Are You Happy With Your Name?!

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Well...a TV episode triggered my brain to write this post!  In the serial, the heroine is a bold, modern girl.  She tries to change the superstitious rituals of olden days.  One is, naming the child/newborn baby,  by other relatives instead of the mother or father, esp. mother!

I have two names...Mohini was the name kept by my paternal grand mother, Sandhya was from my maternal grand mother! Even now, when I go to the houses of my father's relatives in our native place, they address me as 'Mohini'! But Sandhya stayed everywhere! I like to forget the other names of mine like 'Chamundeeshwari' which was according to the nakshatra or something!

In my mother's days, the bride's name was changed after marriage! My mother's name was Ambujavalli at her mother's place and Indira at her in-law's place.  Like it happens to me, both sides of relatives address her as Ambuja or Indira when they meet her!

My Maharashtrian friend who is my age, has got two names, Ahilya and Meenal!

Thank god, I was not given a third name after marriage!

Now, I am coming to the point! In the serial, in a naming ceremony/naamkaran poojan of a baby, the purohit/priest  says, 'now, the child's buva can recite the baby's name in her ears, holding a leaf'.  The old lady says that since the baby hasn't got a buva (aunt/father's sister), the heroine who is the adopted daughter of the house, can name the baby.  The heroine says that the mother who had carried the baby for nine months and had dreamed about bringing up the baby, should be the right person to name her daughter.  Then the mother says that she always wanted to name her daughter, when she had one,  as 'Bhairavi', a beautiful, pleasant, classical raag.  She was so happy!

When I was pregnant with my first baby, I used to make a list of male/female names in a notebook.  As you know I hear music via radio a lot and I used to collect names from the 'aap ki farmaayish' and other programmes.  Whenever I had time in my office, I used to add new names in the list.  I didn't know that in my husband's family, the buvas/aththes had the right to name their nephews/nieces!  I wanted to name my son as 'Narendra' after Vivekananda (it was the saint's childhood name and I admire him a lot...my school had a beautiful statue of him and I used to hear many stories about him in school).  But it never happened.  My sis in law selected the name.  The next sis in law selected the second son's name (My second son thanks his aththe because he escaped the name 'Dharmendra' ... which rhymed with Narendra and Dharmendra was my childhood hero (LINK)!)

Can you believe? The purohit in our family, asks for a name which starts with a particular alphabet which is agreeable to our nakshatra...star.  Then we keep the name of the grand parent.  Another, of the favourite god or godmen/women! After keeping all these names the letters are changed according to numerology! Most of the names sound weird after changing, adding/deducting the letters/vowels!  My relative's child's name is Madhunitaa (two 'A's)!

What is your experience? Do you like your name?!!

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