Whats in a name?? History, Geography, IT, etc etc etc..;-)

"Nicknames stick to people, and the most ridiculous are the most adhesive."

And so said Thomas C. Haliburton and how right he was!! Its always an unusual (read peculiar, weird, inappropriate, downright ridiculous, etc etc) name that makes us glance up and take a closer look at the name's namesake, to suppress a smile, to look away, to recall it in the middle of a party, to crack a joke about and eventually immortalize it in our minds.

Here is a sample list of the top five weird names that I have come across (psst...you are most welcome to add to this list):

5. Tsunami (Why should someone one to name his/her offspring after a natural calamity is anybody's guess!!)

4. "Republica" and "Swadhinota" (Two sisters from an apparently patriotic neighborhood family from my mother's hometown)

3. My roommate from Delhi had a cousin who had a nickname "Bho" (The bengali alphabet)..I mean he was just Bho to the family..just one alphabet formed his whole identity!! I feel sorry for the poor guy!!

2. Pappan- Japan ( I still don't get it why Bengali parents especially have to make their children's names rhyme with each other, to these levels!!)

1. But the top spot goes to the recently heard nickname in this year's book fair.. believe it or not ..."DOT COM"!! I guess the IT sector will be booming in this family for quite sometime for somebody to be called dot com throughout his life:-)