Kaira, Alia, Shanaya, Akira- if you’re into Bollywood, you’ve probably heard these names a few times. If you’re not into Bollywood, you’ve probably heard them a few times, still. Bollywood has always had a massive effect on the nation’s psyche, and a YouTuber has explained how it has shaped the names that have been popular with Indians over the years. Mohak Mangal broke down the naming trends in the video posted on his channel ‘Soch by Mohak Mangal’, citing several different groups of data. He explained what is termed the ‘Sanjana Phenomenon’. In 1993, when a Pepsi ad came out that depicted Amir Khan, Mahima Chaudhry and Aishwarya Rai as Sanjana, a FiftyTwo article stated that twice as many babies were named Sanjana as compared to the preceding three years. Many parents were found to be inspired by the “modernity, freedom and beauty" of Aishwarya’s character in the ad and wanted to imbibe these qualities in their children.
Mangal cites a book called ‘Freakonomics’ to elucidate that with or without realising it, parents often choose names that “sound successful" for their children. Moreover, the names Kiara, Shanaya, Akira and the likes, belong to urban upper class women in Bollywood movies. Not just that, they are usually involved in some type of creative profession. Kaira from ‘Dear Zindagi’ was a cinematographer, Akira was a documentary filmmaker in ‘Jab Tak Hai Jaan’. Mangal also cites globalisation and Sanskritisation as important pointers. For example, he shows, Shah Rukh Khan jokingly explained the different pronunciations for his son Aryan Khan’s name, depending upon where he was and how it fit seamlessly into multiple cultures. Moreover, many parents also came up with names that would obscure the caste of the child so as to battle stereotypes.
Watch the video here:
To conclude, these names are being increasingly chosen because of the aspirational aspect to them, the obvious Bollywood inspiration, qualities of freedom and urbanity, an aspirational class desire, and the need to escape harmful caste stereotypes associated with certain names that might affect the person in question for the rest of their life. Many commenters came up with unique and fun stories on how they were named. One had a clever suggestion: “When you become a parent keep your child’s name starting with a “Z". Your kid will always be grateful through out the entire education cycle". Another wrote: “My family has a fun theme going on, which started casually and now is just kept in mind when naming kids. All of my dad’s brothers and sisters and their kids were named after day / night or related phenomena. Eg.y dad’s name is Prakash(sunlight) , my name is Suraj (sun) My aunts are named Usha and Sandhya (dawn and evening), other cousins are named Kshitij, Arun, Nisha, etc."
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