Naming the kids.

[United_Floyd]

Its a well observed fact that the people all around the world try to find the religion of a person in his/her name. This bring me to the point that should we as freethinkers should stick to the traditional names be it from any mythology or religious reference?
Or should we start off with a new set of names altogether depending upon what a person likes or finds admiration?

[Ajita Kamal]

We had a discussion on this.. can't find the thread now. Essentially, we concluded that there are many ways to go. There are beautiful names in Indian tradition that are non-religious and belong to freethinkers as much as to everyone else. On the other hand, there is a whole new universe opened up by science and available to those of us who do not let arbitrary cultural boundaries stifle our imagination.

[dsriharsha]

I am going to name my future son "Luke". people can keep searching for biblical and religious references all they want but I want the satisfaction of one day staring down at him and say in a synthesized voice, "I am your father, Luke"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwExDG7n7Zg

[United_Floyd]

Ok. Great views on first names. So now the problem lies in last names. How should we fix that? Any suggestions?

[manju]

(19-Jan-2011, 07:51 AM)United_Floyd Wrote: Ok. Great views on first names. So now the problem lies in last names. How should we fix that? Any suggestions?

This is actually my present situation. I suppose background of a person matters here. My family has been identityless in the sense we never officially carried a common last name thro' the generations. Also, neither spouses sported the same last name. My grandfather, my father and I all had our places of birth as the second name and all of them were different. Some time back, I overthought and added my family name/house name (inherited matrilineally) as my last name. Now I have doubts about it since these lineages act similar to Gotra so it does carry discriminatory irrational past(and as we know the idea has barbaric presence in some parts of India even today).

So, I'm still in a dilemma whether to continue the identityless identity tradition of my family and give my daughter her place of birth as the last name or continue to indulge in my utopian matrilineal fantasies and give her the matrilineal house name.

[Ajita Kamal]

(19-Jan-2011, 11:04 PM)manju Wrote: My family has been identityless in the sense we never officially carried a common last name thro' the generations. Also, neither spouses sported the same last name. My grandfather, my father and I all had our places of birth as the second name and all of them were different.

This is actually a part of our cultural tradition that is dying out, thanks to cultural globalization.

I hope you find a good resolution to your conundrum regarding your daughter's name. I remain undecided at the moment regarding similar concerns.

[manju]

Yes, patronymics don't pass down through more than one generation, however, my case was little different. My grandather had Mantampadi, my father had Kasaragod and I have Mangalore. Our places of birth. So, you can see it was not even passed to the immediate generation. A rather peculiar and sometimes hilarious situation. If I am to stick with that and keep 'Hyderabad' as my daughter's last name, I suppose I'll be slapped with divorce papers, and be denied any paternal rights.

[Janani Iyer]

I think starting with a new trend is a good idea but most of the people in India believe that giving a traditional name will personify their baby's upbringing.