Whats in a name?

At a party last week,I met an attractive girl in her thirties who had changed her first name from Shelini to Urvashi.

Written by Leher Kala

February 20, 2012 03:29 AM IST

4 min read

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At a party last week,I met an attractive girl in her thirties who had changed her first name from Shelini to Urvashi. Nobody pronounced it correctly was her main grouse,always calling her Shalini. And Urvashi,though by no means a spectacular or unusual name,appealed,since according to Hindu legend,she was the most famous of the apsaras in Lord Indras court. Urvashi went through the rigmarole of paperwork,put an ad out and informed friends and family,who would have to reconcile her identity and their old memories with a new name.

Changing a first name,though unusual,is not as uncommon as one would imagine. I have another friend who was fed up with the dodgy picture the name Monica conjures (it has too strong an association with Lewinsky and the very suggestive Helen song Monica,Oh My Darling). She changed it to Manica. It was a little strange at first,but over time,even people whove known her all her life have gotten used to it,perhaps because only one vowel is different. Before the Khans ruled Bollywood,it was thought that Hindu names were a better guarantee for acceptance and success,so Yusuf Khan became Dilip Kumar and Mumtaz Jahan became Madhubala. Would Lady Gaga be the sensation she is with the very ordinary name of Stefani Joanne? A couple of people with very common names,to stand out I guess,take on different titles for Facebook and Twitter. Theres a very active Moti Kutta on Facebook. Not surprisingly,his profile picture is a black alsatian. Theres another Saloli Not Saloni; clearly,shes exhausted by people mispronouncing her name.

Not everyone who hates their name wants to change it though. My mother has spent a lifetime opening envelopes addressed to Mr. Gurminder Kala. Weary of the inevitable masculine categorisation this name carries,as a teenager,she attempted to change it to Namrata. She went so far as to changing her school records despite the disapproving principal,but when the time came to put an ad out in a newspaper declaring her new name,she chickened out because she felt like a fraud. Besides people who want to make an impact in showbiz with a unique-sounding name,what could be a good enough reason to go through the tiresome process of name changing? Even first names carry our familys story,of our roots and identity. Then there are more practical reasons to consider. Imagine having to explain to everyone you know why you changed your name. It makes sense if your name,first or second,comes with a lot of baggage and unwanted connections,and you need to distance yourself from your past to move on: like the US-born model Wafah Dufour,niece of Osama Bin Laden,who switched to her mothers maiden name after the events of September 11,2001.

Interestingly,some scientific studies suggest the simpler the first name,the better the chances of success: so a Jack or John might end up better off than an Alexander. In future,a lot more of us will be changing our names,to distance ourselves from our misspent youth,which is unfortunately recorded in excruciating detail on social networking sites such as Facebook. Already companies check out potential employees Facebook pages before hiring them.

Controlling every embarrassing photograph where youve been tagged unknowingly by friends of friends,is impossible. Weve not fully gauged yet that were living in our very own Truman Show where everything about us is available and knowable by everyone,all the time. Either we start censoring ourselves pronto or we take on danger as our middle name.

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