Kaur 1

Sukhdeep Kaur

Professor Fracassi

English 2230

4th June 2022

Lamp of Happiness

My full name is Sukhdeep Kaur Pawar. My first name is Sukhdeep ,middle name is

Kaur, and the last name is Pawar. The meaning of my name is divided into two parts where Sukh

refers to “happiness” and the Deep refers to “ candle” or “lamp”. Thus, the meaning of my name

is “lamp of happiness” or “candle of happiness”. The Middle name ‘Kaur’ represents the Sikh

religion where all women have Kaur as there second name. It represents to princess. The last

name represents the caste.

If you look upon the name mentioned , it is just my first and middle name. I have

mentioned out my name to be as Sukhdeep Kaur Pawar, but the last name Pawar is not

mentioned in any of my documents like my passport , birth certificate . That also have a reason

which is for the girls the last name will be changed after she gets married , and in Punjab it will

be very difficult for any government document to be changed as I will take more than 4-5

months for the last name is to be changed as after the marriage the last name change with the

husband’s family.

My name is kept my beloved mom but the first letter or alphabet i.e., ‘S’ is not decided

by the parents. It is a ritual that the first letter of the child’s name to be decided from the “Guru

Granth Sahib” which is the holy book in Sikh religion. I have many nicknames from my family,

friends, siblings, colleagues, like Sukh, Sukhu, Deepa, Deepu, Deep, and much more. There is a
 Kaur 2

reason for the name to be kept as when I was born my dad got huge profit in his business. I love

my name and every name have its own uniqueness and meaning. Even as per the chapter number

9 it is mentioned out "There's no such thing as a perfect name. I think that human beings should

be allowed to name themselves when they turn eighteen."

From name not only we but our caste our religion is also highlighted. In days generation

people are loving short name whereas in old times they used to have very long names including

their great grandparents name including . Nowadays technology is so fast that with our name

any one can have our complete information . there are many unique names where we will find

25% in world. A name is not just what you are called , it is who you are. My name signifies who

I am and who I plan to be.

Our names give an impression of who we are and can also be very powerful in

determining how people remark others . When two strangers meet , they usually start with an

introduction of themselves by telling others their name and just by sharing out the names we can

know so much our each other , as per my name if shared most of the people would know from

where I belong of like my country, , culture, language , etc. Even if some people won’t get from

my first name if I say Kaur, they would immediate say that are you from Punjab. The very

common names help to identify which particular religion we belong to. Our names can tell a

story of where we come from and can affect our status in the society, we live depending on

which culture we are .

A name is considered as a powerful tool in shaping one’s personality and self Esteem

considering the meanings we associate with a name . A person goes through his / her life with

their name even without thinking that this name can have a great impact on one’s life. It does
 Kaur 3

not matter if you like you love your name or hate it , it was intended to be for you . I would never

want to change my name for the world . I hope that one day my parents will be proud of me , my

name .

Work Cited

Lahiri, Jhumpa. The Namesake. Boston, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2003.