That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet. So says Shakespeare, who usually knows what he is talking about. People keep repeating one paraphrase of it or another, mindlessly in many cases. In fact, there is a characteristically beautiful context to the ‘Romeo and Juliet’ quote which I will leave the reader to find out and savour for himself. Taken as a general statement too, there is no disputing the fact that the names of things do not affect what they really are.
But this chain of thought can easily be misused by some to justify extreme laziness and carelessness on their part. The fact that calling a man a pumpkin will not bestow on him the attributes of a pumpkin by no means justifies calling him one. Most reasonable men would agree with this. Calling a human being a pumpkin would be warranted only if the man is guilty of unmistakeably pumpkin-like behaviour, or he has explicitly expressed his desire to be referred to as a pumpkin.
But many apparently rational folks think nothing of misspelling people’s names, taking refuge in the ‘What’s in a name?’ cop-out if necessary. The fact of the matter is, there is plenty wrong with misspelling names. Names are symbols that point to persons and objects. A misspelled name then refers to someone other than the person intended. These folks also wrong Shakespeare because the last thing he could ever have intended was to encourage people to be sloppy while spelling other folks’ names.
If I had a hundred rupees every time my name was misspelled, I would be an extremely rich man today. While I got my name spelled correctly on all important formal documents (thanks to not a little quantum of effort on the part of my father and myself), there is no way I can prevent it from being misspelled on a daily basis when it comes to correspondence and comparatively less important documents.
When I was younger, I used to take exception to the double-s in ‘Hassan’ because it put stress where none existed. I have since come to believe that there is a lot more wrong with it than that. What this sort of oversight demonstrates is absence of an eye for detail and a characteristic carelessness that cannot help manifesting itself in problems of much more consequence as well. People are so lax in their attitude that they cannot even copy from documents accurately. It seems that they do not even notice when they add their biases to anything they approach.
A friend who spells his name ‘Arsalan’ reports that his name is invariably spelled ‘Arslan’ on one of the PTM WhatsApp groups he is part of. He says he does not mind that at all. However, on the very same group another parent who spells his name ‘Arslan’ (and who is rather particular about it) is often spelled ‘Arsalan’. Despite his having made frequent entreaties, people keep referring to Arsalan as ‘Arslan’ and Arslan as ‘Arsalan’. If somebody points out such errors, the usual retort is a self-righteous and condescending, ‘All right, all right. But what difference does it make?’ This “But-what-is-the-harm?” argument is invariably a bad one, no matter what position it is employed to support.
This must not be thought of as mere pedantry. When actress Aiman Khan’s parents decided to christen their daughter Aiman (a distinctly male Arabic name) instead of Yumna (its female counterpart), they did a disservice to language, yes. But that is not all. For any man named Aiman would tell you that, once she acquired fame, everybody started considering it his duty to point out to him (with all the confidence associated with ignorance) that Aiman was a female name. This is akin to a man driving on the wrong side of the road lecturing somebody driving correctly on the ride side.
Here are some observations pertaining to names: Custom of the language sees to it that there are few disagreements when it comes to how indigenous names are spelled in the original language. The variants in such cases (if any) are, for the most part, matters of script rather than spelling disagreements.
Problems arise when names are transliterated into other languages. Here, it is best to stick as closely as possible to the sound the name makes. But there will be the inevitable disagreements, with no grounds for settling the issue any which way. A fair and useful rule of thumb in such cases is that a name be spelled as the individual in question wants it to be spelled. The choice of actresses Mawra and Urwa, who have preferred ‘Hocane’ (over the usual variants Husain, Hosain, Husayn, Hussain, etc.) as their surname should be respected. No doubt it would appear peculiar to many; but if the sisters want to spell it that way, who is anybody else to object!
Being symbols, names need not even have a meaning. Shafiq-ur-Rehman (in a slightly different context) suggested provisionally identifying children by numbers. That would work perfectly inside the confines of the home. Outside home, it would be a completely different story though. There have been many figures (in revealed texts and historical accounts) with names without meanings (without known meanings, at any rate). These names continue to be popular on account of the personalities they have come to be associated with. The same goes for some modern names that are chosen merely for the sounds they make.
However, if the name happens to have a meaning, care should be taken that it is a good one. To choose otherwise would be in bad taste. If the name has a meaning, it should additionally be ensured that the gender and the number are not messed up– fighting grammar is never a good idea. Malaika, for example, is plural in Arabic. Naming a girl Malaika therefore amounts to an error that can be jarring for people with aesthetic sensibility.
This must not be thought of as mere pedantry. When actress Aiman Khan’s parents decided to christen their daughter Aiman (a distinctly male Arabic name) instead of Yumna (its female counterpart), they did a disservice to language, yes. But that is not all. For any man named Aiman would tell you that, once she acquired fame, everybody started considering it his duty to point out to him (with all the confidence associated with ignorance) that Aiman was a female name. This is akin to a man driving on the wrong side of the road lecturing somebody driving correctly on the ride side.
