Spent a while on the…

Spent a while on the phone with my dad today, and we narrowed down the list of boys' names a bit. Which isn't to say we won't add others in, since we still have three months to go. But please feel free to throw in comments and/or vote for the ones you like. Not that we promise to choose the name based on which gets the most votes... :-) Note -- I think all the a's are pronounced like the a in 'father'. The i's are mostly short i's, the u's are long u's, the o's are long o's.

They're all going to in front of McLeod Whyte (possibly with another name in there too, that's unclear). So the first one would be: Ahilan McLeod Whyte. And so on.

  • Ahilan (a' hil an) (worldly, knowledgable, universe)
  • Anand (a' nand) (happy)
  • Arun (a run') (sun)
  • Devan (dher' van) (like a god)
  • Jitendra (ji ten' dra) (lord of conquerors)
  • Karthik / Kartik (kar' thik) (bestowing courage and pleasure)
  • Karunanidhi (would be Karun or Karuna, kar' un) (kind-hearted)
  • Madhavan (ma' dha van) (sweet like honey / relating to the spring)
  • Manish (ma nish') (wise)
  • Manohar (man o har) (one who steals the heart)
  • Mithilesh (mi thi lesh) (a king)
  • Muhilan (mu' hi lan) (cloud or rain)
  • Murali (mu' ra li) (Krishna / flute)
  • Nikhil (ni kil) (complete / whole / entire)
  • Nilavan (nil' a van) (moon)
  • Thayalan (thai a' lan) (kind)
  • Vaseeharan (va see' har an) (beautiful)
  • Varun (va run) (rain)

7 thoughts on “Spent a while on the…”

  1. My favorites (for sound, not for sense):

    Arun
    Jitendra
    Madhavan
    Nikhil

    I had a co-worker in the ’90s named Madhavan; I didn’t know him well, but I liked the name. But I bet most white people would try to pronounce it like “MAD haven.” Still, I kinda like “Madhavan McLeod Whyte.”

  2. Also going only on sound, I think Arun is my favorite. Sounds good with the last names, matches well with Kavya, fairly easy to spell and pronounce. Also like Anand, Nikhil, Thayalan, and Varun. I like Devan too, but wouldn’t necessarily assume the ethnicity on that one, which I think you were hoping for?

    I agree with Jed that Madhavan is going to get called mad haven, not that that’s a particularly terrible thing to be called. I also think that Mathhavan is a bit much for the son of a math professor. If it were me I would steer clear of the Kar names as being a little too similar to Kayva, but that’s definitely a personal preference. I like Ahilan, but when said quickly it sounds a bit like island, so I envision him having to correct people every time he introduces himself.

    Hope you’re having fun with the naming process, and aren’t too overwhelmed by making so many big decisions all at once!

  3. I like Arun, but mostly because he reminds me of one of the kindest Math Profs I had. That Arun was E. European, though, not Indian.

    My favorite is probably Devan, but mostly because it is a name that wouldn’t cause problems in the (bigoted) business world later on. Hopefully the world will change, but right now you’re often better off with less ethnic names in big corporations.

  4. I like Ahilan and I think it sounds best with McLeod Whyte. (I think with Devan your going to get Devan McLeod of Clan McLeod..which could be good or bad)

  5. My problem with Arun is that I know the name only from the character in A Suitable Boy, and he’s a stuck-up prat. But that’s a ridiculous objection. 🙂 It does have euphony on its side, and should be relatively easy for people to spell.

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