Thursday, January 10, 2008

What kind of a name do you have?

I have always thought of the naming game as a little too cumbersome. Babies should come with name-tags as soon as they're born. Some of us who are fortunate enough to have been blessed with an average intellect have the foresight to give decent names to our kids. First it was the west. Gone are names like John, James, Christopher, Howard and Robert. Nowadays people in the US especially have taken a liking to names like Hayden, Jayden, DiShawn etc.

Then you have people who want to make their race obvious with their names. For instance you know babies with the names Keisha, Delroy, Desiree, Tyrone, Francine or Darius are most certainly African Americans. Just like Alexander, Casey, Jamie are predominantly white baby names! Then there are people who like to change the way their kid's names are spelt. So now you have Brayan, Jayson, Jenipher, Nancee & Justyn! Thanks to the Beckams we now have people naming their kids after cities (in the case of the Beckams it was after their baby was conceived. Brooklyn was where their first-born was supposedly conceived so they named him after the New York borough. What will we have next, New Hampshire, Maine, Khartoum, Addis Ababa? Then there are those descriptive names. In a way it's like the names are telling you what the baby will grow up to be. You have Butler, Porter, Fancy (Yes, I met someone with that name), Destiny (what are the chances she won't be a fortune-teller?) and Castro. If you're naming your daughter Ruth, you're making her out to be an 80 year old nun. Blanche might not sound like a nun's name but it's like saying come over and spend some time with old grandma Blanche in the senior citizen's home.

Even Indians seem to be getting a little overboard with naming their kids these days. Earlier there were names like Ravi, Shyam, Ram, Shekhar, Rukmini and Gita. Todays names are a little complicated like Rushil, Ramon, Revati and Ruchira. For the most part they're all right one could say. But within India let's take a looksey at a few of the states. Goans like to be considered a different part of India. Apart from the politicians most of the normal people (mostly Christians) think they live in a different country. They wear western clothes, (try to speak with a Western accent) and give everything they do a Portuguese story. When it comes to names, Goans like fancy sounding ones. They think their baby will grow up to be famous with a fancy name. Royston is a favorite among the clan and so are variations of other popular names. Other names like Glenville (Goans actually have these kind of names) are better reserved for small town with populations of less than 200 people. Then you have Goodwin, Godwin, Larry, Gary (and sometimes Garry with 2 Rs). A trend that started in the 90s was combining the names of the father and mother to form a new and improved version of the family! ;-) There's Edlin derived from Edward and Linara. (I know these people) There is Milton from Milagres and Tony (which actually is a real name as gay as it may sound). Here's another one – Alvirita derived from Alvito and Rita.

People have also got to realize the implications of naming their kids a silly dorky name. I can't imagine a guy called Willy growing up to be a bouncer or someone called Chantal becoming a UN ambassador someday. How about a president of the US named Porter or Micah?

Seriously, I have a few names in mind for the time I have kids of my own but until then, making fun of other weird and interesting names is all I can do? So…..what's your name again?

14 comments:

L o r d R a j said...

Cool!

But, why leave out the coolest names of them all??

names like.. liju, tiju, titoo, bibin, vipin, bewin, rincy, retty, (yes.. these are real names)..

:)

If you haven't watched Russel Peters stand up comedy, then please do. he does this bit with the names (indian names, chinese names) - usually funny.

e.g. Sardaar named Sukhdeep, moves to States and there his name ends up being pronounced as SUCK DEEP.

(well some people would term his jokes - offensive as well, but then, every joke is usually offensive to someone, men or women, or dogs or cats or to a profession or a community or .... well I am sure that you get the point).

Anonymous said...

about naming, im not its in india only. But a criteria in naming also reside on how the name can be cut short for "easy calling" or "petnames"

Like a few friends where thinking a new name for the newborn.. and its like this

name : suzan - petname - sue, suzi
name : linette - petname - lin, lee
and so on

for them it was more important, how the pet name would pronouce , than the realname...

No wonder.. im called "Rayboy,Rey,Riy,Ry,Roy,Rhey" but never my real name" Raymond"

BarryUno said...

Hey raj, are you referring to the part where Ramandeep becomes "Rammin Deep"? Oh yeah, I'm a big Russel Peters fan. I have both the DVDs that're officially out.

Hey when I was in school, I had a friend named Jitty and his sister was Kitty. Another good friend of mine was called Soy and his brother was Sony. Their sisters were Sonyla and Soyla. I swear to God, those are their real names so I'm not too convinced about the pet name situation; it's like people nowadays are so lazy that they want a nickname and a real name all in one!

L o r d R a j said...

LOL @ people nowadays are so lazy that they want a nickname and a real name all in one!

haaa...

Perhaps this is their way of managing the situation efficiently and reducing redundancy and duplication of work efforts(selecting a name).

Although, it would be highly unlikely that the entire bunch of parents were management students.

Guess the only logical explanation would be - Shit happens.

Although I would really feel sorry for the offspring of a guy named Giju married to a girl named ligi.

I mean.. that kid would most likely end up with even a worse name.. GIGI or GILI or perhaps JUJI !!

yeah.. JULI is also a possibility.. but I doubt they would opt for that.. I mean.. that sounds a bit too normal .. wouldn't go well with the family tradition.. (UNLESS.... IT IS A BOY AND THEY NAME HIM JULI)

:D

Anonymous said...

It appears combination names r the in thing these days.I like jiji or juji.Definitely a mallu name.Barry i think i know this soy and sony people.Were they mallus too?NIS in the 80s?They r both wierd names wonder what made their parents name them that.
Russel Peters is funny but after a while he gets motonous.Aparently he has got into lots of trouble for his work.But he is ok for a laugh i guess!

BarryUno said...

Juju seems to be a nice name. The good brother can be called good Juju! His evil twin can be called bad Juju! ;-)

Yes Rubick Soy and Sony are both weird names. Here's my take on how they go them. The father was a huge electronics fan and since they conceived the baby while they were watching a movie on a Sony TV & VCR, they decided to name their first born Sony to show appreciation to the electronics giant. Hopefully Walkman wasn't his middle name!

Then a few years later the parents were trying out Chinese food for the first time and somehow didn't like it until the waiter showed them a secret - Soy sauce! And Voila, their next born was called Soy. After all he brought a certain "flavor" into their lives that Sony just couldn't cut it, being the eldest. The rest of the children came as spin-offs! Soyla for Soy and Sonyla for Sony!

Quite a lucid explanation I must say. Maybe I should become a fiction writer for one of those TV shows.

Russell Peters isn’t boring. He does tend to go on after a while but he brings it back with a bang. And the best part is that some of his jokes especially the Chinese ones are repeatedly quite often and yet people want him to do them again and again. He's just too damn good! Just like me! :p

Anonymous said...

As always, you really hit the nail on this one too ... of names and more!!!

How about an Aerosmith?!? Recently, someone named their child Aerosmith! Imagine growing up with that one!

Nichole Richie recently named her girl Harlow Winter ... Apt, don't u think, in keeping with the season? ;)

How about Apple, Tiger Lily, Fifi, Peaches and the like?

All said and done ... I like the Native American ones! Sheshebens anyone?!?

BarryUno said...

Sheshebens? Doesn't that mean small duck or bird or something close? either way it's hillarious!

Native Americans used to name their kids based on the first sight a father would see after his baby was born. Quite naturally, you used to find people with names like black horse, white mountain, ugly coyote and even "two dogs fucking"!

Genius eh? ;-)

BarryUno said...

And by the way - Aerosmith???? A guy with a name like that is only asking for trouble.

Am I right to assume this was a Goan dude?

Anonymous said...

LOL ... of course u're right to assume it is a Goan dude!!! ;) Cheers!

L o r d R a j said...

Been a while..

take care mate.

BarryUno said...

No worries mate, I'm around. My fiance was in town and the office kind of transformed into a mela of sorts so I was buy during the past 10 days.

L o r d R a j said...

Fiance in town...

hmmm hope you guys had a good time. so, now you fly down (again) to London for a few days?

enjoy, take care.

BarryUno said...

Not right now mate, although I would have loved to fly down to London for a few days. Right now I need to save some money for the wedding! ;-)

Anyways, check out my latest posting!