Nomenclature

We all have names. Name gives us an identity, a distinction. Without a name we would be 'just one of the herd', a nobody from the general stock. But above all it is that certain satisfaction we get on hearing our name uttered.

I am pretty happy with my own. Charudatta Ram Prabhudesai, my name, is not a common name. It restores in me my identity and my self belief. I have had on occasions dallied with  the notion of changing my name for spiritual (sic) reasons. I had asked friends to suggest suitably, but not a single name they suggested seemed as completely suitable as mine, nor satisfying. I am Charudatta Ram Prabhudesai, anytime!

Right now I think also of those who change their names. Often a name-change is required: certain doctrinaire ceremonies necessitate a name change. I think that Hindus have their names changed post initiation. Vivekananda is one case in point although I must add that he was not doctrinaire himself.

Yet there are others who are ready to change their names at the drop of a hat. Particularly Westerners-Europeans especially and from those the French in particular like to take on names which sound better to their ears and also because Indian names have "deep", "spiritual" meaning. So you have a Didier Dalton becoming Diksha-Paranjaya (!) or a Jean Luc Cordonier transformed into a Himagiri Shiva! I could go on ...

There are others who, for reasons of financial or other gains keep their Western Surname but change the first, - like Mirabai Stone or Saraswati Bush! (God!)

Some of them are so taken in by the ancient sounds that they do not care whether the name they end up changing is a verb or a noun. Sometimes it is a rare case of declension!  Shivaya? From Aum Namo Shivaya!

Yet there are mothers, Indophiles, who name their daughters and sons in such a foot loose fashion that their names sound almost like three different foot soldiers from allied forces pooled together to fight some Hitler-ish Evil! Anna Durga Esperanza Goldwyn Smith. Is that a name? Yes it is, but is it really ?

Yet Anna Durga Esperanza Goldwyn-Smith and Charudatta Ram Prabhudesai share something in common. The sound these words make apparently please the ears of their owners. That is an undeniable fact. That should settle every dispute. Besides, the way the order is established amongst us men is quite reasonable, in that, a man who dislikes his name or its sound is free to change it to something ....bizarre? Bizarre, may it well be, but one that has a sound that is just right. Owner can wear it proud and proper, just as I do mine. I say Charudatta Ram Prabhudesai is a great name.