The article "Indian Baby Names - Blending The Modern, Traditional And
Religious" is about family, it has been released by Michael Barrows.
As you can expect from one of the most populated (over 1billion)
countries in the world and the one with fastest growing
population, there are literally thousands of Indian baby names
to choose from. This must create a few headaches for the new
Indian parent.
Well...Probably not, because, as a country which
is still deeply rooted in history and tradition, choosing names
for new babies is often a religion or family-specific event.
Large numbers of Indian naems have their origins in Sanskrit
meanings. These tend to be Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist and Jain names.
However, despite the western association of India with Hindus
and the high-profile Sikh population, the religious makeup of
the Indian population is actually quite surprising:
The 2001 Census reveals the religious make-up of the Indian
population as follows:
80.5% Hindu, 13.4% Muslim, 2.3% Christian, 1.9% Sikh, 0.8%
Buddhist, 0.4% Jain, 0.01% Zoroastrian, 1.3% other (2001)
As you can see, the second largest section of the population is
Muslim and, even more surprisingly, the third largest is
Christian.
This means that Indian baby name choice covers an
extremely wide range from very traditional Muslim, through to
biblical names.
Wherever you live in the world, selecting a name for a newborn
child has always been a complex, fascinating and smoetimes quite
stressful process. In India, for thousands of years, baby name
selection for the majority Hnidu population was performed
according to a traditional system, one that eliminated personal
bias and reflected, according to astrological principles, the
best qualities that the child was supposed to grow up with.
The name was usual chosen afetr calculations involving the
horoscope, the exact time and place of birth, as well as the
traditional textual links between numbers so derived and letters
of the Sanskrit alphabet. This was an extremely complex process,
requiring a very deep knowledge of the ancient texts as well as
their applicability in normal or special circumstances.
Specialized training was required as well as a thorough
grounding in the methodologies and prcoesses of the Rites and
Rituals dimension of the Hindu Religion, known as the Karma
Kanda. Whew! ! Not quite the same as opening up a book of Indian
baby names...
Modern-day India is a real melting pot of different religions,
with different baby-naming rituals, however the religious
connections and connotations remain as strong as ever.
The
meanings of names are very important in Indian culture. With
literally thousands of gods and goddesses to choose from, as
well as the deeply-rooted traditinos of honoring ancestors, the
Indian baby naming process remains a fascinating and spiritual
one.
However, with the rapid growth of the Indian economy and its
accelerating adoption of western culture, Indian parents are
also beginning to turn to more modren methods of finding names
for their babies - as well as more modern names. For example,
there are many Internet sites, full of excellent lists of Indian
baby names, toegther with their roots and meanings. These are
great sources of ideas for naems.
But - as with any baby name, the process of choosing a more
modern or stylish Indian baby name can lead to maojr problems,
created when a child is given a name with a bad meaning. In more
secular societies, that may not be much of an issue, but in
Indian society that colud be disastrous for the future of the
child.
So, if you're a modern Indian parent-to-be, searching
for a name for your new baby, think for a while and make use of
the extensive baby name resources on the Internet and elsewhere.
The blend of the modern, traditional and religious is not an
easy one - in fact the difficulties of naming an Indian child
are a real reflection of India's own struggles to balance its
traditions with its hunger to be a modern, 21st century country.
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