/Bhanu phase:- Simply refers to the phase where parents actually believed in the "2 in 1" system...where the one name in effect had 2 potential names hidden...so one could pick and choose what to call the person....Example names like Charu-lata, Madhu-mati/mita, Chandra-bala/Surya-veer/Chit-bhanu...yes these are real names...dont laugh...!

2) The "Mahabharat/ Mythological Phase":- Refers to the 90's and even early 2000 Gen...where after the Mahabharat/ Ramayan onslaught on TV every parent believed they were giving birth to a potential "Arjun" or "Abhimanyu"...so kids with names which were not of sanskrit origin or had a "larger than life meaning"were literally items of sympathy....sigh...(pls pls god let Ekta have some sanskrit connection...!)

3) The "Unique Phase":- This has been a more of a epidemic than SARS I think...anything that has been heard or seen before is a taboo...so names have emerged starting with letters that were unimaginable...the uniquer the better...heard of Kimara, Oas, Titli, Pal(hindi moment)..I think the Ad agencies can take a creative streak from the Gen X parents!

4) The "2050 phase:- These are the parents who either believe that the names in the world have become extint and very soon they will have to figure out other "objects/ things" to take inspiration for names....or they genuinely believe that very soon earth will exist no more and we all will need to shift bag and baggage to Mars and one of the pre-requisite for that is to have names that suit only aliens...so names based on objectives "Durex, Zero (I swear these two are actual names I have heard in HK) Apple, Peach,Pen, Pax , Avil or Posedemi(whatever that means) etc!

God save the kids of the Next gen....they know not what they'r getting into...err..or rather getting "Out" into!

26 Comments:

At 7:49 PM, Blogger Unknown said...

Lol.. I'd like to meet this Durex person. LOOoolllll!!!!

 
At 9:58 PM, Blogger La vida Loca said...

mee too I'd like to meet the durex person.
Ekta means unity no?

 
At 11:30 PM, Blogger aneri_masi said...

I was still laughing about "Pal" (which btw means lizard in Marathi!!) when you said Zero!? Now that is cruel!

Then there is the category where the siblings names should rhyme. Sonali, Monali, etc.

Out here people are opting for simpler names though...so that the Amrikans don't make a complete mess of it! Asha is being considered by one, and another named the boy Utsav (this one falls in the unique category)

 
At 1:00 AM, Blogger Mysterious Mia said...

haha this post reminded me to two kids i know, brother n sister whose names are bubbles n cuddles...can u beat that.....these r not even objects mate....

 
At 3:42 AM, Blogger deepsat said...

LOL!! good one!!! god save them!!

;-))

 
At 8:05 AM, Blogger Pavi!!!! said...

Hhaha..ur funny gurl! u make me nervous abt naming my to-be child.n yayeee..my name has sanskrit origin ;)

massacre u know..a collegue named their child "elangkumaran". i mean why why why..wld any1 do tht to their child???

I would like to see some parents response to this post :)

n ohhhh..i know ur age!i keep hearing lectures on how i shld have my 1st kid before i turn...well u know the dreaded num!(dreaded by me!)

 
At 1:17 PM, Blogger Sweetstickychewy said...

the 2050 phase is crazy...lol..

 
At 4:16 PM, Blogger Cuckoo said...

Oh, the US and UK are already in the 2050 phase dear. Gwenyth Paltrow's girl is called 'Apple'. In fact there is a show on "Crazy Celebrity Names" in the US. I remember watching it a couple of years ago somewhere, and the names were sure wacky. There are Hollywood kids named even Razor and stuff!

 
At 9:30 PM, Blogger Solitaire said...

Haha! Some names sound like dog names or something.

In the US, as Aneri said, people are trying to shorten names. Right now the biggest trend is to name kids starting with the letter A. This trend must have started 6 years ago and still goes on. YAWN!

Result: All desi kids in the same classroom have the same name.

 
At 9:31 PM, Blogger Solitaire said...

@ Aneri,

Is Utsav a unique name?

My friend's name is Utsav and he is 22. I would assume its old-fashioned now!

 
At 3:49 PM, Blogger Rakesh said...

i think after sometime name will start with number like 123,2ka4...somethinglike that..:)

 
At 4:56 AM, Blogger aneri_masi said...

@sol, well, its unique to me :-|
This is the first one I know of, and well, I am older than you are. So there.

@rakesh, actually it has already started, some of my friends are now called by their userid's, not their real names!

 
At 8:32 PM, Blogger tulipspeaks said...

next would be code names like K20, L28..

maybe would sound like car number plates..


hehehehe


ammu.

 
At 6:45 PM, Blogger RiĆ  said...

Seriously god save them...i think they will hav computer generated unique names or shud i say codes! :D

 
At 12:18 PM, Blogger Shailesh Mishra said...

Nicely Written... and Durex!! Seriously?? LOLz

(PS: Thanks for visiting by my post)

 
At 8:24 AM, Blogger Che said...

My parents let my 8 year old (at that time) cousin name me and he did alright. Only people who had problems with that name were americans who found a 2 syllable name too hard :-/

If I do make the mistake of having kids I shall make up names for them and let the buggers try and find out what their name means.

 
At 2:45 PM, Blogger Ron said...

True story: a couple going by the name Condolizza and Domonic wanted a unique name for their son which would be a combination of both their names. So they took the unfortunate child for the christening ceremony and informed the priest that they wanted to call their child ConDom!!! I think the priest had a fit :P

 
At 11:18 PM, Blogger AVIANA said...

hmm...i've pre named my kids whenever they are born....years from now!

they are original names...hopefully no one will torment my child...

 
At 6:16 AM, Blogger Keshi said...

LOL Ekta!

how hv ya been?

Keshi.

 
At 10:42 AM, Blogger starry said...

How are you Ekta, sometimes parents forget that the child has to live with the name they are given and don't put too much thought picking a name.

 
At 1:40 AM, Blogger IncorrigibleV said...

lol this so totally reminded me of my frnd tellin me abt someone named rinkle... actually im hopin they spell it like that, it sure sounded like "wrinkle" to me :P

 
At 9:16 AM, Blogger Lucifer said...

durex??? r u serious?????

 
At 8:24 AM, Blogger AVIANA said...

how are you?

 
At 10:47 AM, Blogger aneri_masi said...

Oh, and I know someone called Truly!

 
At 9:40 AM, Blogger Prash said...

Durex Lo made me really laugh out aloud like hell ! ;-)

I really wonder why my parents wanted to name me Prashanth (peacefully happy in Sanskrit).

 
At 2:02 PM, Blogger rachana said...

not about this post as usual! but what to do!! where to write to you??

A big hug for you too!! Rona nahee :)

thanks for the hug and soothing words.... yes I do meet her in the bright star and in my little one!..You know what! The first thing my younger daughter told me ( after that..) "mummy ro mat, Didi tara ban gayi hai. ....

 

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