What's in a name?

 

You maybe surprised to know that I have named my own self! Not because I didn’t like what my parents named me, but I accidentally uttered Vandita when the principal of the school where I was getting my admission done asked my name. Ever since I have known this, I used to wonder if my life would have been any different if I was rather called Nalini which was the name that was originally given to me by my parents. I have asked myself bizarre questions like, would I have had a different fate? Would I have bonded with different people? And so on and so forth. It was only with passing years that I realized that the only difference that it could have made in my life technically, would have been the position in which I appeared for my regular vivas during exams. My life in general would have been the same otherwise. It wasn’t until recently but, that I had to question the importance of a name in one’s life all over again after I starting calling my son by a not so unique or a rather common name.

I was questioned and am still questioned by most people of my and my husband’s family for naming him what I did. Everyone around wants a rather unique name, a name that either no one or only a rare few have heard of. Is there anything which I can label as unique and antique on this densely populated planet? Is what I thought of first. And, will calling my child by a rare name, make him different and exceptional from the existing lot around? Is what I thought next.

Your name indicates nothing about who you are, what you can be, or how you would become. But yes, it is the one word which you may end up hearing the most often in your lifespan, in which case, why can’t we have simpler names, which are easier to recall and have some sense of meaning attached to them.

The importance of names as titles of books, plays, or cinematic works are more, because the name there gives the audience a sneak peek about the work, they are about to indulge in. But there too the expectations and understanding from the audience can be so different that even Shakespeare ended up giving the title As you like it for one of his popular plays.

Of all the aspects that constitute the various layers of one’s personality, the name which is just a label attached to give us our initial identity remains the most superficial of them all. And as far as wanting to sound the most unique in this world with a population of more than seven billion people is considered, no matter how different you name your child, they would still call you Ma, mom, mommy, mamma, etc or dad, pa, papa, baba, etc. The options there are limited and common but the title is as unique and special as it can be for each parent. There is way more depth in our auras than we think, let us not cling on or confine our personalities to this most superficial layer that constitutes us, our name.

You can connect to me on

vanditasshelf@gmail.com