Sujata Gulati Rajpal, an author, recounts her journey of navigating name spellings and naming conventions after moving from a Punjabi North Indian household to Mysuru, a city steeped in South Indian culture. Her name, Sujata, lacks the ‘h’ that many South Indians add, leading to repeated corrections and cultural insights.
The ‘h’ phenomenon in South Indian names
Upon settling in Mysuru 25 years ago, Rajpal noticed that ‘h’ appeared frequently in names like Geetha, Aniketh, Parvathi, Bharath, Pramodh, and Vidhya. Initially, she thought the extra ‘h’ was for good luck, similar to celebrities adding an extra ‘a’. Later, she learned that in South India, people spell names as they pronounce them, and the ‘h’ indicates a harder or aspirated pronunciation due to transliteration traditions from the English alphabet lacking specific phonetic characters.
Official documents and persistent ‘h’
Rajpal’s gas connection records and bank statements spell her name as Sujatha. Even her Aadhaar card initially had an ‘h’, which she had to correct. Despite informing her bank repeatedly, the spelling remains Sujatha. She stopped resisting and adopted the local practice, adding ‘h’ after ‘t’ and ‘d’ in names without a second thought—until she interviewed a South Indian woman named Shruthi, who corrected her: “There is no ‘h’ in my name.”
Cultural variations in surnames
Rajpal also encountered the practice of using a father’s or husband’s name after a woman’s first name, often without a surname. People assumed Rajpal was her husband’s first name, leading to confusion. She explains that in many South Indian families, second names can be a father’s name, grandfather’s name, ancestral village, or family name, and they differ among family members. In North India, surnames often signal caste, while in Tamil Nadu and Kerala, many dropped caste surnames due to Dravidian movement politics.
Embracing diversity and choice
Rajpal concludes that India’s diversity in naming traditions is a beautiful potpourri of cultures. She emphasizes that every name deserves to be called just as its owner chooses, reflecting the principle: “My name. My choice.”
