ONE SOUL DIFFERENT NAMES!!!

Before writing this blog, I opened up a small notepad to note down how many nicknames, I got in my last 20 years of my life. There are some nicknames, still I wonder, how it came or what made them to call these names. I could remember 10 names in last few years. Some names really weird which really makes me angry young man.

As per our custom, first child gets name of paternal grandfather or grandmother, so my elder brother fulfilled that ritual by taking my grandfather’s name. But my parents went little further and decided to keep my maternal grandfather’s name for me which is Narayanan (Maybe, in those days itself, my parents knew that in married life husband and wife share equal responsibilities….J). It didn’t stop there. During the time of namakarma, some one suggested Lakshminarayanan (still searching for that personL). Thus that became my official name as per the records. I got another name “Manjunath” as pet name to be called at home. This is after Lord Manjunatha (shiva) of Dharmastala.

The first nickname I could remember from day one in school to last day of my tenth standard is “Lakshmi” (short form of Lakshminarayanan). This was the weirdest name I ever got and I hate this name down to earth. I changed schools in between, but this name remained the same. One of the worst part is, any new teachers call up my name and look at girl’s row.

The other name Manjunath became “Manju”. I came to know that this is a girl’s name when the same name is shared by one of my cousin. I didn’t have much problem with this name as this name was within my relatives circle and other close family friends. But this name gets true recognition, whenever I visit my uncle’s place in Mangalore. Everyone in neighborhood calls “Manjunathaa…” I felt odd when they add extra “thaa” in the end. Later when I was employed in Bangalore, there was a young office boy whose name is Manjunath, but people call him Manju. I was only person who call him Manjunath and he comes up to me with a big smile on his face.

Other name I could recognize is “Narada”. This name was not very famous among my friends. But I liked the the name very much. This is when I was studying in fifth or sixth standard where we had a chapter “Dhruva charita” and I had to play role of Narada. The play was messed up in between by cross dialogues and my teacher interfered and called me, “Hi Naradaa… stop…stop..” Students started laughing and thus became my nickname. During the same time, I got one more nick name, which continued for two academic years, until I leave that school in between the terms. The name is “Thayir” which means curd. Some of my intelligent and creative friends kept short form TVS (Thayir Vada Sambar). This may be because; I use to carry curd rice or sambar for lunch. Funny thing is the new pupil who joined next academic year, who don’t know the full form of TVS started calling me TVS and thus it became “brand” name for me in the class. But unfortunately in the middle of my nineth standard, I had to leave the school and joined new school. Since I joined late, I was too busy in running through the portions and by the time, I became familiar with the students the academic year got over. On tenth all my old friends of old school joined in my school but I didn’t get any new names as my friend’s circle was limited. But the name “Lakshmi” ruled the roost.

As I entered into college, my name remained the same, but I started saying Narayanan to my new friends. Thus the name Narayanan became quite famous within my friends group. Eventhough some of my old classmates were with me calling me Lakshmi, the name didn’t get much recognition. Apart from that, there were some changes in my appearances like holy ash on forehead and half sleeve shirt or T-shirt, so some friends started calling saami, pattare or Iyer (famous nick names for Brahmins in Kerala). Some of my friends use those when they are angry with me and some use these to get their home work done or need any other help. I never felt bad on these names, because I managed well to rid off my old brand name “Lakshmi”.

After my graduation, when I joined the company, my user ID and e-mail id started with first part of second name and second name being my father’s name which is “Radhakrishnan”, my ID became “Radhakl” and (first time I felt like… “ohh god.. first it was Lakshmi and now it is Radha L). First few days, it looked very strange, later when I used with this name. Moreover many people in my floor were known in their user IDs than their original name. Sometimes new people or any IT people come up to me saying, “Hi Radhakrishnaa…” or “Hi RKji.”(with respect). But when I had my client introduction, my clients took almost ten minutes pronounce my long name. They suggested any alternate name. I was thinking for a name, my manager jumped up with a name “Lucky” (Lakshminarayan). Currently that is the nick name running around me. Moreover the name became so lucky that, I started getting appreciations for my workJ and promotion as well. So there is nothing offensive against this name.


These are some of my famous nicknames, I could remember. As I said earlier, the weirdest name, I could remember is “Lakshmi”. But nowadays there are few friends, who call me by that name, since they are very close friends, I never take it seriously and it is just like another name for me. I still think of those days, how I fight with my friends and argue with my parents to change my name.

Which nickname you like? Please feel free to post your comment.