How we named our kids: An exposition

There was once a time when the quote What’s in a name.. a rose blah blah blah will smell the same yada yada was mentioned in every context possible. Now its use seems to have gone down greatly, possibly because naming things and pets and tiny humans has become something of a mixture of art and science.

This blog post stems from all the disappointed-bordering-on-scathing looks we (the namers) have received from people when we tell them the names of our kids.

I always loved my name. As a teenager, when we first got the internet at home, I spent a lot of time researching its various meanings. My (Google-less) parents hadn't thought this much though. They both knew someone nice with this name, it was a spin-off of Lord Krishna's name and it meant black. Also, they believed that this name couldn't be shortened to a weird and/or run-of-the-mill nickname. 

My husband, on the other hand, was named after the star he was born under. He has what is probably the most common name in this part of the world. 3 of my classmates, 2 neighbors, the guy who owns the hardware shop near our house, the Swiggy delivery person who came now, a distant cousin, another one’s husband, and the main character in 4 movies I like are all called Kartik. 

Funnily enough, one of the first things Kartik and I discovered about each other was our love for the name Maya. Both of us had used that name as a pseudonym or as character names in the stuff we wrote/worked on. So obviously, we knew that if we had a girl, we would call her Maya. 

Considering that we had planned on having only one kid, we thought we were already prepared for 50% of the scenarios!

When we started thinking boy names though, we were just never on the same page, or the same book even! At 8 weeks of pregnancy, when we received the “twincredible” surprise, we realized we had to think of two boy names, two girl names, and which we would choose if it was one boy and one girl. 

Again, with the girl names, we were very amicable. Maya and Shakti, we decided. 
If, at this point, you are saying “Heyyyyy.. Shakti like Alaipayuthey Shakti?”, then you are in the right place! While I liked the name Shakti for what it meant, what cemented its position was hearing Madhavan’s voice screaming the name inside my head! Similarly, the love for Maya too was heavily influenced by Jothika’s Maya in Kaakha Kaakha.

But with boys’ names in movies, I had to first filter out the Rajus and Rajas (and Karthiks!!) and the rest are like Anbuchelvan and Thiruchelvan and Raghavan and I wasn't going to saddle my children with those. 

Kartik liked Arjun and Abhimanyu. I wasn’t very sure of Arjun, and Abhimanyu was an absolute no. I liked Siddharth and he was on the fence about that. I suggest Ram and Krishna (Kanda Naal Mudhal fans say yaaayyyy) and it was rejected outright for the cliche it was!

We both almost agreed on Surya, Kartik thinking of Rajinikanth in Thalapathy, me of Surya in Varanam Aayiram.. and suddenly he said “Will it be shortened to Suri?” 

After that, all we could think of was platefuls of Parotta, so that option was quickly vetoed!

We were still coming up with girl names though — Kayalvizhi, Malar, Kadhambari, Sathya for a girl… but there we already had our top picks and we had no plans of having quadruplets!

Siddharth made the cut in the end. Kartik had no compelling argument to make and I won him over by stressing the versatility of the name (Sidhu as a baby, Sid when he is a “cool” teenager and I am screaming Wake up Sid!). To convince me of Arjun, Kartik brought out the big guns. “You can call him Ajju, like Dulquer in Bangalore Days”. That’s it. I was sold! A sensitive rebel who says “oppam nadakkana ishtam”? Well, count me in!

So it came to be that even before I was out of the operation theatre, Kartik had texted family and friends that Arjun and Siddharth were here!

But when we tell other people these names, they often look so crest-fallen. There appears to be some unwritten rule that twins must be named similar things. Not even the same first letter, some ask. What an utter waste of an opportunity, they seem to think. Siddharth and Sidhanth would have been lauded, Arjun and Akash would have been acceptable, but this? No way!

Keeping with the current trends we should have at least gone for Arjoon or Hiddharth (if asked, we would say that it means <insert basic human quality> in the <insert scripture we have never read>) ..but then we are just parents, standing in front of you, asking you to understand that we love movies.

Some day, our kids are going to be pissed that they are never together when it is alphabet order. Siddharth has to write 4 letters more to spell his name, Arjun has to go first at every viva.. but they will understand.

I mean, they are going to grow up hearing “Be like Arjun from Bangalore days, not Arjun from Arjun Reddy. Be like Siddharth from Dil Chahta Hai, not Siddharth from Thani Oruvan”

Oh well, at least they will have a good story to tell their friends/partners/therapists!

P.S.:  I just realized that movie twins are not named similar names! Vishwanathan-Ramamoorthy, Kodi-Anbu, Madhumitha-Vishnavi, Vishnu-Jeeva .. But the fate of movie twins is not a rabbit hole I wish to descend into.

P.P.S: If you realized that Siddharth is named Arjun in Aayutha Ezhuthu.. yeah!!!! Cool no!!!