> Research Can personal names be translated? In a short story entitled ‘Gogol’ published in The New Yorker, an Anglo-American author of Bengali descent tells Research > the story of a young couple from Calcutta recently settled in Boston.1 Upon the birth of their first child, a boy, Naming practices they are required by law to give him a name. At first their surname Ganguli is used, and ‘baby Ganguli’ is written can, even European. The name is a per- on his nursery tag. But later, when a clerk demands that the baby’s official given name be entered in the registry, fect fit because it suits the Indian Ben- the parents are in a quandary. Eventually the father gives him the name ‘Gogol,’ a pet name but one that gali system, but also, through nick- possesses powerful personal connotations for the father. naming, the American English system. The girl thus belongs to two worlds and Charles J-H Macdonald As the boy grows older he becomes dis- Gogol. The reason involves a personal four: nickname, first name, middle name there is no inner identity conflict. satisfied and embarrassed by his name. episode in the father’s life prior to his and surname. These name types do not he parents call him Gogol at home. The name means nothing. It is the sur- son’s birth. Lying among the dead after match from Bengali to English and vice- In every language, personal names are TWhen he enters kindergarten the name of a Russian author, neither Ben- a train crash, the father owed his life to versa, except for the Bengali pet name linguistic objects and complex represen- parents give him another name: Nikhil. gali nor American. It is not a ‘good the fluttering pages of a book he held in and the American nickname, which are tations. Psychological aspects to naming It means ‘he who is entire,’ while the name’, but ‘a pet name-turned-good his hand when he was found by a team roughly equivalent. If we look at the prop- are at least partly dependant on the for- name Gogol seems undignified and name’. It is also a surname-turned-first of rescuers and saved from certain erties of the Bengali good name, we see mal rules of naming. There is another unfit for public life. But the child refus- name. It sounds awkward, ridiculous. death. The book was by the Russian the differences with the English first or aspect to it. The name ‘Gogol’ is the title es to be named Nikhil. He thinks his He is afraid girls will make fun of him. author Gogol. After hearing this story middle name: of Lahiri’s story, but it also the title of the name is Gogol and he does not under- the young man is stunned, and feels stand the change. In a funny scene with The boy is now a freshman at Yale. He ashamed. Suddenly, the sound of his pet the schoolteacher, who claims that the goes to the courthouse to change his name ‘means something completely Bengali ‘good name’ American ‘first name’ or ‘middle name’ child does not respond to Nikhil, the par- name from Gogol to Nikhil, the good new’. End of story. for public use only for public and private use ents argue with her and explain that Indian name that his parents chose for according to their custom, Gogol is only him in the first place. But he does not What’s in a name? autonym part of the autonym a name used at home and that Nikhil is feel like Nikhil. The new name does not Although not an ethnography per se, chosen by maternal great-grandmother chosen by parents a ‘good name’. seem right. He was Gogol for eighteen this tale illustrates the phenomenon of years, Nikhil is new. People who knew naming, the principles that underlie usually given several years after birth given at birth - ‘What do you mean,’ asks the school- him as Gogol now call him Nikhil, and naming systems, the implications of belongs to a list of words belongs to a special list of words teacher, ‘a good name? You mean a mid- this makes him feel ill at ease, like an names in people’s lives and how they in common use used for names only dle name? A nickname?’ impostor. Switching names also seems define people’s identity. One aspect so (is ‘motivated,’ in linguistic terms) (‘not motivated’) - ‘No, no,’ protest the parents, ‘a good incorrect, awkward, like using English entertainingly outlined in this story is name, a school name!’ with his parents and not Bengali. the conflict and misunderstanding that name is not inherited, is often inherited, arise between two different cultures, but sometimes shared and always shared The name Gogol prevails and the boy In the last section of the story the father and, more deeply, the conflict that aris- ends up being so named at school. explains to the boy why he called him es in the character’s mind about the degree of ‘fit’ of a name in mental and Not only do name types differ in content story of the character’s father. In other emotional terms. The story shows the and definition, they function different- words, a name is a narration. When enormous personal value that a name ly. In English a nickname can be added Gogol the son hears the story of how this has for both those who give it and those to the first name (as in ‘Sugar Ray’) but particular pet name came to be he is who wear it, and the conflicting aspects a Bengali pet name substitutes the good deeply moved. Something has changed of what is private and what is public in name entirely, and the two are never in his understanding of his own inner a name. An anthropological theory of used together. Whereas the English first identity. Being named Gogol now has a names should be able to take into (or given) name is always used together history and authenticity that it had pre- account all these aspects. with the surname to form the complete viously lacked. The subject has become name, the Bengali good name is self- ‘entangled’ in this particular name which If Jhumpa Lahiri’s tale is taken seri- contained and a fully autonomous label. has become one of the many narrative ously as an ethnographic account of a In other words, names belong to sys- strands making up his personal identity. recurring pattern of behaviour, this is tems, or relations between name types. The name binds him to his father, and how an explanation might look: the Name types can differ enough to prevent binds his father to him - an interesting name ‘Gogol’ does not fit the require- exact translation, but what deepens cul- psychological follow-up to a functional ments of a Bengali ‘real, complete tural misunderstanding is the system- study of personal names.3 < name’ (or autonym). This should be a atic way name types function together. ‘good name’-type for public use, not a As in kinship terminologies, personal Notes pet-name-type for private use. It does names are organized according to pre- 1. Lahiri, J. 2003. ‘Gogol’, in The New Yorker, not meet the requirements for an determined cultural and linguistic com- June 16 & 23 2003, pp. 171-187. American English autonym, which binations. Their use and meaning is 2. The Bengali naming system contains other should be drawn form a ‘closed list’ of subject to cognitive rules that bear on name types, particularly a middle name first or middle name types for public the definition of each name type, their (Dr. Prasanna Kumar Patra, personal com- and private use. ‘Gogol’ sticks, howev- number, and most importantly, their munciation). Only name types that appear er inadequate, until the subject combination in each utterance and con- in this story are mentioned here. changes it to meet the requirements of text. Once this is recognized, an anthro- 3. Naudin, J., J.M. Azorin, L. Giudicelli, and a good Bengali autonym. But this pological study of personal names can D. Dassa,. 1995. ‘Binswanger avec Schapp change is not accepted because the begin. : analyse existentielle ou analyse narrative’. psychological and social process can- L’Evolution Psychiatrique 60:575-591. not be reversed or aborted. The But as this literary example illustrates, autonym ‘Gogol’ is culturally wrong our insightful writer makes the reader Charles Macdonald holds a PhD and a Doc- but still carries the subject’s true iden- privy to the mental and emotional con- torat d’Etat from the University of Paris, Sor- tity. The origin of the name from the sequences of naming. The main char- bonne, and is currently senior research fellow father’s personal history eventually val- acter struggles with his name because at the Centre national de la recherche scien- idates the name, still perceived as cul- the mental and cognitive Bengali map tifique, Paris. He was a guest research fellow turally wrong but personally correct. does not fit the American English one. at IIAS in 2004. He has done research among The name Gogol does not fit either - it the Palawan (of Palawan Island, Southern The cultural misunderstanding arises does not even resemble a first name in Philippines) and among the Raglai (South from the confrontation of two different English. In the story, the name of Central Vietnam). His latest research work naming systems whose elements do not Gogol’s sister is given as an example of deals with the anthropology of suicide (in correspond. In the conversation between a perfect fit. Not only is she named press, CSEAS-University of Hawai’i Press) the teacher and the father, the teacher Sonali right away (a ‘good name’ that and with personal names and naming asks: ‘Is Nikhil a first name?’ The father means ‘she who is golden’) but at home practices. protests: ‘No, it is a good name!’ They are she is called Sonu, Sona, and Sonia. [email protected] unable to understand each other since Sonia sticks because it sounds Ameri- the name types are culturally-specific. A Bengali ‘good name’ has no equivalent in American English, and a ‘first name’ has The conference ‘Naming in Asia: Local identities and global change’ will take place at the Asia no equivalent in Bengali. Bengali has Research Institute, National University of Singapore, on 23-24 February 2006. Please see page three name types: pet name, good name 35 of this Newsletter and www.ari.nus.edu.sg and surname.2 American English has

14 IIAS Newsletter | #36 | March 2005