Name Changers: 285 Indian girls no longer 'unwanted'

[demmiblue]

MUMBAI, India — Hundreds of Indian girls whose names mean "unwanted" in Hindi chose new names Saturday for a fresh start in life.

A central Indian district held a renaming ceremony it hopes will give the girls new dignity and help fight widespread gender discrimination that gives India a skewed gender ratio, with far more boys than girls.

The girls — wearing their best outfits with barrettes, braids and bows in their hair — lined up to receive certificates with their new names along with small flower bouquets from Satara district officials in Maharashtra state.

In shedding names like "Nakusa" or "Nakushi," which mean "unwanted" in Hindi, some girls chose to name themselves after Bollywood stars like "Aishwarya" or Hindu goddesses like "Savitri." Some just wanted traditional names with happier meanings, such as "Vaishali" or "prosperous, beautiful and good."

"Now in school, my classmates and friends will be calling me this new name, and that makes me very happy," said a 15-year-old girl who had been named Nakusa by a grandfather disappointed by her birth. She chose the new name "Ashmita," which means "very tough" or "rock hard" in Hindi.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44998378/ns/world_news-wonderful_world/?ocid=twitter

[Brickbat]

1. Good for them. How sad that they had to do this. I like the name Ashmita chose; that is totally

badass. I wish them well.

[Poll_Blind]

+1

PB

[aquart]

10. Yes. And you don't want to know what I wish for that grandfather.

[TwilightGardener]

2. What awful families these poor girls come from. Glad they can go forth with more self esteem now.

[Demoiselle]

3. It's stories like these that make me want to bring back

public flogging. (I mean you, "disappointed" grandfather!)

[Odin2005]

12. I thought the same thing.

That gramps needs a swift kick in the head.

[tblue]

4. Who the hell names their child 'Unwanted' ?

I don't care if it's a custom or tradition or there's peer pressure. Might as well call them 'Just Kill Me.'

Poor babies. There are so many educated, wonderful women in India these days. I hope they keep looking out for these girls. This is at least a step forward.

[LiberalEsto]

17. People who hate women

There's an incredible amount of misogyny on our planet. In some places these girls would be aborted, or left to die after birth, simply because they happened to be "unwanted" femalea insteal of males.

Misogyny is a sickness, a disease. To despise the mother who gave you life, to despise more than half the humans on the planet, leads to diseased thinking and a sick world.

[tblue37]

22. I used to proofread for a company that publishes scientific and

professional journals. One article I read was about a study done in rural parts of India that showed that baby girls were often seriously malnourished because almost all the food was given to the sons of the families.

[LiberalEsto]

25. That makes me sick

I used to think I had it bad when my Estonian immigrant parents said my younger brother should be the one to go to college since he was the boy and I was a girl. As it turned out, I went to college, and he didn't because he had no interest in education, just cars.

[Quantess]

32. I am guessing your parents are elderly and old fashioned.

I can't imagine Estonia is like that now...

[LiberalEsto]

34. They were in some ways

This was back in the 1960s. We had very little money, and I guess they thought they were being practical. In Estonia, both of my parents were in law school, but war and fleeing the country put an end to their education.

My aunt in Estonia is a retired high school physics teacher, an incredibly intelligent woman, gifted in mathematics and science. Her son and daughter, my cousins, both graduated from college. The daughter's older daughter is working on her doctorate in environmental science; the younger daughter is studying medicine, and the son is getting an MBA.

[Quantess]

35. Have you ever considered moving back to Estonia?

Off topic, I know.
But if things get really bad in the USA, at least you have an exit strategy. I'm just across the baltic sea from Estonia :) and I don't plan to move back to the USA anytime soon.

[LiberalEsto]

37. I could

I speak fluent Estonian and can claim citizenship because my parents were born there.
But the long dark depressing winters would be too much, since I already have seasonal affective disorder. I wouldn't do it except in a dire emergency, and only if I could take my family.

Are you in Finland? How do you cope with the winter?

[Gormy Cuss]

23. In colonial America, the name Benoni (son of my sorrow) to boys whose mothers died in childbirth.

The odd thing is, the name comes from a biblical story where the mother (Rachel) gave the boy the name but his father Jacob changed it to Benjamin which loosely translated means my favorite son.

American Genealogists know that when they encounter a Benoni it's usually the last child of a marriage.

[tblue37]

27. "Benjamin" + "Son of my right hand,"--Yes, that could be loosely

translated as favorite son. In fact, that translation carries its intent better than a literal translation.

[Gormy Cuss]

38. Yes, because being someone's right hand, or on the right side is considered a good thing

unlike those "sinister" people. :)

[lunatica]

5. I'm delighted for these girls!

May each one grow up to be an activist and change the world.

[ZombieHorde]

6. Recommended. nt

[iris27]

7. How terrible that they were given such a name in the first place! That is just mind-boggling.

I hope they walk proud today with their new names.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

8. In old China, first-born daughters were sometimes named

"Lai-di" (来弟） which roughly means, "May a younger brother come."

[renate]

9. good for you, Dr. Bhagwan Pawar!!!

(... the district health officer who came up with the idea for the renaming ceremony)

What an immense difference this will make to their self-esteem (if only it could repair it completely). I hope the girls loved choosing their own names!

I wish laws about dowry were enforced, and that somehow societal pressure to have huge weddings could be changed. I studied the reasons for the skewed sex ratio for a little while once; of course, India is like any other country, with vast cultural differences from one part to another and equally vast differences within each part, and although things have changed among certain parts of society, in the more traditional parts it can still be absolutely awful to be a girl. And the pressure to spend huge amounts of money on weddings is pretty much universal.

I've been trying to find a single really good link as a source for the cost of a typical Indian wedding, but haven't yet; however, anecdotally, it seems to be several years' wages (as many as ten), even (maybe even especially) in poor villages, and a girl stands a better chance of being treated well by her husband's family the greater the dowry she brings, and in really horrible situations, if the family isn't happy with what she brought and can't keep extorting money or household items from the girl's family, they might arrange for her to burn to death in a cooking "accident" and start again with a new daughter-in-law. (I've also known Indian women who get along really well with their in-laws. Traditionally, it's generally the mother-in-law who seems to have the most impact on the living-with-in-laws experience so, for a mother, having a son not only means security in old age, it also means having a pretty high place on the hierarchy at home once a daughter-in-law arrives.)

For most families, having a girl isn't just a question of preferring a boy--it's a huge financial thing. Changing the finances of marriage would make such a difference to girls' lives; they would probably still go off to live with their in-laws after marriage, so their parents would continue to lose out that way, but at least it wouldn't be ruinous to have a girl. There's absolutely no excuse for deliberately naming a child "unwanted," but in a culture where a girl's wedding and dowry can cost the family many years' wages, I can imagine, with some sympathy, why a family would greet the arrival of a girl with disappointment.

[Laelth]

24. Excellent post. Thank you. n/t

-Laelth

[demmiblue]

33. I agree. Thanks renate!

:hi:

[Odin2005]

11. What a sweet story! I'm so happy for those girls!

She chose the new name "Ashmita," which means "very tough" or "rock hard" in Hindi."

EPIC NAME WIN!!! :D

[Bigmack]

13. Sure... but some names and nicknames are descriptive and shouldn't be changed....

...Like... Turdblossom.

Now that's the perfect name.

[saras]

14. If the right bans abortion, I can see "Unwanted" becoming a popular name in America, too

[JI7]

28. abortion is legal in India

but i think they have something where they arent allowed to find out if baby will be boy or girl before getting the abortion. but that's easy to get around by paying off people .

[apocalypsehow]

15. Kick & Rec. n/t.

[BOG PERSON]

16. depressing

india must be a horrible place to be a woman

[ChromeFoundry]

18. This is our economic competition...

a place where it is common to name your own child "unwanted".

Such a loving and caring society. No wonder so many want to leave there and move here, and will do about anything to get an H-1b ticket out of that hell hole.

[AtomicKitten]

19. That's a bit of sunlight in this otherwise dismal story.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

20. I like Aishwarya. Aishwarya Rai is a beautiful actress.

You know about The Buddha's son? Rahula?


Rahula means "fetter". :wtf:

[Codeine]

36. She's quite possibly the most beautiful woman on Earth IMO. nt

[Manifestor_of_Light]

39. I saw her on Oprah with her actor husband. Classy lady.

[Lucinda]

21. What a great thing to do for these beautiful girls.

♥

[shanti]

26. This is wonderful for their self esteem.

Maybe this will catch on in all of India.

[MessiahRp]

29. This sure has the feel of the Sneeches.

Dr. Seuss was magnificent. They now have stars on thars.

Rp

[JI7]

30. i think Nakusa/Nakushi is a nice unique sounding name

but i guess those who are familiar with the language feel differently when the hear it because of it's meaning.

[Quantess]

31. I am reminded of that old classic song "Respect Yourself"

If you don't, no one else will. Congratulations to these girls for respecting themselves. The people who gave them their original names can go choke! Go suck an egg, grandpa! Granddaughter is sticking up for herself.