Tamil names are unique and so is their name structure. Most of the Tamils don’t have surnames. We usually have ‘initials’. Initials of one’s father’s name or some people have both father’s and mother’s name. For instance, I have the initials of my father and mother.
Now, someone having two initial is not the highest. There are people who have more than two. For example our previous president, APJ Abdul Kalam (Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam). I don’t know what his initials stand for. I have even seen people with four initials. Usually these initials stand for father, mother, grandfather (mostly paternal), or place (village, town etc). Most of the people in urban areas stop with one or two initials. Usually just their father’s name.
Mostly the name order is like, <Father Name> <Mother Name> <Given Name> or
<Village Name><Father Name> <Mother Name> <Given Name>.
Recently the Tamil Nadu government made an order that mother’s name should also be added in the initial (Earlier mother’s name in initial was optional, recently the TN Govt made it Compulsory.) I am not sure when this initial system started in Tamil Nadu. But if i am not wrong, most of the Indian surnames that we have today are 90% caste names. Few people those who use surname in Tamil Nadu are mostly caste names. I like the idea of one being represented by their parents initial/name instead of caste name.
If I am not wrong, other South Indian states also have the same name structure as we do. Since we have an unique name structure, most of the time we are mocked by North Indians who do not understand the name structure. And people outside India have an impression that we have lengthy names.
Down South we never expand the initials except when applying for passport or in court paper or wills. All other official records just have our given name and our initials. So, in a class there may be people with same name with different initials. For example, T. Anand, R. Anand etc.
Even when someone has more than one initial, when they are expanded, they are different words, but they all come under the last name section. Eg., S. P. Anand, where S – Sukumar the father’s name and P – Priya the mother’s name. The name is mostly written as S.P. Anand or Anand S.P. When writing the same name in passport it will be written as.
First Name: Anand
Last Name : Sukumar Priya
So it goes as , Sukumar Priya Anand.
Some people, when they register the kids name, they tend to give initial as how the initial letter is pronounced in Tamil. Eg., Su. Anand. Where Su, Sukumar the father’s name. In Tamil the name Sukumar is written as சுகுமார் (சு-கு-மா-ர் | Su-Ku-Maa-R).
Any name retains its beauty only when it is written and pronounced in its native language. Even when the names are written in roman script, it does not sounds like the original name, there is always a loss when it is taken to another language.
P.S : I wrote this when I was not able to write my name in Facebook exactly how it should be written.
We’re a group of volunteers and beginning a brand new initiative inside a community. Your Tamil name structure… Moulee's offered us beneficial info to function on.You might have completed a marvellous work!
Outstanding article once again.! Thumbs up=)
Well if you look out of india, people have a family name. Family name is unique or it can even represent a genealogy of a family. For example Duncan genealogy. Family name can also be a tribe name. In central India, tribes have named their tribes based on the birds and animals found in their region. They regard these animal and birds as the gards of their tribe. So a lady can have a given name like meena kumari koyal. This means Meena is her name, kumari stands for her being not married and koyal is her tribe name based on a nightingale bird (koyal).
Very hpulfel article. This has been a real struggle for me. It would be interesting to get the opinions of creative people or other brand owners as to how they specifically came up with names.