The effect of any Name should never be underestimated. What is in a name, you may wonder? Well, what isn't? The first thing we learn about a person after greeting him/her is his/her name. Names not only reflect our personality but also give us the first inkling of the religion, race or community we belong to. We are named after our ancestors, family members, after popular icons, clan, occupation, religion or even the locality we are from. There is a confusing array of names, surnames, middle names, nicknames, given names that we come across every day. You name it, it is there. We get accustomed to certain names that we have them branded to the particular gender as soon as we hear/read them.
So this incident I pen down here has got me and my colleagues into a mode of surprise. A new team member was to join the team and get onboarded early this month. We had heard the name of the new comer through mails and it was told that this new comer would be soon joining in the lead meetings.
"Harsha Priya" - This was our new team member. At first instance it was easy to get this name associated to a male, while still the "Priya" in the name boosted the percentage of doubt in my mind. Then finally comes the day Harsha Priya was welcomed to the team , the benefit of doubt I had was cleared as this thin lady stood in front of me to greet a smiling hi! Though my mind was going through all these I smiled back to acknowledge the greeting.
A formal introduction to the complete team including the onshore manager was done with an email communication. The mail read like this:
Hi XXX,
I am happy to introduce Harsha Priya who will taking up zzz application from offshore. Harsha has got 3 years working experience in abc platform and has a good onsite exposure.
Regards,
Lead
I loved the response from XXX, this is what it said
Hi Lead,
Is Harsha a he or a she ?????
Thanks
XXX
Oh My! There were days when the Indian names were difficult to be even remembered by the people sitting miles away. But this response from XXX made me dig a little more to only realize that it was not the case anymore. The ones at onshore are able to associate names to gender now. :0 Since Harsha is a common name found for boys and girls XXX indeed wanted to be sure which group Harsha fell into.
We had a meeting today and something more weird struck us all when the lead recited the response he had received from XXX. Harsha talks about her unforgettable experience - her Marriage! The welcome board at the entrance of her marriage hall read like this
"Harsha Priya "
Weds
"Lavanya Kumar"
Wow!! perfect. Now the confusion is even more. Who is the bride and who is the groom? Name has it everything. A passerby is definite to connect Harsha --> Groom and Lavanya --> Bride when its exactly the opposite. Bewildered? So was I and the rest of the team. Half the crew who attended this marriage would have gone through the same degree of amusement.
Certainly Name does have its own Importance and we need to value it. Have you come across such Name-Fun incidents? Please do share.
-Ashwini
So this incident I pen down here has got me and my colleagues into a mode of surprise. A new team member was to join the team and get onboarded early this month. We had heard the name of the new comer through mails and it was told that this new comer would be soon joining in the lead meetings.
"Harsha Priya" - This was our new team member. At first instance it was easy to get this name associated to a male, while still the "Priya" in the name boosted the percentage of doubt in my mind. Then finally comes the day Harsha Priya was welcomed to the team , the benefit of doubt I had was cleared as this thin lady stood in front of me to greet a smiling hi! Though my mind was going through all these I smiled back to acknowledge the greeting.
A formal introduction to the complete team including the onshore manager was done with an email communication. The mail read like this:
Hi XXX,
I am happy to introduce Harsha Priya who will taking up zzz application from offshore. Harsha has got 3 years working experience in abc platform and has a good onsite exposure.
Regards,
Lead
I loved the response from XXX, this is what it said
Hi Lead,
Is Harsha a he or a she ?????
Thanks
XXX
Oh My! There were days when the Indian names were difficult to be even remembered by the people sitting miles away. But this response from XXX made me dig a little more to only realize that it was not the case anymore. The ones at onshore are able to associate names to gender now. :0 Since Harsha is a common name found for boys and girls XXX indeed wanted to be sure which group Harsha fell into.
We had a meeting today and something more weird struck us all when the lead recited the response he had received from XXX. Harsha talks about her unforgettable experience - her Marriage! The welcome board at the entrance of her marriage hall read like this
"Harsha Priya "
Weds
"Lavanya Kumar"
Wow!! perfect. Now the confusion is even more. Who is the bride and who is the groom? Name has it everything. A passerby is definite to connect Harsha --> Groom and Lavanya --> Bride when its exactly the opposite. Bewildered? So was I and the rest of the team. Half the crew who attended this marriage would have gone through the same degree of amusement.
Certainly Name does have its own Importance and we need to value it. Have you come across such Name-Fun incidents? Please do share.
-Ashwini
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