Sikhs/Punjabis Giving children Christian/Jewish names

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Sikhs/Punjabis Giving children Christian/Jewish names

Postby sabretooth » Fri May 30, 2008 7:34 am

WGJKK WGJKF.
What is the Sangats view on Sikhs giving their kids Christian/Jewish names? I have many friends and relatives who have named their children with non Sikh names. Is it a pseudo fashion thing so that their child has a "funky" name, or are their parents uneducated in their own religion? This topic will probably reverberate with some of the Sangat who use this forum, but I make no apology for raising this point.

AKAL!!!
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Re: Sikhs/Punjabis Giving children Christian/Jewish names

Postby TSNagra » Fri May 30, 2008 10:16 am

Hi Sabertooth,

"Is it a pseudo fashion thing so that their child has a "funky" name, or are their parents uneducated in their own religion?"

I believe it is both uneducation and pseudo fashion where one leands the other. It is quite simple we have all heard the slogan "knowledge is power" well if someone is uneducated about who they are then they have limited power and strength to stand up for something and fall to pop culture in our case this be naming ones offspring outside of religious or cultural boundaries. How educated can some of these people be? I have heard the name Jasmine used plenty of times in Sikh families and I hope they know in Christian/Jewish history Jasmine was a prostitue. This isn't just a lack of education about ones religion though this might be a case for Sikhs among other groups such as Black Americans I think it is more driven by media/consumer culture, apparently there are many people in the Black American community with childrens names based on luxuary cars, Mercedez, Lexus etc. It is not only limited to the Black American community it is also spreading to other ones as well. The scary part of it all to me personally is weather your name is Jasminder Kaur or Jasmine Kaur is that more frequently Sikh children names are not selected from the SGGS but are made from the pressure of hospitals and government birth certificate issue dead lines.

Thank you,
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Re: Sikhs/Punjabis Giving children Christian/Jewish names

Postby Varinder Singh » Fri May 30, 2008 12:31 pm

sabretooth wrote:WGJKK WGJKF.
What is the Sangats view on Sikhs giving their kids Christian/Jewish names? I have many friends and relatives who have named their children with non Sikh names. Is it a pseudo fashion thing so that their child has a "funky" name, or are their parents uneducated in their own religion? This topic will probably reverberate with some of the Sangat who use this forum, but I make no apology for raising this point.
AKAL!!!


SSA everyone.

I can understand what you mean by Judeo-Christian names but what exactly is a Sikh name? Talking about names I really hate it when someone names there kid after a prominent figure from their religion. For example, Mohammad or Joseph. I'm sure many of you must have seen how those kids sometimes grow up to be utter <self-censoring-in-progress>. It put's the name to shame.
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Re: Sikhs/Punjabis Giving children Christian/Jewish names

Postby visitor » Sat May 31, 2008 5:11 am

Does it really matter? I mean, is it going to have an impact on anything important? You speak of 'funky' names. I would ask what is your definition of 'funky'? I have a Christian name and being a teacher I am surrounded by a lot of 'Muslim', 'Hindu' and 'Sikh' names and find alot of them 'funky' names that I would love to use for my future children. What I am trying to say is, maybe 'funky' is just something that is unusual or a little different. And lets face it, we all want something a little different and quirky right? I say, lets smile at the beauty of any group of letters that are put together and make a sound that is unique...
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Re: Sikhs/Punjabis Giving children Christian/Jewish names

Postby sabretooth » Sat May 31, 2008 6:13 pm

WGJKK WGJKF.

Thank you for your comment visitor. As I stated in my posting this topic would reverberate with some users of this forum - as it qute clearly has with you. It is important for Sikhs to have Sikh names just as you Christians name your children after characters out of the Bible. Self identity and knowledge of ones past/ancestory is very important as the old adage goes - a tree without roots has no future. On another note its interesting how the Christians tried to manipulate and change Sikhism whilst india was under british rule. They succeeded to an extent but not fully. The Singh Sabha and SGPC are a sum result of british/christian interference.

AKAL!!!!!!!
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Re: Sikhs/Punjabis Giving children Christian/Jewish names

Postby visitor » Sun Jun 01, 2008 5:01 am

Convertion comes from a weakness in ones own faith. I converted to Sikhism for that exact reason. Christianity had too many holes. Placed far to many limitations on God andplace too much emphasis on Jesus. Now dont get me wrong, I am not going to say that Jesus never existed but rather he was maybe a great speak with some lovely messages to pass on to people. When I was blessed with the words of my ten Gurus, it made sense - there was no need for second guessing, it was respectful of others and their thought and held a strong importance on being all inclusive and humanity. I am eternally greatful that God brought the words of the Gurus into my life. I suppose that those that were converted in India feel the same. I believe what Guru Nanak Dev ji says when he speaks of there being many different paths to God.
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Re: Sikhs/Punjabis Giving children Christian/Jewish names

Postby HKB » Mon Jun 02, 2008 3:13 am

Someone had named their baby boy as Ben, I asked whether Ben was short of Benjamin a biblical name and they wern't sure. Its bemusing!
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Re: Sikhs/Punjabis Giving children Christian/Jewish names

Postby SmartSikher » Mon Jun 02, 2008 11:26 am

There are many beautiful Sikh names from previous generations that were practically discarded by the 'partition' generation because they sounded to 'muslim', and instead this generation when naming their children chose generic, formulaic names were you insert the front part as say something like Nav, Man, Dil, Raj, Rup etc. and finish it with a Jinder, Preet, Inder, Binder, Jeet, Deep etc. No originality shown and you now have an entire lot where all the names are pretty much the same, so I can see why this next generation would want to step away from these 'Sikh' names as these formulaic names are the only ones they know. If they go one generation before this to our grandfather/great grandfather's times, they would discover very beautiful Sikh names that are very rare, poetic, and unique, and they should move towards this step and not towards judeo/christian names.
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Re: Sikhs/Punjabis Giving children Christian/Jewish names

Postby avtarkaint » Mon Jun 02, 2008 10:15 pm

totally agreed with u............
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Re: Sikhs/Punjabis Giving children Christian/Jewish names

Postby sabretooth » Tue Jun 03, 2008 6:12 am

WGJKK WGJKF.

Thats one angle of this point I am making. You have Sikh families naming their children with non Sikh names and they do not have any idea of the full meanings of the names. I know of many people including friends who have named their children with Christian/Judeo names and they are non the wiser of their meanings - to them its a fashionable thing. I susupect that if I raised the point with them I would probably get short shrift of a response - mainly due to their undeucation.

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