What's the story behind Indian last names that consist of a single letter? ⇒
21 August 2006, lunch time
My dad's name is Sivaranjan. Sometimes he goes by Siva, sometimes he goes by Ranjan. Somehow it became his last name when he traveled to the UK. I'll think I'll start going by S Ramanan.
This is a post from my link log: If you click the title of this post you will be taken the web page I am discussing.
That was fascinating. I guess the use of initials never stood out enough for me to ask, though I remember working with a V. Kumar who was always, always, always referred to as V. Kumar, and I found that strange. But it never occurred to me to ask, which is odd since I am normally a nosey bastard about cultural differences. The whole Indian naming convention sounds far more complicated than the Chinese one, which Americans/Westerners still have trouble understanding. If I were Indian I think I’d just start calling myself Ted Jones out of annoyance.
by Ben on August 21 2006, 2:06 pm #
I love this Goodness Gracious Me skit where this White dude travels to India and none of the Indians can say his name so they give him an Indian name.
by ramanan on August 21 2006, 2:17 pm #
I miss Goodness Gracious Me.
by rishi on August 21 2006, 4:04 pm #