The Last Name Conundrum

The concept of a First and a Last Name (Surname/ Family Name) is quite common around the world. However, in Tamil Nadu, India, a full name is typically a first name preceded by an intial. One has to wonder why a prevalent system around the globe and in most parts of India finds a somewhat odd acceptance in Tamil Nadu.

The concept of Last Names must have originated as a solution to differentiate people with same first names. Three 'Johns' in a group must have become John the Tailor, John the Farmer and the last John became Jack's son. And hence the names 'John Tailor', 'John Farmer' and 'John Jackson'. Today, last names range from the easy and most popular 'Smith' to difficult to pronounce 'Czjakowski'.

Origin of world names can be attributed to geographic differences, like below:

• Italian names generally end with a vowel - 'De Niro', 'Gatta' 'Reggeri'.
• Lots of Irish names begin with an 'O' like 'O'Brien', 'O'Malley', O'Sullivan'.
• Chinese names are short and sweet - 'Yang', 'Li' 'Feng'.
• Spanish names end with a 'z' - 'Rodriguez', 'Gomez' 'Cortez'.
• Most Polish names end with a 'ki' - 'Kanarski' 'Dmochowski', 'Lewandowski'.

Indian names are as diverse as the cultural differences in the domestic regions, people and religions in India. Lots of Gujaratis are 'Patel's, Andhraites are 'Rao's, Malayalis are 'Nair's, Bengalis are '___jee's. Muslim names typically have a 'Mohammed', 'Ahmed' 'Abdul'. Sikhs are mostly 'Singh's, and so on.

In Tamil Nadu, there used to be a tradition of having caste last names like Chettiar, Mudaliyar, Naidu, Iyer, Iyengar. This tradition must have become unpopular in the post Independence era when people did not want to be recognized by their castes, understandably so.

That takes us back to square one, where there are three 'John's in a group. The twist in Tamil Nadu is, there are three 'Viswanathan's or three 'Ramachandran's. So they started adding initials of their father's first name to their name. So, the three 'Viswanthan's became 'R.Viswanathan', 'P.Viswanathan' and 'K.Viswanathan' based on their father's names. What if there are three 'S.Viswanthan's?. One solution is to use the native town as a differentiator. So there can be a 'Puliyangudi S.Viswanathan', 'Ariyalur S.Viswanathan' and so on. This confusion of names sometimes result in first and last name mix ups. I know a good friend whose last name became is first name - 'Tirunelveli' and his first name, 'Venkatesh', became his last name.

When it came to naming our daughter, Nimisha, we had several options for last names (that may sound a little paradoxical to some people).

1. Stick with the current convention in TN - R. Nimisha (Last name would be Ramanujam)
2. Dare the society and pick the caste name 'Iyengar'
3. Just for sake of being different, pick 'Srivi' or 'Chennai' our home towns
4. Look at how our family is identified - 'Gargeya' by our Gothram, 'Sadhu' by my Grand parents' family name, 'Maniyam' by my grand grand parents' profession in the temple.
5. Pick my last name, my dad's frist name - 'Rangarajan' and stay consistent with last names in our family.

We picked "Rangarajan" to start a new tradition in our family in honor of my dad. My brother, Sundararajan and his family would also share the same last name.