Depending on your family and faith the naming rituals may not apply to you, but if you are Nepali and have a name that is Nepali there are high chances that you name is a word with a specific meaning – this is my favorite thing about how we name ourselves. Whether the name is everything (Sahara), a derivative of light (Joti, Prakash, Ujjwal, Ujjwala), love (Prem, Maya), peace (Shanti) or even something like satisfaction (Anand), the bulk of Nepali names are words that are often used in every day speech.

Though there are exceptions of the rule (like Hope) I have non-Nepali friends with non-Nepali names and when explaining what my name meant, I asked what theirs stood for only to be met with blank faces. Some western names do have a meaning attached (especially if they are Biblical) but it’s not to the same extent as Nepali names.

I think it’s safe to say that our names hold great importance and most of our last names are structured to be very telling of us and our history, family, caste (though I’m not in favor of castes being deductible by name for discrimination), and for a long time, our profession.

That being said, I am completely utterly stumped by people who are born and bred Nepali but claim their names are “Jake” “Bob” and “Rachel”. Really? Maybe it’s just me but I get a jolt when I meet someone and they tell me their name is “Max Shrestha”.

I knew a guy in high school who’s name was Vijay but now, apparently, he goes by ‘Jay’. Not only does this disappointment, it makes me judge people. If you had a name where people made a lot of fun of you (I knew a guy who’s last name was ‘Wee’) then I understand legally altering your name (he opted to change a letter and now goes by ‘Lee’) but when a name is beautiful, when it’s a link to your heritage, why change it completely for something that is not us?

People who parade under a name like ‘Nick’ (should their actual name be Niraj) or maybe something similar come off as pompous an too wannabe. To me, it’s like someone trading in daal-bhaat for KFC’s greasy fried chicken - I’m not a girl who likes to trade in solid delicious home food for franchised mass produced crap.