What's in a Name?

- July 08, 2024

What's in a name, one asks. Well, I will tell you. The remnants of history and colonization still live in a catholic community where I grew up. My ancestors were Hindus who were converted to Christianity by Portuguese missionaries during 16th century and either they willingly adopted the Portuguese last names or were forced to take their names.

I am not a historian, but this is what I have gathered over the years. Christopher Columbus was trying to find a sea route to India but instead landed somewhere in the Caribbean in Circa 1492. Then another Portuguese sailor Vasco De Gama left in search for the sea route and landed on the west coast of India in circa 1498, bringing Portuguese missionaries to India who then travelled up the coast converting the local Hindu people into Christianity, voluntarily or by force. During that time, they landed in my hometown (only a few kilometers outside of Mumbai).

The church that my family attends is four hundred fifty years old. Last names such, D'silva, D'Costa, Rodrigues, Correia, Gomes, are common in this community. The culture however has remained the same, Indian, along with the local language. The Bible and all the church services are in Marathi, the local language although my father tells me that when he was growing up it used to be in Latin, he still knows "our father in heaven " in Latin.

Until 1970's, everyone in this community were given a so called Christian or western first name however the trend drastically changed in the 70's. My sisters, I and many of our peers have Hindu/ Indian/ Sanskrit first names. I believe it could be due to the Priests serving there at that time who suggested these names to assimilate but I could be wrong. The trend changed again in the 80's when they went back to the western or Christian first names.

My basic schooling was done in this majority catholic community, so no identity crisis. However, When I went away to college, with a Hindu first name and Portuguese last name, it often led to questions, confusion, and assumption of my identity. Peers, teachers, and people in general would question me why I had a Hindu first name when I was a Christian. I would be terribly upset and angry at them for thinking that they for some reason owned the rights to the name or something. For your information, I was named after a famous Indian actress who had risen to fame around the time I was born.

Rodrigues is a common catholic last name in India. I didn't know that there is also a "Rodriguez" until I came to the US which is a Spanish last name. Surprisingly, India was invaded by the Moguls, Dutch, the French, the Portuguese and lastly the British but was somehow spared by the Spanish.

Many of my coworkers here in the USA have asked me if I was Portuguese because of my last name before I changed it to my married name. No, I am not. So, in short, I am an Indian with a Hindu first name, a Portuguese last name and Marathi is my first language. So, once again, what's in a name??? Don't get me wrong, I was never confused or ever had an identity crisis, I am proud of my roots, my Indian heritage, where I come from.

I often think how things would be different if Columbus had in fact landed in India and not in the Americas. Then when would America be discovered and what would its people be called? What would we be learning in history? My rambling mode gets full on when someone questions me about my roots.

Information obtained from Google - As of March 2024, Catholics in India make up around 1.55% of the country's population, or over 20 million people. This makes the Catholic Church the largest Christian church in India.

This is the local church my family belongs to.