Nomenculture

Every society and community has its own naming conventions. Govt shouldn’t impose its view

All the Bablus out there — Wednesday wasn’t your day. You woke up to news that your name is “negative” and “flawed”. At least, that’s what the Rajasthan government seems to think. The same goes for all the Chhotus — not called that because they’re short, but because they’re the youngest in the family.

Bablu, Chhotu, did you know your names might make people laugh at you? That they could even hurt your feelings? All those years when gully cricket needed shouts like “Run, Bablu!” and “Chhotu, catch!” — maybe those moments were supposed to be embarrassing. Sorry about that. Apparently, it was your parents’ fault.

So the Rajasthan government is trying something new. It wants to make sure no more kids are named Bablu, Chhotu, Kalu, Tinku, or Shaitaan — and many others — in the future.

Parents can still choose names. But the government will have a say. It won’t ban names directly. Instead, teachers will gently push parents to change “inappropriate” names. There’s even a big list to help. Parents can pick from 1,409 “good” names for boys and 1,541 for girls.

But do we really need this? Some countries, like Germany, have rules about names. Kids there can’t be given names that are clearly offensive. But who decides what is offensive? Is “Chhotu” really offensive? Haryana’s famous reformer was called Sir Chhotu Ram. And Major Shaitan Singh, a war hero, was born near Jodhpur. Should their names also be a problem?

The state probably has more important things to do, like improving schools. And if some people don’t like their names, it should simply make it easier for adults to change them — if they want to.

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