What’s in a name?

From Bollywood to television, Mumbai kids are being named after heroes, heroines and even the characters they play. Swati Chopra reports.

We always had a suspicion that most Mumbai kids born after 1990 carried names that were inspired by the worlds of showbiz and telly. And so we decided to put our suspicions to rest and called up 750 moms and dads, all Mumbaikars, and asked them the names of their kids and why.

And guess what? Our suspicions were confirmed. Shah Rukh Khan, rather his characters, rules the roost for names of boys. The top five baba names (watch out for number four): Rahul, Aryan, Veer, Hrithik and Karan. As for the girls, it seems the glitz of television held sway over the glamour of Bollywood. The top five girlie names: Sakshi, Zaara, Pooja, Kareena and Preity.

Take 28-year-old Ritu Chadha, mom of a three-year-old Veer, who is a self-confessed brat, and a die-hard SRK fan. Veer wasn’t born as Veer but as Sameer. And he was Sameer for eleven months and two weeks.

“I was watching Veer Zaara and I liked the name a lot. So, I messaged my husband during the movie and told him we had to change our son’s name,” recalls Chadha. “My family and friends were aghast and asked me whether I would keep changing the name of my kid with every movie release of SRK.”

Chadha, however, was adamant and Sameer did become Veer, with his proud momma overseeing the renaming ceremony. “On his first birthday I got a uniform (the blue one that SRK wears in Veer Zaara) stitched for him with Veer written on it,” she says, with an air of finality hovering over her.

As for Veer aka Sameer, like Don aka Vijay, he is happy fiddling around with their ‘cost-a-bomb’ music system and generally making his mom lose her head.

The SRK influence does not confine itself to his characters; it even extends to his son Aryan. Kaushikee Majumdar, 32, another King Khan fan, named her nephew Aryan, now five years old. Majumdar became a life-long fan of SRK ever since she watched Bazigaar. Aryan doesn’t know why he is named so, but likes it anyway since it “means a warrior”.

But the Aryan story doesn’t end there. When his brother was born a year back, Aryan was sure what he would be called: Abhishek. After all kajra re was, and still is, Aryan’s favourite song. Naina Walia, Aryan’s mom, had to bow to his wishes. “My husband’s name also starts with ‘A’ and so I let it pass. In fact, I have come to like the name now,” she says.

Though Veer Zaara was not a hit by commercial standards, the name seems to have inspired quite a few moms. Mehnaz Siddiqui is mad about SRK, but is more mad about Preity Zinta. “I was pregnant when I watched Veer Zaara and both the names appealed to me. But I secretly hoped for a baby girl and so it was,” says Siddiqui, whose Zaara is now two years old.

For Hrithik Roshan, the Kaho Na Pyaar Hain magic still works. For Anjali Rakesh, whose husband is just coincidentally named Rakesh and has got nothing to do with Rakesh Roshan, Hrithik is ‘one hell of a looker and actor’.

“When I watched Kaho Na Pyaar Hain, I was head over heels in love with him and I had decided then itself that if I had a boy he would be called Hrithik,” she says. And her four-year-old kid Hrithik loves Krrish, the superhero character played by Hrithik Roshan. “I love the movie and want all the powers that Krrish has,” says kid Hrithik.

Sociologist Nandini Sardesai isn’t quite surprised by the trend. “In every society popular culture always plays an important part in influencing lifestyles and daily events. When Dev Anand and Raj Kapoor were in their heydays so many babies were named after them. Bollywood, and now television, are there 24/7 and are bound to influence people,” she says.

But it isn’t as if popular culture only influences the chatterati and the masses. Even celebrities are influenced. Model Marc Robinson has named his three-old kid Brooklyn. “I named my son so because I am a big fan of David Beckham whose son’s name is Brooklyn,” says Robinson.