What’s in a name ? For the Pope, a lot

The newspaper Asian Age has carried a news item on Page 12 “What’s in a name ? For the Pope, a lot”. “The Pope, who baptised 21 children on Sunday at a traditional annual ceremony at the Vatican, said afterwards that every new member of the faith acquires the character of a son or daughter of the Church “starting from a Christian name”.

Italian newspapers had a field day with the story on Monday with headlines such as “Give your children Christian names”.
 
So what should our local converts be doing ? What should the Hindu rituals fascinated Padres be doing ?  What should Hindu name sporting Desert gods do ?
 
Does the Pope’s(chief converter) clarion call for christianisation of names lead to revival of traditional  christian names like Varkey, Verghese, Pothen, Rapai etc ? Will the desert gods relinquish  Hindu names like Amala, Vimala and the all time hot favourite Nirmala ?

The Pope wants complete Christianisation, that means all Nilavilakku, Kodimaram, Muthukuda are all debarred from the Church. Does it mean a full stop to all imitations ?

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