Indian Names

KABAARY

Very true !

I'm not telling !...unless you can really make it worth my while to do so.

brishti

not only sons - there are them nick names for them bengali daughters as well!
mine, actually made it to one of them IM thread headings



:brishti

Munivar

noooo...

it's more like puppoo, pinky, sherry,

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federica

Bablu

kristinm

We met several Buntys...but not in Bengal ...

flagpolecorner

My [indian] name has caused no end of confusion and hassle for me outside India. My passport has it in the format that is usual in south india (dont know if it's like this all over the country?) ....ANCESTRAL NAME / FATHER'S NAME / GIVEN NAME

In the west reading it off the passport as it is written would mean everyone in my immediate family has the same first name (actual 'ancestoral name') but different surname (actual given name!) Stupidly, when my parents left India, my father split his given name into 2 so the 2nd half became our [western] surname. Thats what I have used in school, work etc. but obviously it's different to whats in official documents like my birth certificate and passport and in hindsight my father should've used the ancestral name as our surname.

Dont know if any of that made sense! But i'm in the process of getting an affidavit done to confirm both names actually belong to me. A bit annoying when it causes such confusion but I'm quite glad it's a little more complicated than

Gametotravel

Sure that problem would be faced by South Indians!

As far as relationship names like Chacha, Taya, Mama etc I think in Europeans Swedes too use terms like Farfa, Marfa, Farbro or something like that!

btw I am Bunty too but not used.There are a lot of Buntys in Bengal but not belonging to Bengali person.

Cardamom

Yes! This is true and it makes so much sense. Farfar (father's father) Mormor (mother's mother) Morfar, Farmor, etc... Much easier than "my mother's mother".

-C

Brisso

When I would fill in forms in India (bookings etc) as FIRST NAME MIDDLE NAME LAST NAME format - the ticket was usually issued as FIRST NAME MIDDLE NAME format.

eg. Michael James Kerry became Mr Micheal James. Clearly a different way of expressing names.

mirjamd

In some south Indian communities the baby's name has to start with a certain letter and must be checked by an astrologer whether it is the right name for the baby. They often end up being complicated names, which nobody can pronounce on a daily basis. So, the nicknames are used..

There is also an idea of a housename, which is used by people who are close to you, to show familiarity. My husband's housename was Chikku (little one). He doesn't like to be reminded of that now

karuna

That's not just a south Indian thing I think, certainly it's a known phenomenon to folks in the north.

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kristinm

Is Bunty a pet name or a real name?

crvlvr

Wikipedia has a detailed wikki on Indian names: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_name

Typically Hindu names contains 4 elements

1. Place
2. First Names
3. Father's First name
4. Caste/occupation

In transmogrifying this long name into the more simplistic first/last names used in the western world, usually the First names is used with one of the other names. Hence when looking at an Indian name, what the last name signify can vary from name to name.

Nick names in India are no different than those used in the west and differs from family to family in its use.

First names are usually not used when a referring to an elder (unless used with some kind of title) out of respect. I think this is an important point for tourists to note.

shashank.aggarwal

Primarily a Pet name. However might as well be used as real name..

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pmvelu

In Tamilnadu, For Hindus the General convention is Like this:

1)Initial is the first letter of his /her Father's first name
2)Followed by "."
3)His / Her name

In Short <First Letter of Father's Last Name>. <First name> !

In Tamilnadu, Caste name is used very very rarely and it's very difficult to find whichh caste he/she belongs to Or Even which Place he/she belongs to by seeing the name !

For Ex. If a person name is Raman and his father's name is Dasaratha , As per tamilnadu convention, Raman's name is D.Raman and that's it !

And Very Rarely ,people who have their roots in tamilnadu will have their caste name in their name itself but if you closely look at, they might have migrated to other places long ago !...[ For Ex .South African Tamils , Malaysian Tamils use this convention& even people who migrated to other parts of india long back also use the general convention of using the caste names with their names]......


After 1960's , the usage of caste name in "name" is almost "Not in use" in tamilnadu and I do accept Exceptions will be there for sure !!...