Columnists

The Concise Eloquence of Names

by I.J. SINGH

We love the sound of our own names like little else.  Names stick to us like a second skin. 

Names are neither endowed nor changed easily; every culture has a ritual to the process.

So, when people legally change their names, it is a life-altering experience  -  a defining moment that often occurs after a religious conversion or marriage, though increasingly, married couples try to maintain their earlier identity by somehow hyphenating it with the newer reality. 
 
But the rituals of naming don't always stay solemn. Often history and tradition define the ritual, which sometimes becomes comedic theater  -  burlesque, but never pointless.    
 
In the Indian cultural milieu, children are rarely, if ever, named after their parents. Nevertheless, for them, naming a child is an emotional experience. 

The Sikh way remains simple, but one can read meaning in it.  
 
Traditionally, Sikhs select the first letter of the name by randomly opening a page of the Guru Granth.  This signifies ceding our personal will and desire to a greater reality. 

In the second part of the process, we construct a name from the letter willed to us by Guru Granth.  It is in this phase that parents can give free rein to their dreams and aspirations for the child.  So they often select a name that is phonetically easy on the ear, or projects traits of beauty, brains, courage or honesty that we hope the child would display in life. 

"Singh" or "Kaur" appended to the names of boys and girls, respectively, connects the newborn to a glorious history and tradition.  The appellation of caste is rejected, for that would, in fact, set the Sikh message on its head and upend it.

That is the doctrine and the teaching; the practice is something else indeed.  I'll spare you my rant against the pandemic use of caste names by Sikhs worldwide. Suffice it to add that some diseases are curable while others are manageable; this one seems both incurable and unmanageable at this time.
 
My generation of Sikhs largely acquired their names through this simple process, and many of the apellations are rooted in Indian culture, or indicate adoration of God and Guru. 

My name, Inder, is derived from the name of a god in Indian mythology.  I have come across many Sikhs named after eight of the ten Gurus, but have never met anyone named for Guru Har Rai or Guru Tegh Bahadur.
 
Sometimes, cultural eccentricities become pivotal.  My daughter, for instance, was named Anna-Piar for her two grandmothers, who obviously came from very distinct cultural and religious backgrounds.
 
Our simple ways have changed, largely during the last three or four decades, as people started naming their children after the idols and celluloid characters of Bollywood cinema. 

Many new names have no meaning but, man, do they have rhythm! Many are pseudo-Westernized.  Mainly, they are phonetically easy on the tongue.  They roll smoothly, and don't trip the unwary, but some names simply leave me baffled. 

I know two charming little Sikh girls named Aarshiya and Jahanvi.  I have no idea  what the words mean within the Sikh tradition. 

The other side of the coin is that when a good friend, Laurie Bolger, became Manjyot Kaur, she delved deeply into the meaning of the name.
 
Traditionally, Sikh names ended with "Kaur" for females and "Singh" for males.

Often, when I am required to give my parents' names to some bureaucrat, it leads to an automatic question: "Why are the last names of your mother and father different?" I am asked.

Sometimes, I have used the occasion to suggest that Sikhi liberated women long ago, so that they could retain their own names after marriage  -  a right that in this society has only recently become symbolic of women's equality.

Now I see many young Sikh women, particularly outside India, using the hyphenated "Kaur-Singh", while others have shed "Kaur" and simply use "Singh" as their last name.  Sometimes this leads to confusion, because traditionally, Sikh first names are gender-neutral, and differentiation between males and females depends upon the use of "Singh" or "Kaur."
 
Sikhs who are associated with the movement inspired by Yogi Harbhajan Singh have always had inspirational and meaningful first names derived from Sikh teachings or history, such as Satjivan, Gurudhan, Harihar, Sathari (pronounced "sat-hari"), Premka, or Gurumustuk.  Just imbibe the tremendous meaning behind a simple name like Guruka ("of the Guru") Singh. 
 
What I find utterly fascinating is a trend that the new generation of young Sikh parents here in the diaspora seem to have rediscovered within the past six or seven years. 

I see a great number of Japnoor Singh, Iknour Kaur, Amitoj Singh, or similar names.  Just months ago, a young couple in Boston - good friends - named their son Dilzafar Singh.  (In case you are wondering, keep in mind the "Epistle of Victory" - Zafarnamah  -  penned by Guru Gobind Singh.)

Another couple in New York named their son Akali Nihang Singh.  Then there is a newborn, Jodha Singh, in Texas; he will surely have many battles of the mind to fight, as his name indicates, or should I say, prophecies. 

And little girls are not being neglected either. I see Bani Kaur, Sukhmani Kaur, and Sahiba Kaur. These names go so far back into our tradition that they sound entirely non-traditional to our ears.  Surely, these Sikhs, babies yet, will one day be curious about the meaning and history of the names that define them.
 
The grandparents, raised on a steady diet of Bollywood, often look askance, even with a little embarrassment, at the names of these Sikh babies that seem to hearken to a distant past in our history, but I rejoice in the trend. I see hopes and dreams, and the flame of Sikhi burning brightly in the hearts of the young parents who chose to step out of the box.
 
This tells me that young Sikhs in the diaspora are connecting to the fundamentals of their faith.  It means that, while they face the future, they remain comfortable with the past in which they are rooted.

[Images on this page: Top -  A granthi reads from the Guru Granth. Bottom - Some of the 99 names of God in Islam. Second from the bottom  -  Some of the 72 names of God in the Qabbalah tradition of Judaism. Third from bottom  -  A Sikh family receiving parshaad (Sikh sacrament) at the conclusion of a "naming ceremony". Thumbnail  -  Soldiers of the famed Sikh Regiment look for familiar names made immortal on the Honour Roll.]

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