What’s in a Name?

It is estimated that about130 million babies are born in a year. Each one will be given a carefully considered name. A name that indicates their gender, family, culture, and possibly religion.  It will indicate their parents’ aspirations with the assumption that as the child grows he or she will develop a personality and values reflected in their given name.  The importance given to naming a newborn can be gauged by the elaborate naming ceremonies across the world. Names are decided in a dizzying array of systems: Tasmiya of Muslims, the Baptism of Christians, Namakaram of Hindus, Chaathi of Parsees, The Chinese Moon-yut or red egg and ginger party.

Philosophers have debated , with no clear conclusion, whether a name is merely an objective  title or a description of the person.  However, in practice, names are imbued with all manner of qualities. Some believe a name determines the destiny of a person. Numerology has been applied to names from at least as far back as 9 BC in Babylon to discover the hidden influences or forces behind a name. The first and last name together can have good or bad vibrations, and people have been known to change their names to change their destiny or nature.

The current administrative needs with standardized forms to fill, force people to stick to one official set of names. However, in the past, names were fluid.  Arab names would change with the birth of a child with addition of Abu, ( father) or Umme ( mother). Similarly children would be known as  bin  or binte – son or daughter of.  Arab names may have five parts: ism ( given name) , kunya ( honourific name  Abu or Umme), nasab ( ancestral link), laqab ( epithet) , and nisba ( surname). Imam Abu Hanifah, the most widely followed Islamic jurist, was born Nu`man bin Thabit. He took the Kunya of his daughter, Hanifah, instead of his son, after she solved a complex question he could not. 

In South Asia many names refer to the city of origin such as Amrohi, Dehlavi or Shirazi, or a trade  - Bandookwala, Contractor, Mevawala. 

 In traditional Chinese culture, similar to the Native American, a man would change names from birth to adulthood: A “milk name” at birth, a “book name” on entering school,  a “courtesy name” when 20, a “fancy name”  given by a friend or chosen by himself. A similar unfolding of names is also common in Native American nations. Chinese women, on the other hand, either stayed nameless known only by their position, or had names only known to close family.

Native Americans have secret sacred names that only the individual and the medicine man know, as a secret core identity to help them recover from a traumatic experience .  African names often refer to events at the time of birth including whole sentences such as “joy has come home” or “born during troubled times”. The child of an unplanned pregnancy was named Melevevio - "not necessary". To ward off evil spirits a negative name such as “born on a rubbish heap” may be used and changed once the child has grown.

Mughal emperors took on names on succession that were an announcement of how they intended to  rule –Akbar, Jehangir, Shah Jehan, Alamgir. Catholic nuns, priests and the Pope take on names of saints and other religious figures to announce giving up their individual identity to serve  God’s greater  purpose.  European royalty had a limited number of approved names, encouraging  epithets  such as Ivan the Terrible, Ethelred the Unready, or Richard the Lionheart. 

 

Hypocorisms include pet names or calling names which can be terms of endearment. Dulhan Mumani, Gori Phuppo.  Achi Aapa.   Epithets are freely used by the underworld   Kala Naag,  Rehman Dakait, Commando, Darbari, Tijori , Kaan Kata. Superheroes, wrestlers and martial artists are also known by epithets - Batman , Hulk,  The Undertaker, the Dragon.

The need to assimilate when crossing cultures was often achieved by localizing names.  German and Jewish post WWII refugees in USA anglicized their  names. In Zia’s Pakistan, many newborns of the Christian community are given Muslim sounding names such as Yusuf instead of Joseph.  African Americans, on the other hand, are returning to names referring to their pre-slavery identities, or create new identities by subverting names such as that of the rap artist, Will. I. Am. 

Places, machinery and objects may also be given names such as the Big Apple for New York, a military gun called Big Bertha, constellations, hurricanes, and boats. Mona Lisa was named many years later by Vasari, not the artist, Leonardo Da Vinci. Hazrat Ali’s powerful sword was called Zulfiqar.

A name has great power whether protecting one’s own name to preserve one’s reputation, or the lucrative naming rights of commercial businesses.  One of the first things Empires did was to rename places they conquered to subordinate and undermine the authority and ownership of the vanquished.  After countries gained their independence they have gradually reverted to indigenous names.

One can question Juliets claim: “ What's in a name? that which we call a rose/By any other name would smell as sweet”.

Durriya Kazi

August 6, 2018