We get our names when we are born. Parents
or guardians give us a name and the name sticks to ourselves to our grave, too.
In fact, this is the name that is inscribed on the tombstone.
Lately, we see a trend among people to
write their official name in various ways, not adhering the rule and
regulation. For example, some use their mother’s name or husband’s or wife’s
name together like K Sujatha Mohan and Nagalingam Veeramah Shanmugam, the first
name being their father’s name or his initial and last name as husband’s name.
This is not the official way of writing the name. Probably, they do it to give their mothers, wives and husbands some form of honour and respect to them!
Any way there are specific rules and regulations
pertaining to use of your official name. For example, an American will write
his/her name this way James Thomas Collins or May Mary Maxwell, which consists
of three names, the surname, family and personal name. Likewise, the Indians write their name as
Naveen Nathesan and Shameena Nathesan, with their personal name followed by
their family name, i.e his father’s name. There are two ways of writing the
official name, N. Nathesan or N. Shameena and the initial letter refers to the
father’s name.
The Malays write their names as Mohammad
bin Ismail and Aminah binti Harun. Sometimes the bin and binte is omitted as Mohamad Ismail and Aminah Harun. Where else, the Chinese write
as Lim Chong Tong and Lim Mei Lin, and Lim being their surname or family name
and the second and third name denotes the given name.
So, let us write our names according to the
stipulated rule and not according our whims and fancies. We should be proud and pleased to carry our official name as this
was the name given by our parents when we were born.
