What’s There in Name: Does Name really Matters

Few days ago, I was having a discussion with my mother about whether names really matter or not. She was of the opinion that names play an important role in influencing the personality of a person. Then, on hearing that I offered a different perspective that name really doesn't matter. I gave her numerous examples in support of my point of view. Sometimes, name doesn't matter. We have males and females named after various gods and their life is in contrast to their name.

• Saraswati is an old lady named after Goddess of Knowledge, Saraswati, but she is illiterate.

• The maid at my school Laxmi, named after Goddess of wealth, Laxmi, was very poor. 

• My childhood friend Arjun always found it difficult to concentrate.

• Amitabh Bachchan is a legendary actor. His original family surname is Srivastava. Bachchan is a pet surname adopted by his father, great poet, Hariwansh Rai Bachchan. Bachchan means kids in local language of U.P, Bihar. But see; now Bachchans are world famous irrespective of their humble surname which means kids.

Not only this, I also want to share a story with all to support my opinion. I work for a company founded by two Danish Engineers. Today, even after close to 80 years of its inception, it has retained tits original name though the company is professionally managed and the employees (mostly Indians) are the real owners through direct shareholding of major chunk of shares. The company is none other than Larsen & Toubro, which is named after her Danish founders Mr. Larsen and Mr. Toubro. 

The company which started from a 10 by 10 room with just 2 people is now one of the most prestigious multibillion dollar companies with more than 50000 employees. It is the largest construction company in India. Why I am telling all this? It is so because do you see that her name doesn't come in the way of her Indianness.  I am very sure that the company and her founders are much more Indian than most Indians.

The newspaper, The Hindu, is an esteemed newspaper and is equally good for Hindus or anybody else. The newspaper is judged by its content which is equally good for everyone from different backgrounds irrespective of their religion.

However, we have to accept the view point of my Mother also as the following examples support her opinion.

• IITians are very talented but it cannot be ignored that IITs are IITs because of their name. Definitely they are reputed because of their quality and standards but at the end it’s the IIT tag that most aspiring engineers in India waned to have. Why NITs are not popular as IIT?

• I am also particular about brands as I am more cautious while shelling out money for an unknown brand. However, I feel that paying more for a reputed brand is worth the money spent on it. Here, definitely the name really matters.

• I know many people whose family had changed surnames in the past to avoid any kind of bias. Many NRIs change their name or surname to make it sound more familiar to their adopted country. names really matters to them.

• In India, wives change their original surname with the one they get from their husbands. So, names really matters in India.

• Many Legendary actors have used a screen name like evergreen Dilip Kumar was born as Yusuf Khan. Even poets and writers in India have a tradition of using a pen name. It gives them the freedom to write freely about their opinion irrespective of any fear. Freedom Fighters also used different names to call each other. So, for all these people names really matters.

I have been informed that my name is inspired from the fact that Sunil Gavaskar has named his son as Rohan and my father wanted to follow suit, He is a cricket fan and he thought that son of Sunil Gavaskar will be famous and thus in admiration of his cricketing icon, he named me Rohan.

As a kid, I never liked my name and always wanted to change it because it was so uncommon that I felt it was not good. But, I am glad that nothing like that ever happened and I am still known by the name Rohan.  My name is derived from the Sanskrit word whose meaning is to climb up. I want to live up to my name and take conscious steps to become a better person with each passing day.

It is a good experience to explore the different aspects of the importance of names and analyze whether names really matters or not. We come to a conclusion that sometimes names matters and sometimes it doesn't.

 BY- Rohan Sinha