I belong to a society where it is believed that our names have an immense impact on our personalities. That’s why while naming the kids it is especially taken care of that the names should be beautiful with good meanings.
However, it is interesting that many families have only the focus on giving hood names but not using them to call those kids. Instead the names are twisted and moulded to uglier ones.
Such as Iqbal to Bala, Rasheed to Sheeda, Bilal to Billa, so on and so forth. There are many such names that are commonly used Pino, Billu, Mano, Tipu, Tomy, etc etc.
There are some other common names the meaning of which is very small kid such as Nannha and Munna (for boys), Nannhi and Munni (for girls).
It so happens that when the kid is young the name replaces its original name so much so that people forget about it and the name is replaced for the entire life time.
There can be a lady in the family with grey hair, wrinkled skin and thick glasses. She is a grandmother of 20and people be calling her “Nanhi"
There is a man in our relatives with a big face with long moustache, bulging tummy and over weight body. The name we know him of is “Munna". Oh 😶🌫️ All the Munnas (young kids) of the family be afraid of him.
One of my cousins has got AAPA as her well-known nickname. Aapa is a word that is used in respect for an elder sister. She is the eldest sister of the 5 siblings.
It has happened to my cousin that besides her siblings many of the cousins started calling her Aapa. Even the ones who are older than her. Not only this but the neighbors also call her with the same name. This way she has become Aapa (elder sister) to everyone. Even to those who are double of her age. Huuuuha irritating!
Thankfully, I do not have any such nick names that over shadow my name. (I like my name a lot). Nevertheless I have heard some twist and turns of my name throughout my life.
When I was a young kid, some of my cousins called me Chhipkali (Urdu word for lizard. I don’t know why they gave me this name. Perhaps just to tease me. Anyways, I stopped responding to them (with anger or anything) and then they stopping saying me so.
Because my name is Amber, my class fellows would called me December instead. There is a song in Urdu with title December. At times, they would sing that song when they grabbed my sight.
There is a lady in my house who, at times, calls me “Dou Number” (rhyming to Amber). “Dou number" means low quality or third class. Not a good name, of course but I don’t care.
There is an interesting thing about my name twisting. The nick names are often shorter than the original name but I have come across instance where people would make my name lengthy mistakenly. Instead of Amber, they would call me Ambreen (it is also a name of girls).
There was another nickname attached to my name, and that was the most beautiful one. It was not beautiful because of its own but the love with which it was called.
My Mamu (maternal uncle) used to call me Amber Rani. Rani means princess or queen. He would always call me the same way. There was something really intense about his emotion that I felt overwhelmed with love whenever he would call me. He is no more with us. May Allah rest his soul in peace.
That’s the story of twist and turns of my name. What about yours?
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This is my participation for Hive Learner’s featured contest post. Everyone is invited to participate.
