Name of the Rose

There's a Star Trek (TOS) episode titled By Any Other Name, which is a reference to Shakespeare's quote "A rose, by any other name, would smell just as sweet".

Most of us, in the US, take for granted that we have a surname, passed from the father's side down to children. It's so ingrained that it takes a moment to realize that this wasn't always the case. People's surnames, say from England, were often picked from their profession. Thus, Baker, Shoemaker, Taylor, Smith, and so forth.

Scandinavians followed a different tradition, often naming a person by his father's first name. Thus, you might be Jonas Andersson, which would mean, Jonas, son of Anders (or Ander's son). Indeed, the prevalence of names like Anderson came from Swedes that immigrated to the US (and why they're apparently far more common in the US than in, say, England).

The tradition of naming a person after their father is still common in India. Indeed, there are two ways that people pick up a "surname", which I put in quotes, because surnames are not always passed father to son (at least, not in the way you're familiar with). Another common naming tradition is to pick the town or village that the person was born in. I suppose there are names that are based primarily on religion. Many a Sikh has a surname of Singh. I believe those that are Jains (an offshoot of Hinduism) often have a surname of Jain.

Clearly my knowledge of surnames in India is lacking, but the point I want to make is this. Since surnames don't necessarily last more than a generation, there's a premium on the given (first) name. This may be why Indians, who have immigrated to the US, don't adopt Western names. Chinese and Koreans often name their kids with American names (some would say Christian, but Koreans are Christian, but do not name their children Mark or Paul). The Japanese, intriguingly, often do stick with Japanese names (thus, few Bob Watanabes).

Furthermore, where a typical American chooses to abbreviate their first name, as in, B. Smith for Bob Smith, Indians, by contrast, prefer to write Bob S. After all, the last name is the father's name (not sure what women do), so why would you emphasize that? On the other hand, if you are passing a surname generation after generation, you may wish to emphasize your heritage.

If you ever get email from someone Indian, you may notice that it's the surname that's abbreviated, thus, Rajeev Motwani might be abbreviated Rajeev M. Of course, if the person has lived in the US, they may adopt American traditions (but why?) and say R. Motwani.