Name Help-Character from India

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Stiger05

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Could someone help me name a character from India? I've done some research on Indian names, but I don't know enough to feel comfortable forging ahead without guidance from someone who knows more about the culture than I do. I know different names have ties to different regions and have different meanings, and I don't want to mix a first and last name that wouldn't make sense. The name I'm thinking of going with is Priya Haldar. The character is second generation British.
 

akaria

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I'm not Indian, but asking yourself a few more questions might make you more confident in your choice.

Are both her parents Indian?
Are they the type of parents to want to retain their heritage or would they want to assimilate?
Is this a contemporary story or historical?

Good luck!
 

Stiger05

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Her parents are both Indian, and are more traditional, although they've lived in England for most of their lives. It's a contemporary story.

I debated giving her a more assimilated name. I've read several articles lately by Asian or Middle Eastern actors talking about how they don't always have to have exotic names and can play an Alex or Ralph or whatever like anyone else. I completely agree with them in movies and tv, but I think it's a little harder with books. I want to make it obvious that she's Indian, and I'm afraid an assimilated name will sound like I started with an all white cast and threw in diversity for diversity's sake. Thanks for your help!
 
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Milenio

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You have the problem of the caste system as well. That comes through in surnames, so I suggest you do a search for the area and caste(s) that would be (have been) in the area you're looking at.
 

psyche24

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Hi

As an second generation Indian here's my penny's worth

Priya is a very common Hindu name in all regions of India so would work with any Hindu surname.
 

Snitchcat

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Btw, one question: which religion? I think "religion" is the right word. I'm talking about if she's Sikh?

@psyche24

Does "Priya" work as a name for a Sikh Indian? I'm under the impression that "Priya" is exclusively a female name -- is that wrong?
 

neandermagnon

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My sister in law is Bengali, albeit from Bangladesh, not India. There are Bengalis in India though. Be aware that India isn't a single nation/people/language, it's an artificial border that was drawn by British colonialists, there are actually many different languages and peoples in India. So rather than thinking "she's Indian" you need to think of what ethnicity she is within India. Also, consider whether her family are Muslim, Hindu or Sikh, or one of the less common Indian religions. That's where you need to start, and then work out the other details from there.

With names, someone's religion is as important, if not more important, than their first language (e.g. whether Bengali, Gujarati, etc). Muslims have Islamic names, Sikhs have Sikh names and Hinduism isn't just one religion but a whole bunch of religions that have existed in the region for millenia, predating Islam and Sikhism, all shoved together under one term. And there are Bengali names, Gujarati names, etc. Names often have honorifics. My sis in law's last name isn't a surname in the western sense, it's a name given to women, more like a title than a name. The Sikh names Kaur (for a woman) and Singh (for a man) are honorifics that baptized Sikhs take. They're more like Mr and Mrs than western surnames.

Bear in mind that the whole first name, middle name, surname thing is a western thing. Naming systems in other cultures can be very different. I'm most familiar with Islamic names (mostly how they're done in Arab cultures though). My sis in law is from a Muslim family and I've lived in two different Muslim countries for quite a few years and my ex partner is a Muslim. If your character is Muslim I can answer questions about Islam. I'm more familiar with Arab culture than Desi culture (i.e. India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, etc). Muslim names are quite straight forward when you get the hang of them.

What you want to avoid is combining the wrong names. Like if you combine Sikh, Hindu and Islamic names, e.g. Abdul Ganesh Singh. The first being Muslim (actually it's only half a Muslim name because Abdul is never a name on its own, it's always followed by one of Allah's 99 names), Ganesh is a Hindu name and Singh is a Sikh name. Also, don't assume that all the family will have the same last name like in the west. Muslim women keep their family name upon marriage, and some last names are honorifics rather than western-style surnames.

Also middle names is a western thing. In Arabic culture, your middle name is your father's name, so women and girls have a male name as their middle name, e.g. a Muslim woman might be called Aisha Muhammad as her first two names. In this case, her dad's first name is Muhammad. She'll keep her dad's family name after marriage and not change it to her husband's. I'm not sure to what extent this is done with Desi Muslims, but I can find out.
 
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Stiger05

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That's excellent information, neandermagnon, thank you! That's given me a lot to think about. I'll let you know if I have more questions. :)
 

jaus tail

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If she's Sikh you can name her: Pammi as in Parminder it's pronounces as Pammi(Pum as in Bum/pum...and ee like Bumee with but with P...
You can also call her:
Preeti...that's common punjabi name
I've also heard names as Rubeena, Kuljeet, Simran, Kiran for surname you can call her Singh.
 

psyche24

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I have known Sikh 'Priyas' and a Hindu 'Singh', my Indian Muslim friend daughter is a Sophia and a Hindu collegue son is 'Neal' (A Hindu word for Blue so used as another name of Vishnu) and I have a distant cousin who lives in a tiny village in South India called Arya.
My point is India is a vast country with so many distinct cultures with different ways of naming their children which again changes when people emigrate, so chances are the name you pick will work in some way, if not it makes an interesting back story

.
 

Cilvercat

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I'm an Indian living in India but I think neandermagnon has covered it all. More than caste or religion, it's that part of India that counts to the most I think. But with everything else in India, you can never have an absolute. If you need help aligning name to a particular region, religion and backstory, then I can help.
 

ManInBlack

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I'm partially commenting for feedback, partially so I remember to go back and read the comments I've missed, and partially as a way of bookmarking this thread.

I know just enough of Indian culture to know that I wanted to try write outside one of the "main" cultures people tend to write about and that Indian seemed to be one that fits this character (though I have no idea how prevalent that would be in the setting of the novel in GA, as compared to fairly common here in this part of CT). So far, I've given her the name of Avani Patel - "Patel" coming from a somewhat common name (for such a small percentage group; for all I know it could just be a big family) in my area and "Avani" coming from a name and meaning that appealed to me when I was cluelessly Googling for a name, but I have no idea if it is actually a legitimate name.

This thread indicates to me that I know even less of Indian culture than I thought, but part of this character's arc is dealing with the fact that she has strict parents expecting her to marry a male of their choosing, and she is an outspoken lesbian who absolutely refuses to do this.

Any and all feedback (including "you need to read this book to write this character") is appreciated.
 
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