What happened to regular names?

BENGALURU: A curious phenomenon I have noticed in recent times is that of parents giving their children exotic names. Aarav, Ahaan, Anaya and Shanaya are the names one finds among children growing up in towns and cities today. Of course, naming one’s child is one of the few freedoms a parent has over the child, and I am nobody to complain.

But one is left wondering what happened to regular names. When I was growing up, the most common names given to children were easy to spell, pronounce and recollect. Rakesh, Rajesh, Sunil and Ajay were names that sounded familiar, and did not require any knowledge of linguistics or etymology to fathom the meanings of. Girls’ names were similar too. Every class had their fair share of Poojas, Nehas, Shwetas and Swatis. Names also came in pairs – if there were two siblings in a family, they would be given similar sounding names. Like Rakesh and Rajesh, or Jyothika and Bhoomika.

Upon doing a little research, I found that most names are part of a particular trend. In our parents’ generation, names like Swaraj and Indira were common - owing to our history and heritage. In Odisha where I hail from, parents took it upon themselves to give their kids fancy, long names like Soumyajit and Satyajeet. To add to my misery, Odia parents give children absurd pet names. All my childhood friends are called Chimpa, Babuna, or Kalia at home. And Yours Truly has the most unfortunate pet name of them all – Puppu!

Back in the day, having a familiar name had an added benefit – it shielded a child from unnecessary bullying. For having an unfamiliar name would often result in classmates teasing them. We had two classmates named ‘Srupen’ and ‘Sakora’, and they were teased endlessly about their names, often confiding in us that they wished they had had different names. Going by the modern names around us, one can only fathom that while in the ’90s parents wanted their children to fit in, today’s parents want their children to stand out.

This trend of exotic names has also spilled over to the nomenclature of pets. While pet dogs of my generation were content with names like Brownie, Blackie and Tipu, dogs of today are christened Charlie, Max, or Tango. The pressure on dogs has increased too. While pet dogs of our time were required to give strangers a ‘handshake’ and play ‘fetch’, dogs of today have to be photogenic, and feature prominently on Instagram reels!

But in this clamour for exotic, vowel-heavy names, parents forget one crucial fact. That Indian schools allot roll numbers in alphabetical order. So while you may go about naming your child Aarav and Ahaan, the poor kids will have to suffer the torture of the first few roll numbers in class, and the first rows during an examination. The children will probably curse you for life, for making them pay for your poetic inclinations.

If you really care for your children, give them names like Yohan or Zorashtra. Your children will sit in the safe confines of the back rows of classrooms. They will be called up to the blackboard after all the other students’ assignments have been checked, and the teachers have gotten tired. They will be safe from the cruel stares and jabs of the teachers, and thank you for giving them a wholesome life! ‘What’s in a name’, William Shakespeare might have said. But easy for him to say – he had a nice name. If he was named Sai William Shakespeare, or William Puppu - he wouldn’t be one to talk!

(The writer’s views are his own)