What’s in a name?

The Bard asked that question lightly and moved on. He never dealt with a Government official telling him that his name was invalid did he? I tried explaining to the man (Government official, not Bard), that this was how my parents had named me but my application for whatever was rejected. That spurred me to write this piece. Actually I have been writing it in my head for many decades now. It is only thanks to my friend and torturer Anu, that it is being typed out now.

Let me share with you my experience of names gleaned over the last 300 years of my life. Hey, that is how old I feel most days! I freely admit that the only research I have done is into my own experience, not of any voluminous tomes or internet searches.

A name is something that uniquely identifies you. In India, it usually carries a Given name and an additional name that is either the place you belong to, your father’s name or your occupation or your caste. “Your” here means your dynasty or clan, not necessarily of you personally. So if you had a forefather born in Parlakhamadi or Thuamulrampur, then that was your surname or forename, whether you can place the village on a map or not. Some communities place their surname(s) before their given name(s) to show respect to their place of origin, father, occupation or caste. Thus, theoretically, names could have a variety of forms and lengths. And to me this variety is what made the world an interesting place. 

Then along came technology. And regardless of current Indian claims, it came from the “West” – west of India that is; first from Europe and then from the land of freedom and promise – America as it is breezily called though it only comprises a part of the Americas. This land (USA, if you are still wondering), promises a lot, but on the name front forces you into a standard format – given name, middle name if you insist, surname – all having to fit into 40 characters or whatever the latest technology demands. No other format is accepted and tolerated. This rigid, non-varietal view is what made that bureaucrat in Gujarat tell me my name is invalid. 

Actually I am a chilled out person and wouldn’t care how my name is mangled. However, no one has a right to tell me my name is invalid. What did he raise objection to? My name followed the classic (where I come from) format of village name followed by given name. The village name (which I have since legally shortened) is unpronounceable and bewilders every spell check. That may have irked my Gujarati friend who preferred surnames (not forenames) that are simple such as Patel or Shah. He also insisted that my father’s name should be my middle name. If I really wrote out my name the way he wanted me to, I would spend most of my life just writing it out on one form or the other – it is that long. He is not alone – try to fill out any online form. There are limited characters for Given name first, followed by Surname, with a grudging middle name squashed in. 

Here is what I ask of the world – why does technology dictate how our names go? Why kill the variety that our names bring to the world? And let us go back to basics – what is the purpose of a name? It is to identify a person uniquely. How does it matter to anyone if I write my Given name first or my Surname first? All you need to add is a field that asks, “How would you like to be addressed?” or “In what sequence is your name written?” or “Which is your first name and your second name?” I just don't like this automatic assumption that my first name is my Given name and my second name is my Surname. In my case, it is most certainly not. 

I ask this confident that there are a lot more people than just me who face this problem. There are many communities in Southern India and East Asia who write their Surname before their Given name. If the population of India and China is about 2.5 billion to 3 billion, then I guess that there are at least a billion people who don't follow the standard format of Given name, middle name, Surname. Isn’t that a large enough population to want to cater to? I tried explaining this to Facebook, but I got a standard response on how a name has two parts – the first name is the given name and the second name is the surname and that is that. So Facebook continues to call me “Kv” incorrectly, confusing all my friends. 

In an ideal world I would like to use a single name – one that does not connect me to a place or my lineage or my caste; one that highlights me as me. However, I do agree that it could become very confusing since others also have my name. So I am likely to get tagged with a description which would, over time, become my Surname. (I would still insist on writing it before my name.)

In another piece I will explain the evolution of my name. 

5/Dec/2014