Indian boy names

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:i love

kiran
devan
krisna (prefer this old spelling)
milan
gautum

and my personal favorite is siddhartha, but my husband totally would never have gone for it. well, we had girls anyway.

What would the Indian pronunciation for this be? I have always loved the way it sounds in my head, but I have heard some people say "Mill-uhn," which doesn't appeal to me so much.

(Actually, as the American partner in our relationship, I get chided for pronouncing the "a"s in many Indian names as "aw" instead of "uh". And often this small difference turns my liking for a name into ambivalence.)

MEEL-uhn is the Indian pronunciation.

We too (both Indian) are looking for an Indian boy name. I had a daughter a few years ago and found it
much easier to name her!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One of my students, who is named, is named Ishaan. I love that name.

What do the unnamed students go by? Numbers? (Ek do teen...)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Rohan is my favorite. Although people will call him Ro-han. Think of the ending, han sounding like hand without the d. Also, I'm not a fan of Lord of the Rings, but apparently there's a land of Rohan mentioned.

It's a great name though- people will mess up just about any name that isn't Mary, or John, etc. go with what you like!

I (Indian-American) too was thinking of Rohan, but (although I've met Indian Rohans) I've been told by numerous Indian people that it sounds more Persian than Indian. It also seems to be an Irish name. Plus there is indeed the JRR Tolkien reference.

Overall I'm now leaning away from it. I also learned that the pronunciation is Row-hUN, not Ro-Hahn as I thought.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:i love

kiran
devan
krisna (prefer this old spelling)
milan
gautum

and my personal favorite is siddhartha, but my husband totally would never have gone for it. well, we had girls anyway.

What would the Indian pronunciation for this be? I have always loved the way it sounds in my head, but I have heard some people say "Mill-uhn," which doesn't appeal to me so much.

(Actually, as the American partner in our relationship, I get chided for pronouncing the "a"s in many Indian names as "aw" instead of "uh". And often this small difference turns my liking for a name into ambivalence.)

I am the American partner of an Indian as well. And, most Americans including myself pronounce the A's incorrectly and emphasize the wrong parts of names. We had a very hard time picking a name that worked for Americans and Indians and I am pregnant again and totally not looking forward to the process. For example, Anjani is pronounced Un-juni. I prefer - AHHN-juni. Rohan is pronounced Rohun. Ravi is pronounced Ruvi. How many Americans know a Rohan and pronounce it Rohun? I also would pronounce Milan like the city in Italy. My husband wants an Indian name, but not if I pronounce it differently than him.

[Anonymous]

I actually think the East Asians are on to right approach. Use a Westernized first name and keep the Indian last name.

If one is really concerned about having another Indian name, then just go with one as a middle name.

[Anonymous]

NP. I knew a really cool, really hot Indian guy named Rajat, Raj for short. And he went to Harvard

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I actually think the East Asians are on to right approach. Use a Westernized first name and keep the Indian last name.

If one is really concerned about having another Indian name, then just go with one as a middle name.

What if the husband is the one with the English last name? Then you lose all cultural connection to the South Asian wife (in my case, me). It only works for East Asians because they are usually Christians who pick Christian/Anglo/Biblical names.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I actually think the East Asians are on to right approach. Use a Westernized first name and keep the Indian last name.

If one is really concerned about having another Indian name, then just go with one as a middle name.

What if the husband is the one with the English last name? Then you lose all cultural connection to the South Asian wife (in my case, me). It only works for East Asians because they are usually Christians who pick Christian/Anglo/Biblical names.

Exactly. In India, your name tells A LOT about your identity, family, heritage, etc.. So Indian people, if they hear someone named Charles Indianlastname, will assume that they are Christian. In fact, if you know Indian Christians, you will notice that their kids do have American names.

In America, who really cares, except: my child's grandparents would likely have the same reaction to something like "David Indianlastname" as many American grandparents would have to "Haafiz Smith" or "Saeed Jones" (if not Muslim): oh, so you converted?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I actually think the East Asians are on to right approach. Use a Westernized first name and keep the Indian last name.

If one is really concerned about having another Indian name, then just go with one as a middle name.

Why? There are plenty of Irish, Swedish, German, French names that are difficult to pronounce because they are not phonetic or the syllable is accented differently, yet people get used to them and then they become 'normal'.

We don't all have to be John, Mary, David or Elizabeth.

[Anonymous]

Armaan? I've written it as it is pronounced. It has a nice meaning - means hope/ aspiration.

[Anonymous]

As an American I would say pick something that can be shortened. I love Dev. Vikram can be shortened to Vik. Americans love a nickname anyway and those will help head off any mispronunciation which I swear we aren't trying to make but some of these names are not names we have ever heard or said before and we just bungle them sometimes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As an American I would say pick something that can be shortened. I love Dev. Vikram can be shortened to Vik. Americans love a nickname anyway and those will help head off any mispronunciation which I swear we aren't trying to make but some of these names are not names we have ever heard or said before and we just bungle them sometimes.

Good point-- I love Nikhil or Nikhesh, but my nephew's nickname is Nick (for Nicholas), so I feel like I can't do that...I also like Sanjay with the nickname "Sunny", but I'm not sure any American boy would like that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:i love

kiran
devan
krisna (prefer this old spelling)
milan
gautum

and my personal favorite is siddhartha, but my husband totally would never have gone for it. well, we had girls anyway.

What would the Indian pronunciation for this be? I have always loved the way it sounds in my head, but I have heard some people say "Mill-uhn," which doesn't appeal to me so much.

(Actually, as the American partner in our relationship, I get chided for pronouncing the "a"s in many Indian names as "aw" instead of "uh". And often this small difference turns my liking for a name into ambivalence.)

I am the American partner of an Indian as well. And, most Americans including myself pronounce the A's incorrectly and emphasize the wrong parts of names. We had a very hard time picking a name that worked for Americans and Indians and I am pregnant again and totally not looking forward to the process. For example, Anjani is pronounced Un-juni. I prefer - AHHN-juni. Rohan is pronounced Rohun. Ravi is pronounced Ruvi. How many Americans know a Rohan and pronounce it Rohun? I also would pronounce Milan like the city in Italy. My husband wants an Indian name, but not if I pronounce it differently than him.

My DH is white and has been able to master the name "Ravi." So have my in-laws, and all his AA preschool teachers. When I introduce him to someone new, I just make sure I pronounce his name clearly. Most people are happy to learn how to say it correctly. I know it can be hard to master a complicated name, but I don't think simpler names should be tossed aside just because people don't know how to initially pronounce it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As an American I would say pick something that can be shortened. I love Dev. Vikram can be shortened to Vik. Americans love a nickname anyway and those will help head off any mispronunciation which I swear we aren't trying to make but some of these names are not names we have ever heard or said before and we just bungle them sometimes.

Good point-- I love Nikhil or Nikhesh, but my nephew's nickname is Nick (for Nicholas), so I feel like I can't do that...I also like Sanjay with the nickname "Sunny", but I'm not sure any American boy would like that.

If one is going to abbreviate a name to something that is more Western sounding does that not defeat the purpose of having an Indian name? BTW, I agree with you that this happens quite a lot in the US and sometimes even relatively easy names get modified to make them more Americanized.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As an American I would say pick something that can be shortened. I love Dev. Vikram can be shortened to Vik. Americans love a nickname anyway and those will help head off any mispronunciation which I swear we aren't trying to make but some of these names are not names we have ever heard or said before and we just bungle them sometimes.

Good point-- I love Nikhil or Nikhesh, but my nephew's nickname is Nick (for Nicholas), so I feel like I can't do that...I also like Sanjay with the nickname "Sunny", but I'm not sure any American boy would like that.

If one is going to abbreviate a name to something that is more Western sounding does that not defeat the purpose of having an Indian name? BTW, I agree with you that this happens quite a lot in the US and sometimes even relatively easy names get modified to make them more Americanized.

To me, Dev and Vik are still obviously Indian names, just ones that are short and easy to say. I don't think you lose much of the Indian identity with those.