The quirky world of names: from pet to proper

I have always been intrigued by names –the informal pet names, the formal real names, and everything in between.

Growing up in Punjab in the 1960s and 70s, I knew many girls in my circle of friends and acquaintances affectionately called Babli, Guddi, Pinki, Sweety and Lovely. Many boys had pet names such as Happy, Kaka, Pappu, Bittu and Titu. Most of them are senior citizens now, but some are still known by their pet names. ‘Baby’ stopped being a little girl half a century ago; from Baby Auntie she became a granny, yet she is still ‘Baby’. The interesting thing about pet names is that kids grow up, but their nicknames refuse to go away, sticking steadfastly forever, sometimes to the embarrassment of the bearer.  The late veteran actor Rishi Kapoor often lamented that in his youth he was not taken seriously on the film sets as everyone called him by his pet name, Chintu.

No less interesting are proper names, especially the unisex ones like Harvinder, Surinder , Surjeet, Baljeet,  which are common in Punjab. Of course, officially, the boys have the suffix ‘Singh’ and girls ‘Kaur’, but normally they are addressed by their first name. I remember multiple Narinders and Manjits in my class – both boys and girls -which often led to hilarious situations.  When the teacher called out ‘Narinder’, all three would stand up, exchanging glances with one another. To this day, confusion remains as there are three Narinders and two Manjits in our class WhatsApp group. Here is an interesting bit of information:  cricketer- turned- politician Navjot Singh Sidhu, who has juggled many hats, is married to a Navjot.

Equally fascinating are South Indian names, which are like a complete identity card, revealing one’s clan, native place and father’s name (usually denoted by abbreviations), followed by the person’s own name. Perhaps the most remarkable, however, are Parsi surnames like Palkiwala, Daruwala, Bandookwala, Mistry, and Batliwala, all based on the trades of their ancestors.

Returning to the popular names of my school days, most girls’ names had a middle name such as Kumari, Rani, or Lata.  However, by the time we reached high school, many girls discarded these outdated middle names in favour of shorter, trendier names. Savita Kumari did away with the superfluous ‘Kumari’; Priya Lata dropped ‘Lata’; Sarita Rani became simply Sarita.   While girls refused to carry the baggage of these middle names, many boys also eliminated ‘Kumar’ and ‘Jeet’ from theirs. Ironically, by the time they hit their middle age, some restored their middle name to make them sound weightier and more dignified.

Earlier, the elders might have been casual in giving all sorts of nick-names and names to their children, but the millennium parents dig into dictionaries, surf the internet for selecting unique and exotic baby names.

 However’ an uncanny characteristic of names is their tendency to become common. By the time a child reaches kindergarten, chances are there are half a dozen tiny tots with the same or similar names in their class. These supposedly exclusive names get phased out and replaced by another set of ‘new’ names within a few years. In fact, in every generation, there are certain popular, rather trending names that change like fashion.

Ultimately, whether unique or widely popular, names continue to be a fascinating reflection of their times and also a sign of our cultural diversity.

(Published in January 2026 issue of Woman’s era)