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
| English | Origin | Origin.Script | Malayalam |
| Abraham | Hw. Avraham | אַבְרָהָם | Avira, Avaran, Avarachan |
| Alexander | Gr. Alexandros | Αλεξανδρος | Chandy, Idiculla |
| Cyriac | Rm. Cirieco | Kurian | |
| Cyril | Gr. Kyrillos | Κυριλλος | Korula, Kuruvilla |
| David | Hw. Dvd | דוד | Tharian, Thavu |
| Dominic | Lt. Dominicus | Dummini | |
| Emmanuel | Hw. | Mani | |
| Francis | Lt. Franciscus | Pranji, Pranju, Porinju | |
| George | Gr. Georgios | Γεωργιος | Varghese, Varkey, Vakkachan, Vareethu, Geevarghese |
| Ignatius | Rm. Egnatius | Inasu | |
| Issac | Hw. Yitzchaq | יִצְחָק | Ittack, Itty |
| Issac Abraham | Ittyavirah, Ittiyerah | ||
| Jacob | Hw. Ya’aqov | יַעֲקֹב | Chacko, Yakob |
| John | Hw. Yochanan | יוֹחָנָן | Yohannan, Ulahannan, Lonan, Lonappan, Ninan |
| Joseph | Hw. Yosef | יוֹסֵף | Yesoph, Ouseph, Outha, Ipe, Ittoop, Kunjeppu, Joppan |
| Joshua | Hw. Yehoshu’a | יְהוֹשֻׁעַ | Koshy, Eenashu, Easow |
| Luke | Gr. Loukas | Λουκας | Lukose |
| Mathew | Hw. Mattityahu | מַתִּתְיָהוּ | Mathew, Mathai, Mathan, Mathu, Mathulla |
| Mark | Rm. Marcus | Markose | |
| Paul | Lt. Paulus | Paulose, Paili, Pailo | |
| Peter | Gr. Petros | Πετρος | Pathros, Pathappan |
| Philip | Gr. Philippos | Φιλιππος | Philipose, Peeli, Pothan |
| Sebastian | Lt. Sebastianus | Devasy, Devasia, Devasianos | |
| Stephen | Gr. Stephanos | Στεφανος | Eapen, Esthappan, Punnoose, Uthup |
| Thomas | Ar. Te’oma | Thomma, Thampan, Mamman, Oommen | |
| Zachariah | Hw. Zekharyah | זְכַרְיָה | Cheriyan, Kuncheria, Karia, Scaria |
| English | Origin | Origin.Script | Malayalam |
| Anna | Hw. Channah | חַנָּה | Annamma |
| Bridgit | Ir. Brighid | Bridgita | |
| Elizabeth | Hw. Elisheva | אֱלִישֶׁבַע | Elisa, Elia, Elacha, Eliamma |
| Mary | Hw. Miryam | מִרְיָם | Mariam, Maria, Mariamma |
| Rachel | Hw. | רָחֵל | Rahel |
| Rebecca | Hw. Rivqah | רִבְקָה | Akka, Raca, Akkamma |
| Rosa | Ger. Rose | Orotha, Kunjorotha | |
| Sarah | Hw. Sara | Saramma | |
| Susan | Hw. Shoshannah | שׁוֹשַׁנָּה | Susanna, Sosa, Sosamma, Achamma |
| Theresa | Sp. Teresa | Thresia, 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.
Hey Thanks guys for this article i did know “Ipe” means Joseph but not sure why did people change it. But thanks for letting me know about it and would be able to tell people also about why my name is so.
well good to know the origins of my name…
Thanks so much for putting this together…very interesting!
i read it some website :
kurian, kuriakose :
Indian (Kerala): name in the Christian community, a derivative of the Greek personal name Kyriakos ‘of the Lord’ (equivalent to Dominic), with the Tamil-Malayalam third personal singular suffix -n. It is found only as a given name in Kerala, but in the U.S. has come to be used as a family name among families from Kerala.
Dear Rocksea,
You have done a really great job.I was searching for long the roots of the name Kuruvila.I was amazed to see that the name has its root leading to Cyril.One question Rocksea is there any connection beetween Kyrillos and Koorilose,the common syrian bishop’s names?
Hello Kuruvila,
Cyril is the English version of Kuruvila. The roots is from Greek Kyrillos/Kurillos. So they all are connected, and so is the bishop’s name 🙂
Roxy
Hi,
First of all, my heartfelt regards to the site moderators.I am a syrian orthodox christian from Bangalore.I saw this site when i was particularly bored and surfing the net.
Helped me realise the immense history and traditions of my community.Helped me get the meaning of names of few of my relatives who had names, the meanings of which even they and their near ones had a very vague idea of.
Keep up the good work.May you enlighten many many more.thank you
Dear Giju, Thank you very much for your appreciation. I am delighted that it has helped you in understanding the tradition much more.
🙂
Hi Rock sea,
Chanced upon this link while searching for the names for my kid. good quality content.
cheers,
Hemant.
Hi,
The information in your site is a real gift to kerala folks, to understand from where their names or their forefathers’ names originated or what is the meaning of their names; esp when they want to name their newborns.
And any idea about the name ‘Kochunethi’ or ‘kunjunethi’ (which is my mother-in-law’s baptism name), and acc to her it is a christian saint name ‘Nettinorah’, which she is not so sure:-)). But the malayalam name sounds familiar as ‘kochunethi punyavalathi’. I googled the name and not so surprisingly there is no such saint.
Hi Milu, I have a faint memory of hearing the name kochunethi somewhere, but I don’t know where and when it was. No idea on its origin. Will check for it and let you know.
Roxy
Great posts. Hebrew, greek, latin, english,german, irish, spanish etc words can be kerala “christian” names but the words in our mother tongue cannot be christian. Jesus knew none of these languages except perhaps Hebrew. Are we educated ignorants?
Hello Sibi, I may not have understood your comment totally. Do you mean to say that we keralites didn’t use names in our own mother tongue but borrowed from other languages?
We didn’t exactly borrow from other languages, but we borrowed names of apostles and saints, whose names had different origins.
Thanks, I really appreciate the info!
Hi. Love your site. Just wondering. Is there a Malayalam form of
Catherine? I am assuming there must be, see St. Catherine of Alexandria is such an important Christian saint for Syrian Christians.
Hello sebastiane, thanks for the comment 🙂
Malayalam form of Catherine is Kathreena.
What is the original(origin) or english name of Leela or Leelamma
I too would like to know the meaning of Leelamma
Hi Team,
It is quiet interesting and encouraging seeing this web page.
Would you please tell me the Malayalam / Christian origin of my father’s name “Scaria” and my name “Biju”.
There is an M stands in the middle of my name that refers to my house name Maniyanchira, but it was an issue while I applying my Passport.
Regards,
Biju
Hey Biju, “Scaria” is Zachariah. “Biju” is not a traditional christian name, and I don’t think it is connected to any christian names.
Hello Friends,
Thanks for the information. Recently I was searching the Net for information about the “Book of Job” in the Bible.
The name Job is used by Muslims as well as Jews and Christians. Muslims call it Ayub and in Turkey it is IYUPE.
Interesting! IYPE (also Ipe) in kerala is a common name among Syriac Christians. And we know Turkey was the centre for christianity in early centuries and many of the Syrian Jacobite church fathers were born in that region.
So my conclusion is, many of these names brought to Malankara by the early christian settlers from Asia minor and
middle east.
Your comments appreciated.
Cherian
Oct 16 2009
Canada
‘Iype’ is a Malayalam variant of the name Joseph.
hi Rocksea, this is divya from India. there is a friend of mine whos name is Jomet Thomas. we all are searching for the meaning of ”jomet” since years but could not find it. hope u ll help us. bye…
oh and by the way…..great compilation of meaning and connections…keep up the good work
hi,
i was kinda wondering my grandfathers name was chandy(alexander adn so my bro got the name alex….leaving me to be named freely by my parents…….don’t know the meaning of Joji but i heard from my grand mother its a very old christian name……..Hope u can help ….Oh and by the way the Japenese version of my name means Hand of Peace….cool but i don’t think it comes out from ther with our syrian heritage
There are 1 or 2 jojis in our family tree, and they have their christened name as joseph. I guess joji can be a shortened form of joseph. However, it could have been used without such a connection too. I am not sure if joji has been used as a traditional christian name. Probably in the last 50 years or so only.
Eldho/Eldhose is a common name is some parts of Central Kerala. Any idea where it is from ?
The names Eldho and Basil in central Kerala came from the name of “Eldho Mar Basiliose Maphriano” (entombed at Kothamangalam).
The name “Basiliose” in old Greak meaning “the King”.
The syrian name “Eldho” means “Birth”.
Aldho is variant of Aldo, Latin word meaning “# one” or “First” or “unique”
Dear Rocksea,
Do you know the malayalam version of Agnes? My mother’s baptism certificate was burned years and years ago, the only official document of her name was from school, and they just say Agnes. However, her mother called her “Anise”?. But to add to the mystery, my mother said she was named after her maternal grand mother, “Ana”? Is Anise the malayalam for Agnes, or is it Malayalam for Ana?
Thanks!
Vilsi:)
Hello Vilsi, I am not sure if there is a Malayalam version of Agnes at all! Even if you had at your home, it may be a locally made up version. Or… let me guess, do you have an anglo-Indian family? Then I should say my knowledge of names is limited in that case.
In Malayalam, ann, ancy, ansy, anne, annie, etc are connected to anna (hannah). Haven’t heard of such a connection with Anise.
thank you! very interesting!
I think “Aneese” is a variation of Anna(Annie).. I have relatives with that name (they are in trichur area)
Dear Rocksea,
We are basically from Kunnamkulam, near guruvayoor, trichur, and my dads name UKRU is found only in that locality ( as per my knowledge), so would like to know the English equivalent of the same, as I need to name my son after him.
Thanks in advance.
Regards
Samuel Kuttikattil
Dear Sam, Is Ukru a name which has been handed down through generations, in your family? Or is it a name like a pet name for your dad? I have heard about some people named Ukru, but so far I don’t know if it has a particular origin like rest of the names described here. I will try to find out and let you know if possible.
Dear Roxy,
Thank you very much for the speedy reply.
I am also not sure about the origin of the name, but its his baptismal name, also searching my best to find out the origin and meaning of the name.
Thank you once again.
Regards
Samuel Kuttikattil
Dear Rocksea,
Please offer your views on which is the best format for a new born baby in the current scenario/century, but giving us our identity too.
Earlier it used to be in the format as ( House/Family name) + (Father’s name)+ Given name.
Nowadays, we have the format as (first name-which can be called) + Fathers name) + Official name. Example: Chessy K Cherian. Here…Chessy is the name which everybody calls, K is the father’s name and Cherian is the official church name….
Please explain in our system what is our surname in the above case and what is the given name when a passport form has to be filled.
On the other hand, do we have a 2 name system if we do not want to use thr family name. I need your opinion as to which format would be best. Is the three name format good for documentation purposes or 2 name system? In the above system, please note that Chessy and Cherian refers to the same person.
A little confused about this and am sorry of this isnt the right forum to discuss this.
Thank you,
Regards,
Thomman
Dear Thomman, as you said, earlier, the naming style used was: (House/Family name) + (Father’s name) + (Given name). eg: Kollamparambil Kurian makan (son) Mathew.
Later, a larger group (not all), started using just (Given name) + (Father’s name). eg: Mathew Kurian.
This recent naming style poses a lot of problems. Firstly, in many places outside Kerala and outside India, people are officially addressed using their surnames, which are often the same as the last names. So in such a case, the person will be called by their Father’s name, which could be a bit awkward.
eg: Mathew may be addressed as Kurian.
Secondly, members of the same family will have different surnames, which may again create problems. Eg: surname of Mathew Kurian will be Kurian but surname of his wife and children will be Mathew.
At such a situation, the best way would be to use (Given name) + (Family name). eg: Mathew Kollamparambil, where Kollamparambil is surname. In such a case, all family members can easily take the same surname.
If Father’s name is that necessary, one can include it as Middle name. (Given name) + (Father’s name) + (Family name). eg: Mathew Kurian Kollamparambil.
Now, for your case:
My suggestion for you would be to use only one out of the Given name or the Christian name, and then follow one of the suggested styles above.
If you want to put as Chessy K Cherian, then given name can be either Chessy or Cherian, on your choice, then the other as Middle name and expansion of K as surname. A common practice is to put the christian name as middle name. 2 name system is easy to handle, as though rarely, some forms may not have a provision for a middle name. Still, having a 3 name is upto your choice and necessity, and can be managed. Not a big problem!
Then, whatever be the system, as long as the names are good, and the person with that name is ok, it is not much a problem in this big world with a lot of weirder names and naming styles than those we have 🙂
Roxy
Dear Roxy,
Your right!!!There shouldnt be a problem with weirder names around…!!!Thanks for your suggestion. I was under the impression that it was preferred to have a three name format in countires abroad.
Anyways, thanks for your valuable suggestions. Take care and have a good day!!!
I was baptized Kuriakose, named possibly after my grandfather Kuruvilla. There is some conjecture over this. According to you, it is from Cyriac/ Cyril. But some other sources claim it could be derived from Zachariah which gives root to Skarria, Karrian, Kurien, Kuriakose and Kuruvilla.
Hey Nirmal, thanks for the comments.
Kurian: My family is full of Kurians and I myself am a Kurian. We are sure that Kurian is a form of Cyriac.
Kuruvilla: As far as I know, this is a form of Cyril.
Kuriakose: Not sure, but I don’t think it is from Zachariah. I found that Kuriakose Elias Chavara was also known as Cyriac Elias Chavara (from several sources). This could mean that Cyriac -> Cyriacus -> Kuriakose.
Zachariah synonyms are Skaria, Karia, Cherian etc.
kuriakose is derived from the greek name kiriakos(eg:michaelos kiriakos is george micheal’s real name in greek).It is the name george.
Hi,
My Family name is Killethu (could be Kilethu) any idea if this has any historical basis, we are are Syrian Orthodox and have a long family tree but it’s so tricky with Kerala names? I would really appreciate any help.
I guess it is necessary to know how you pronounce “kill” in your family name “killethu”. A probable meaning I can guess is for à´•à´¿à´²àµà´² which could mean a fort.
Hello!
We were baby boy 2months back, we both searched many sites
got through manynames but one name which striked was “AHMIK ”
origin- hbrw,meaning- strength of god’s flock
but when it came for makin of birth certificate there was a huge
uproar it sounds like muslim name and name is egoistic name as it starts with ‘ahm’ from our parents
I would like to know the people in this family tree that you should
have a name which always introduces as a christian and a name makes your more religious and god fearing
thanks
Hey Roshan, Ahmik is a good name! You should not bother too much about such stereoptyped comments. Thanks for your advice, but we are not so religious centric on names 🙂
Between, do you know that both our names have similar origins?! Roxy comes from latin roxana which in turn came from persian (or Indo-Iranian) roshanak, meaning dawn or bright or even a shining star.
Ignatius is the old vasque name used in low medieval age in the north of Spain like “Eneko”.Later it’s passing to latin like Ignatius and to spanish like Ignacio and Iñigo,that is the same
name
Miguel, thanks for the info. I checked on it.
The name Inigo has its roots in Eneko. However, it may not be connected to Ignatius.
The confusion could be because the real name of St. Ignatius of Loyola was “Inigo” which he later changed to “Ignatius”. Latin Ignis means fire.
where does tabetha originate?
amy, haven’t met a malayali with that name. tabetha must be from tabitha. origin aramaic, meaning gazelle –> check wikipedia for tabitha.
Hi..
Thanx a ton for that info too. Anyways,keep up the good work. I have been telling everyone I know about this site now and yeah am kind of boasting too of this new found knowledge. Ha ha ha. Thanx to you again.
Best regards,
Thomman
Dear Rocksea & Sarah,
I happened to have found a treasure by visiting this particular link. Really impressed and should say the two golden words-“Thank you”. As a child i used to hate having such an old sounding name. However, probably after my 16th birthday, i started understanding the meaning of our naming system. I became proud to have this identity and definitely feels good to continue our traditions. IN fact i go to the extent of correcting Americans too when they call me thomas instead of thomman.
Thanx again and keep up the good work. I have come across the meaning of Kuruvilla as Invincible when i did a search. Here i found a whole new meaning to the name and gives a new outlook. This is new information to me. I also didnt know that Cyril was the English equivalent of Kuruvilla. I was wondering if you could give suggestions on other equivalent english names for Kuruvilla if you have come across anything.
Thank you once again,
Regards,
Thomman
Dear Thomman,
Words like these brings gratification and adds meaning to the work on our website, thanks a lot! Thomman sounds homely and far better than the usual Thomas. Many of my forefathers were Thommans.
You asked about other ‘english’ equivalents of Kuruvilla. Though not exactly english, some are: Cyrillus, Kyril, Kiril, etc.
Cheers, Roxy
Could you let me know the English equivalents of a) Idichandy & b) Idiculla?
Thanks.
Idichandy and Idiculla, both owe their roots to Greek Alexandros. English equivalent is Alexander.
Actually, now I think further, it might be simpler still to derive Kyriakose. It might come simply from “kyriakos”, literally meaning “belonging to the Lord”, which is what Webster suggests in its etymology of the word “Church”. Of course, a more straightforward application could also be for Kyriakose to simply mean “Christian”, since belonging to the Lord through baptism
Yes, Kuriakose could have originated from Greek Kyrillos (english equivalent: Cyril), like Kurula, Kuruvilla, etc. Thank you for your extended analysis on the possible origin of the name!
The doubt was due to a similar malayalam name, Kurian, with its origin in Roman Cirieco (english equivalent: Cyriac).
I have a bit of guesswork to contribute: suggest the origin of Kyriakose is most likely from the Greek (through Latin) “kyriakon”, which in turn derives from “Kyrios”=Lord. “kyriakon”, thus, is church, being “the house of the Lord”. Seems a straightforward softening to “Kyriakose”.
very interesting derivations on the mallu names..okay so where is riny from? let me know
Interesting post!
Dear Rocksea
I think it was our tradition to add “achan” for men and “amma” for women. Thats why we have lot of Achans(pappachan, thomachan..) and Ammas(rahelamma, sosamma..) :))
When i was in college i was very eager to know the orgin and meaning of my name…because at that time you rarely find someone with an old name like “Chacko”.(My official name). And i used to wonder how Jacob became chacko. later only i found that chacko was derived from “yakov”(syriac) and not from its english variant.
Today am really proud of my name :). And as u mentioned above ..i too got it from my grandfather.
Nice work ..kudos to u 🙂
dear chackocha,
Yes chacko is a name I like very much! It gives a nostalgic feeling 🙂 I had seen your blog article on the christian names when I searched on details for compiling the names.
Chacko – nearest Western equivalent would be Jacques and/or Jake – (Jacques / Chack o – both sound similar and both trace back to Yakob
You might be interested to know that Jago is the Celtic name for Jacob
hi am rekha frm mumbai. I got ur link from one of ur friends, prasanth.I read mostly all of ur writing. It really amaizing.I am new in this. I havent written nything just created one tats all.. Sarah the name u kept for ur wife or its a name she already have.
Hello Rekha, happy that you went through our creations and liked them. Sarah is my wife’s middle name (or christian name), which was handed over from her paternal grandmother 🙂
Rocksea, This is something completely offtopic, but I couldnt find a place to comment. Your wedding pictures are just marvelous, especially with the bridesmaids. Did you guys plan it or had a wedding planner? I was floored. Do you have more pictures? It is my brothers wedding and I sent them the pictures for inspiration. 🙂 . Please delete this if you find this comment inappropriate in this post. Sorry.
Hello Inji, Almost everything about the wedding, from the wedding card to the jeep were designed or planned by us 🙂 Fortunately we had time to think and work about each aspect, as I had a long leave after my PhD. When is your brother’s wedding and where is it? About the bridesmaids, we wanted to wear traditional attire, and it was thiruvonam also (that was also planned!), and hence we opted for the traditional type of pavada-blouse sets. There are more pictures offline. What pictures do you need? Happy that you liked the photos.
Any idea abt “Boban” (My dad’s name)? Can’t find it in the list? Or is it a proper Mallu name or lack a Christian equivalent?
Dear Arby,
Probably, Boban is a name which came to use mostly post-Independence. From what I know, it doesn’t have a direct connection with the traditional names used in Kerala (?)
Still, there could be some other possible roots for it. When I did a quick search, I saw that there is a Slavic origin, as a variant of Bogdan. However, I am not sure of there is any connection with the Malayalam name!
Yeah, Slavs also have the name Boban. Former Croatian football captain was Zvonimir Boban. Don’t think there is any connection with the Mallu name.
I was reading and came across your question.I am from kerala and when I did a DNA match for ancestry I found that I have slavic origins.Slavs or Indo-aryans you may refer to as from persia not Europe.Maybe your family origins are after all slavic hence your father’s name
Hi John,
Slavs are Indo-aryans, but they are not from Persia. Like all Indo-Aryans, the current theory is of an Ukrainian steppe origin. However the slavs were used as a slave population for centuries first by the Romans, then by the Viennese and then the Arabs. The word “Slave” came from them.
I am not sure how reliable your ancestry test is. However there is still a chance for it to be correct. Kerala was home for a lot of Slavic women for many centuries. When the Roman/Arabs trade with us for our spices, they used to pay us initially with gold; and then when gold started getting scarce they started paying us with wine & young women. The women usually were slaves captured during raids on Slavic villages. These women working in Kerala as sex slaves would surely have contributed to our gene pool.
A quick search tells that Boban is derived from Bob which is short form of Robert
Boban from Bob/Bobby from Robert
its interesting to know some common names n its origin. good work!!
BS
Great Information. I always used to wonder how the Syrian Christian names originated.
Thanks
You forgot Chinnamma, that again is Susan. By the same logic you described we have 6 grandchildren christened susan in the family :).
First time here.
Are you sure about that Sunita? Have read somewhere that chinnamma comes from anna/hannah. Well, could there be overlapping as well… (?)
yes, and similarily we have many kurians on my side and sarahs on sarah’s side 🙂
Thanks to this . I just discovered that my name is still “pure” and has not been Malalyali-cized .Nice Compilation 🙂
hello thenga chammanthi, what is that pure name? 🙂
Rocksea,
Good compilation.
Thanks.
-Nikhil
thanks nikhil 🙂
Hey Roxy,
This is some good insight…btw, I am Marlin Rachel Theakumkal Cherian….Rachel (Rahel) being my grandma’s name and Theakumkal my family name…I feel so nice when I even mention about it…[:D]
Good work!
Marlin Rachel Theakumkal Cherian… happy to hear from you. Hope you know the meaning of Rahel/Rachel?! hehe, it means ewe (female sheep) 🙂
yeah know that…my dad used to fondly call me that!..:))
Bravo! It is good to have a Syrian Chrrisitian Mallu equivalent English name. I came accidently upon this site and I am impressed and please carry on the good work. The Malayalam version of my name varies from Theresamma, Kochu Theresa, Theresa Kutty. I prefer it plain and simple TERESA with a dash of Malayalam accent to it.
There are a lot of Teresa variants in our family tree 🙂
Fascinating indeed! I am curious, though, as you list the English vs. Malayalam names, I have met many Malayalees with the English forms.. is there a tradition that would encourage the use of English over Malayalam or is the Malayalam used more to connect with village or villagers use more than city folk? Or possibly Malayalees living abroad using more English than Malayalam names also?
hey Jennifer. As mentioned in the article, the English versions came into extensive use around the 1950s/post-independence, probably due to the westernization. It could also be due to the educational progress in Kerala.
So if you take my case, my parents have the english version, but my grandparents would be having the malayalam versions. So those whom you have met with english names would mostly fall into the “below 70” age group, I guess. I don’t think that there is an accountable time lag between those dwelling in the cities and villages in catching up with the anglicized names.
Dummini is Dominique,
Outha, is ouseph or joseph
thanks “anthony” for the tip. will add them in the next update 🙂
It is interesting to note the origins of the names with its meanings. With passage of time and the natural change in its form, we don’t even realise that these are actually real names! For instance, I would have never guessed that Ittoop is a name derived from Joseph! Sounds more like a silly nickname that someone got from his school days (with all due respect).
My own middle name or christian name that I inherited from my grandmother was unknown to me until I was 15 or 16 years old. When I finally came to know of it, ‘Saramma’ seemed a bit outdated and I was almost like, ‘oh god, of all names, why this!’. But later, the thought that I had inherited something from my ancestors, like a tradition, made me somehow emotionally attached to it and I started to love it. Since then, I have always cherished using Sarah as a part of my name. 🙂
By the way, Sarah is also Tharamma in malayalam. 😉
yes Tharammae 🙂
😛 Sarah
I always thozught the same.. that my name is more like a nickname 🙂
Interesting saramme, same to me. Rappai is my sir name