Why I Love My Son’s Name
Babies are usually named a month or 12 days after their birth, but my baby, his naming process and his name were all different – he was named exactly 15 hours after his birth!
How?
No, we didn’t know it was going to be a boy and obviously we hadn’t thought of or decided on a name. Neither did we ask our friends and relatives for name suggestions nor did we choose any letter to name our baby.
All we had was – Master! Our spiritual guide, our Guru, our everything!
We left it to him to name our baby and fantastic as He is, he did an awesome job at naming our baby. It was one of the greatest privileges of life for us to have our baby named by him and we can never thank him enough for it.So, “PRATAP” it was!
Pratap: Dignity, valor, courage, bravery and splendor – all summed up in one!
The moment I heard the name, I felt like it sketched the image of a matured and responsible man full of power and bravery in front of my eyes. I immediately called him by his name ‘Pratap’ and he cooed. We all took him to be Maharana Pratap and felt really proud about it!
But, the moment other people heard the name, their first reaction was: What? Pratap? Why such an old-fashioned name?
Many of my friends even failed to remember his name, and used to end up addressing him as Prakash, Pramod or Pradeep when they met him! (The different ‘P’ names they came up with were interesting to hear! :D)
I always wondered why people found the name old-fashioned and I myself believed and will always believe in giving more importance to the meaning and feel of the name than the era or fashion trend it represents!
Do you know why I love my son’s name?
The name of a person is their identity and I feel that this name crafts the perfect identity for my son who is no less than the real Maharana Pratap himself.
Fortunately, there is a very strong possibility that there won’t be 10 Prataps on roll in his class and when teacher calls out ‘Pratap’ everyone will turn to him and not to any other child!
Also, 25 years from now when every other guy in the meeting room would be Viaan, Vivaan, Vihaan or Rehaan and every other girl would be Aaradhya, Sia, Pihu or Kuhu, a name like “PRATAP” would definitely make heads turn – just as it does today!
Moreover, a ‘not-so-common’ name Pratap separates him from the crowd where every second child has a name that is ‘supposedly’ in fashion these days!
Many people lovingly call him ‘Maharana Pratap’ and I have taken every effort required to not let him have a nickname or let others give him a nickname rather – only to corrupt his real name! I want his name to stay as it is and I want him to be addressed by his real name at all times by everybody.
Fortunately, whenever I ask Pratap, “What’s your name boy?”, he innocently responds, “My name ij Pataap Chouni!”
