Everytime I read articles on old inscriptions that indicate land grants by person x or y, I am fascinated by the fact that the names seem to be so much different now, than they were then. It would be very interesting if people could see how names have changed over the centuries..
> Everytime I read articles on old inscriptions that indicate land grants by > person x or y, I am fascinated by the fact that the names seem to be so much > different now, than they were then. It would be very interesting if people > could see how names have changed over the centuries..
HI of late sanskritisation has taken over in naming kids. p say 40 years back naming after gods was prevalent. even now we get some lovely names from lalitha sahasranama. but then in a few communities the first born is bound by certain rules of nomenclature. often ends up with father and son having the same name( leading to hilarious situations when the younger one's classmates call on the phone) often villages are bound by rules for the first born. the first born in pallathuris often called solaiappan or solai( F) with regard to the deity of the village solai andavar. some do name their kids from epics like historical novels. 2 of kalingnars grand daughters are names after epics pungkuzhali and kayalvizhi. venketesh
I am not just talking about sanskritization over the last few decades. I mean the names, even from a Tamizh standpoint, are remarkably different from anything we hear of now or even maybe a couple of centuries ago. Was referring to that.
Arun: This topic is haunting me too; glad you have raised it.
The addition of father's name as surname must be pretty recent, perhaps due to the influence of the British. Even three generations ago, only the given name was dominant; the prefix was either place of birth/ancestry or vamsa and the suffix was caste/profession/skill. Post independance, many have dropped the caste suffix, with nothing to replace it. I always have difficulty in filling the 'surname' column.
Like in PS, only the given names are used; father's name or husband's name are not attached. Arulmozhi, kundavai, kandamaran, alwarkadiyan. In puranas also the names stand alone, even if a person is referred by multiple derived names - vaidehi, janaki, dharmputran etc.
In Maharashtra, girls after marriage are (or were) given a new name by the husband and his family, and the old, childhood name was discarded.
I remember Bharathi Tamil Sangam, Bhuvaneswar, Mr. Rajendra IAS ( NOW in Chennai ? or Delhi Dy Elec. Commsnr ? - since there are two Rajendran IAS this confusion ) has brought a book on tamil names.
-Hi My mother grew up in palani inthe 40s. thereused to be a story there of a couple who were childless for a long period and then were blessd with a girl. for years the lady used to play with the children of the road who must have given her great joy. so in a tribute to the kids of the road they named the daughter after all of them something like " soma sundara suguna rathna jaganmohana kanaka tara bai"the kid must have definetly changed her name on attaining adulthood I guess. venketesh