Tamil Nadu - a state in India where three things differ from main stream India.
1. We don't acknowledge Hindi , as National language ( An easiest way to annoy your Tamil friends is to quote , " Don't you know Hindi, it's your National language ".
2. We receive rains in October and November , when rest of India drenches itself during June to August.
3. And the final one is , we don't use our surnames in regular Indian sense of showing off the caste we belong to.
And here comes the curious case of no surnames.
We, Tamilians ( People who believe that their ancestry is Tamil Nadu ) often receive 'shock' as a reaction when we tell our name to a Non-Tamilian.
The first question would be " Surname nahin hae kyaa ? " ( Don't you have a surname ). Their shock is understandable for rest of India has an ingrained thought process which uses surnames to profile people's capabilities and seek allegiance.
And usually I reply them with a smile for I can't explain the long history of Dravidian Politics, socio-economic situation of Tamil Nadu during 1900's and the counter-social revolution which emerged in response to the dominant Hindi majority which all played a major role in why nearly 70 million Tamilians don't have a surname.
By the way, for people who want to know my surname or last name , it is Karunanithi.
Here, let me elaborate.
Am born in an Indian State , Tamil Nadu and we have an entirely different naming convention , thanks to the Dravidian parties that had ruled our state for more than 40 years and still ruling.
The naming syntax encouraged by them is [Given Name] [ Father's name] in place of [Native Village] [Father Name] [Given Name] [Caste Name/Title associated with the Caste you belong/ Title that Signifies your Social Status] and the order may vary .
But there is a catch. Acquiring such fancy long names require social status in the feudal society which was prevalent .
Coming back , my Official name is Jeyan Nathann Karunanithiwhere Jeyan Nathann is my given name and Karunanithi is my Father's name. So we usually write our name as [First letter of your last Name] . [Your given Name]. So my name now becomes K.Jeyan Nathann.
My given name , 'Jeyan Nathann' , generally confuses people for it is very SriLankan sounding. Srilankans have this love affair with the name 'Jeya-' and some popular names include Jeyawardane , Jeyasooriya , Jeyasinghe , Jayamina, Jayamini . And here, let me clarify that my ancestral place is Thanjavur in Tamil Nadu , which was the seat of Chola Empire , Thanjavur Nayaks and Thanjavur Marathas at various points in a long timeline.
Jeyan - Means Victor and Nathan means 'Son of God' in both Hebrew and Sanskrit so that technically makes me , Son of God who is a Victor .
Karunanithi - has a root word 'Karuna-' which means compassion in Sanskrit . So the meaning comes as , He who has compassion and kind heart.
Pillai - points that am a man from landed gentry
If I were born before 1930's , my name would have been Jeyan Nathann Karunanithi Pillai . Here Pillai refers to the title that my family has and it is loosely related to the caste I am from.
Pillai is a title which is generally taken by people who were land owning gentry in the feudal system that existed then and its usage as a last name is spread across quite a few castes in Tamil Nadu. In Kerala, it is used by Nair community. And as time progressed, many started to adopt surnames at their will as they became upwardly mobile both socially and economically.
Castes and Tribes of Southern India by Edgar Thurston and works by Andre Béteille reveal on how the caste titles were adopted at people's will and hence doesn't signify the supposed status that they claim to profess by having one .
Dravidian parties, which rose during 1940's were of opinion that having caste based and social status based surnames are a vestige of the past and hence were hell bent on removing that practice, for it propagated discrimination. This action was part of the empowerment of Backward castes which had lesser opportunities in Education and work due to the discrimination which was meted out.
And hence forth people who were born after 1950's effectively didn't have caste based titles as last names and adopted the current style of [Given Name][Father's Name].
This also reflects the changed political and social environment inTamil Nadu , which has always been at odds in comparison to rest of India.
And the best part is even roads and streets in Tamil Nadu is surname-neutral .
So hail Equality and Social Justice .
http://www.quora.com/Surv
Be it conflicting or appreciatory, would love to have views from you - To the Random reader .
http://thusspokechola.quora.com/Curious-case-of-No-surnames-Tamil-Nadu
1. We don't acknowledge Hindi , as National language ( An easiest way to annoy your Tamil friends is to quote , " Don't you know Hindi, it's your National language ".
2. We receive rains in October and November , when rest of India drenches itself during June to August.
3. And the final one is , we don't use our surnames in regular Indian sense of showing off the caste we belong to.
And here comes the curious case of no surnames.
We, Tamilians ( People who believe that their ancestry is Tamil Nadu ) often receive 'shock' as a reaction when we tell our name to a Non-Tamilian.
The first question would be " Surname nahin hae kyaa ? " ( Don't you have a surname ). Their shock is understandable for rest of India has an ingrained thought process which uses surnames to profile people's capabilities and seek allegiance.
And usually I reply them with a smile for I can't explain the long history of Dravidian Politics, socio-economic situation of Tamil Nadu during 1900's and the counter-social revolution which emerged in response to the dominant Hindi majority which all played a major role in why nearly 70 million Tamilians don't have a surname.
By the way, for people who want to know my surname or last name , it is Karunanithi.
Here, let me elaborate.
Am born in an Indian State , Tamil Nadu and we have an entirely different naming convention , thanks to the Dravidian parties that had ruled our state for more than 40 years and still ruling.
The naming syntax encouraged by them is [Given Name] [ Father's name] in place of [Native Village] [Father Name] [Given Name] [Caste Name/Title associated with the Caste you belong/ Title that Signifies your Social Status] and the order may vary .
But there is a catch. Acquiring such fancy long names require social status in the feudal society which was prevalent .
Coming back , my Official name is Jeyan Nathann Karunanithiwhere Jeyan Nathann is my given name and Karunanithi is my Father's name. So we usually write our name as [First letter of your last Name] . [Your given Name]. So my name now becomes K.Jeyan Nathann.
My given name , 'Jeyan Nathann' , generally confuses people for it is very SriLankan sounding. Srilankans have this love affair with the name 'Jeya-' and some popular names include Jeyawardane , Jeyasooriya , Jeyasinghe , Jayamina, Jayamini . And here, let me clarify that my ancestral place is Thanjavur in Tamil Nadu , which was the seat of Chola Empire , Thanjavur Nayaks and Thanjavur Marathas at various points in a long timeline.
Jeyan - Means Victor and Nathan means 'Son of God' in both Hebrew and Sanskrit so that technically makes me , Son of God who is a Victor .
Karunanithi - has a root word 'Karuna-' which means compassion in Sanskrit . So the meaning comes as , He who has compassion and kind heart.
Pillai - points that am a man from landed gentry
If I were born before 1930's , my name would have been Jeyan Nathann Karunanithi Pillai . Here Pillai refers to the title that my family has and it is loosely related to the caste I am from.
Pillai is a title which is generally taken by people who were land owning gentry in the feudal system that existed then and its usage as a last name is spread across quite a few castes in Tamil Nadu. In Kerala, it is used by Nair community. And as time progressed, many started to adopt surnames at their will as they became upwardly mobile both socially and economically.
Castes and Tribes of Southern India by Edgar Thurston and works by Andre Béteille reveal on how the caste titles were adopted at people's will and hence doesn't signify the supposed status that they claim to profess by having one .
Dravidian parties, which rose during 1940's were of opinion that having caste based and social status based surnames are a vestige of the past and hence were hell bent on removing that practice, for it propagated discrimination. This action was part of the empowerment of Backward castes which had lesser opportunities in Education and work due to the discrimination which was meted out.
And hence forth people who were born after 1950's effectively didn't have caste based titles as last names and adopted the current style of [Given Name][Father's Name].
This also reflects the changed political and social environment inTamil Nadu , which has always been at odds in comparison to rest of India.
And the best part is even roads and streets in Tamil Nadu is surname-neutral .
So hail Equality and Social Justice .
http://www.quora.com/Surv
Be it conflicting or appreciatory, would love to have views from you - To the Random reader .
http://thusspokechola.quora.com/Curious-case-of-No-surnames-Tamil-Nadu
