kerala christian names, their origin and english equivalents

It has been several years since we have been working on our genealogy database / family tree. Working on it is reveling, and revealing as you end up learning a lot about ones own ancestry and the stories surrounding it. One of the factors which grab attention while updating the database are the names. On the upper steps of the ladder, the names are mostly repetitive. These are the traditional kerala christian names, which have been handed over through generations, and have been used extensively until 1950s/independence (eg: Kunnappallil descendancy chart through the generations).

Naming convention
The repetitive nature is mostly due to the naming convention followed: The eldest son/daughter carrys the name of the paternal grand father/mother. The second son/daughter carrys the name of the maternal grand father/mother. If you summarise these names, you can see that all those widely used kerala christian names count upto just a few, like ~25 for males and ~10 for females. A compilation of these names, with their origin, have been given in tabular form below.

Names, Origin and their Malayalam variants

EnglishOriginOrigin.ScriptMalayalam
AbrahamHw. AvrahamאַבְרָהָםAvira, Avaran, Avarachan
AlexanderGr. AlexandrosΑλεξανδροςChandy, Idiculla
CyriacRm. CiriecoKurian
CyrilGr. KyrillosΚυριλλοςKorula, Kuruvilla
DavidHw. DvdדודTharian, Thavu
DominicLt. DominicusDummini
EmmanuelHw.Mani
FrancisLt. FranciscusPranji, Pranju, Porinju
GeorgeGr. GeorgiosΓεωργιοςVarghese, Varkey, Vakkachan,
Vareethu, Geevarghese
IgnatiusRm. EgnatiusInasu
IssacHw. YitzchaqיִצְחָקIttack, Itty
Issac AbrahamIttyavirah, Ittiyerah
JacobHw. Ya’aqovיַעֲקֹבChacko, Yakob
JohnHw. YochananיוֹחָנָןYohannan, Ulahannan, Lonan,
Lonappan, Ninan
JosephHw. YosefיוֹסֵףYesoph, Ouseph, Outha, Ipe,
Ittoop, Kunjeppu, Joppan
JoshuaHw. Yehoshu’aיְהוֹשֻׁעַKoshy, Eenashu, Easow
LukeGr. LoukasΛουκαςLukose
MathewHw. MattityahuמַתִּתְיָהוּMathew, Mathai, Mathan,
Mathu, Mathulla
MarkRm. MarcusMarkose
PaulLt. PaulusPaulose, Paili, Pailo
PeterGr. PetrosΠετροςPathros, Pathappan
PhilipGr. PhilipposΦιλιπποςPhilipose, Peeli, Pothan
SebastianLt. SebastianusDevasy, Devasia, Devasianos
StephenGr. StephanosΣτεφανοςEapen, Esthappan, Punnoose, Uthup
ThomasAr. Te’omaThomma, Thampan, Mamman,
Oommen
ZachariahHw. ZekharyahזְכַרְיָהCheriyan, Kuncheria, Karia, Scaria
EnglishOriginOrigin.ScriptMalayalam
AnnaHw. ChannahחַנָּהAnnamma
BridgitIr. BrighidBridgita
ElizabethHw. ElishevaאֱלִישֶׁבַעElisa, Elia, Elacha, Eliamma
MaryHw. MiryamמִרְיָםMariam, Maria, Mariamma
RachelHw.רָחֵלRahel
RebeccaHw. RivqahרִבְקָהAkka, Raca, Akkamma
RosaGer. RoseOrotha, Kunjorotha
SarahHw. SaraSaramma
SusanHw. ShoshannahשׁוֹשַׁנָּהSusanna, Sosa, Sosamma, Achamma
TheresaSp. TeresaThresia, Therthia, Theyya, Iyya,
Kochuthresia

Hw. Hebrew, Gr. Greek, Lt. Latin, Rm. Roman, Ar. Armenian, Ir. Irish, Ger. Germanian, Sp. Spanish
It is to be noted that the origin mentioned here is not the immediate origin from where the malayalam name originated, but the root of the name. The english equivalents given here are those used locally (in Kerala). Hovering your mouse over the english equivalents will give the extended meanings of the respective names.

There are still other kerala christian names out there, and do comment us about them. Yet to identify the origin of names like Dummini, Outha, Kuriakose (Cyril or Cyriac?) etc., if there are any. There is a school of thought which says that ‘Itty’ is used as a prefix, like kutty, kunju etc. For example, usage of Itty Ipe, Itty Avirah etc could be analogous to Kutty Varkey, Kunju Ipe, etc. Hence do not take this list as conclusive or exhaustive.

Transition in the naming style
The transition beyond the 1950s (post independence) brought a multitude of names to the kerala christian name group, from simply the english quivalents (eg: George, Thomas) to the two-syllabled names (Sunny, Lisy) to the combination of parents’ names (eg: child of Sunny and Lisy will be Susy) to all kind of possible sounds! Sometimes while updating the database, I have the names but I would get stuck in identifying the gender of the person. Like, in our genealogy database of 2200+ (current figures), there are 9 of which I could not identify the gender by name.

Reference:
1. genealogy.rocksea.org
2. behindthename.com
3. Cross reference: The Syrian Christians by S.G. Pothen; from an article by Nidhin Olikara on nasrani.net.

287 Responses

  1. Shalet says:

    Can you tell me the English equivalent of Valsamma??

    • Sam says:

      There is no English Equivalent of Valsamma. it is the extension of valsala which means parental love. May be it was given as a name because Mother Mary was also known as Valsala Mathaavu.

  2. Sibil Joby says:

    can you tell the english equivalent of fiya

  3. Tomyzzz says:

    Hi, Anybody knows the equivalent of Vincent

  4. Franc says:

    Pappan is a Greek name also heard in some french islands ,,,ommen is a place in Netherlands Dutch ,a dutch commander during the year 1694 to 1696 was Mr Adriaan van ommen ,who was posted in dutch Malabar originally from a Sephardic jewish family migrated from arab peninsula to Spain ,and due to spanish inquisition remigrated to Netherlands ommen in 1490 ,,,ommen must be derived from jewish name Oman,Onan,ornan,

    • Varghese says:

      Oommen is the shortened version of Thommen which is Indianisation or say Malayalam version ofThomas, one of the disciples of Jesus who as per the legend brought gospel to India in 1st century AD.

      • Sam says:

        It actually came from Joseph’s malayalam version which is Joseph, Ousepp, Ouseppachan, then Pappachan. pappan ia also the malayalam version of Grandfather which is otherwise known as Appappan, then ippappan father’s brother and so on. But generally it is the pet name of the people whose baptism name is Joseph

  5. Jess says:

    Is Chachiamma same as Chachamma (Susan)? If not , what is equivalent in English for Chachiamma?

  6. Raju Adimari says:

    is Kurien derived from Curran, an Irish name ?

    • Raju Kunjummen says:

      FYI, Kuriakose is not a mystery. It is not from Cyril.
      kurios (Greek) is ‘lord’. Kuriakos means ‘belonging to or associated with the Lord’. The English word ‘church’ (Scottish Kirk) is derived from kuriakos. It is still used as a Greek name.

    • Franc says:

      KurIan ,kuriakose is a Greek-name

  7. Ritto Thomas says:

    I like to thank the guy who created this name thing. hats off brother. I like to know the English version of my baptism name “Gervais” if you know it can you please let me know it.

  8. Godly Kurian says:

    Slight correction. Kurian originated from Κυριακός (Greek, “Kyriakos”). Ciriaco was derived from the same and came later.

    Also, in my family Habel is Pappachan. But Habel is not a common name, so pappachan must have different origins.

  9. Sunil Mathew P says:

    Can anybody help me to know the origin of Papachan,
    This is my baptism name, Hence I quite interested to know about this name.
    Thank you

  10. KURUVILLA MANI CHERIPARAMBIL says:

    Hi there
    Was curious about the origin of the name Korah
    Kunjkorah was my grandfather
    In the bible Korah was the rebellious cousin of moses, surely not a name to pick !

    • Franc says:

      Yes korah was from Aaron bloodline ,and they are ordained for priesthood,, but they rebelled against Aaron aNd moses ,snd was cut off ,but few escaped

    • Franc says:

      Yes korah was the decedent’s of Aron ,and they were ordained for priest hood ,,but they rebelled against Aaron and moses ,and was cut off from the earth ,,but few escaped

    • Franc says:

      KoraH is a jewish nAME ,of tHe decedent’s of Aaron ,,and they were ordained for temple works ,,but they rebelled with Aaron and Moses ,and wete punished By god and were cut off ,but few of them were spared

  11. Sebastian Chackochan says:

    Do the name chackochan have any resemblance to the english name James? Because I used to observe the feast of St. James as the feast of my patron

  12. We have a list of popular girls names for your delight at https://www.htae.net/checklist/popular-girls-names/558/

  13. ajay thomas says:

    Hi Roxy,

    Thank you for this wonderful plethora of information.

    Me and my wife were discussing baby names and for some reason my mind was affixed on ‘Yakob’ & ‘Yohan’ (assuming 2 baby boys do come into our world; haven’t made up my mind on baby girl names as yet).

    Although, I always had a special affinity towards traditional naming conventions I wasn’t particularly sure if the name ‘Yakob’ may be perceived as more Muslim than a Christian name and create differences in opinion etc.

    However, your site seems to have resolved my concerns.

    Thanks and keep up the good work 🙂

    Cheers
    Ajay

    P.S.: Still clueless about my first name though 🙂

  14. Mariam says:

    Hi,
    Could anyone tell equivalent name for Thankamma.

    • Sam says:

      Hi Mariam, Thankamma is more or less a pet name. Thankam means pure gold. adding amma and mol to such names was common in olden days, mostly given to youngest of the lot or or the one they expected to be the last one last one. Malayalees who are known as educated folks usually make so many mistakes while naming the babies. One of my friend’s name is Nishad which means ‘savage’ or kaattaalan. Haha

  15. Jacob says:

    English equivalent of achiamma please?

    • N. N. Neelakantan says:

      Susan is the English equivalent of Achamma.

      • Sam says:

        It is Rebecca. Initially it was Akkaammaa and then Ackamma and then achchammaa. Father’s mothers are also known as achamma which means Achante amma. Sheeba, Betty and Besty also came from Rebecca and Betsheba.