Monday, August 18, 2008

Namesake :)

After the torminous job of choosing a name for the baby, she finally settles on Siddarth with a double Dee. It’s amazing to know to what extent people go to name their kids. It’s fun and formidable at the same time, especially when you have conflicting views with your partner. Yes that’s how big a deal naming a child is, it gets bigger if he/she is your first "bundle of joy". Six of my friends are pregnant with their first child, the dates are one after the other--have you ever imagined how pregnancy-ward hopping is gonna be like? Well, it’s high time i thought of something like that.
Another interesting aspect of "naming" is how careful people are about what those names mean...For i am yet to figure out why some Brits and Americans have funny names like --"Waterman", "Bird", "Witherspoon"...ha , funnier still-- Justin Timberlake, Dick Pole..hold your breath there’s more to come with the likes of Dick Hyman...(rolling on the floor laughing) I am not kidding, the names i took now are all celebrities of some sorts. Timberlake is the cute singer who is a heart throb to many; Pole is a baseball player, quite a famous one at that; and my favourite--Mr. Hyman is an American jazz pianist. *Disclaimer:No offence meant to anyone through this article.
The legacy of names/naming goes on and has become the latest fad stick for all celebrities to stand out with extraordinary (read acceptable) names.
Brangelina leads the race, undoubtedly, with the couple taking credit for some of the best and most innovative names so far.
U.S. Social Security online records revealed that when the couple named their first biological daughter Shiloh in 2006, it cracked the top 1,000 most popular baby names last year for the first time. [source:ET].
I love all of them - Shiloh Nouvel, Zahara, Maddox, Pax, Knox Leon and Vivienne Marcheline.
TomKat doing a not-so-bad job here too with Suri Cruise :)
At a recent baby shower, we were figuring out all possible permutations and combinations for the parents- If its a girl- then the suggestions that came up were Inikkaa, Mrinalini, Mrinalika and for the boy- Sanath, Arin, Ishaan etc etc. The mother struck Ishaan off the list as soon as she realised that was the name of the dyslexic kid in Aamir Khan's Taare Zameen Par. Boo hoo!!!
The influence of media, there too, huh? Yes, it can be pretty annoying. After all what’s in a name??
That makes me get in to the next topic of discussion- the concept of having psuedo names in the BPO industry, as a follow on to the pen names (Nom de Plume) that writers had earlier. Like Mark Twain (for Samuel Clemens) and Lewis Carroll (for Charles Dodgson); its writer's discretion on whether to use a pseudonym or not. Not everyone adopts a fictitious name for a fictitious reason though. What I am confused about is the use of pseudonyms in the BPO industry. Why would you ever want to change your name just because the new one is easier to pronounce for the English-speaking community? Why can’t they get used to Indian names like we are getting used to funny names from all around the world. My bro has a new name at his workplace despite having a good enough real name for himself. He is Binoy Benhur to us and Brian Walkar at his workplace. He says his clients relate to Brian better than they do to Binoy and calls it sexy. Hmmm..I am not convinced and am not sure if I ever will be; for someone to change his/her name according to certain people's convenience is beyond my understanding. If we are asked to pronounce to-die for perfume and luxury goods brands like Dolce and Gabbana, Givenchy, Yves Saint Laurent, Louis Vuitton the way they want us to. I cant wait to see the day when someone actually brings out a bag named "Ramachandran Subramanium Surianarayana Iyer"..LOL
Signing off,
Tresa Sherin Morera
PS/-I absolutely love the way my name sounds even with variations to the first name like Treeza, Teresa, Theresa, Tressa. Go on guys, am all ears :)