Many of us have wondered what to call our future children years before we plan to have them, sometimes having our children’s names picked out before choosing someone to parent them with! Many cultures in India do things differently, a baby might remain nameless for the first month of their little life, waiting to be named in a special ceremony.
The name is chosen with a little help from a Vedic astrologer or a priest and after a small ritual and some chanting, the name is whispered into the baby’s ear! A big celebration follows to welcome the new baby into the world and let everyone admire the baby’s new name.
My mother-in-law and I attended the naming ceremony of our Cook’s first grandchild, an adorable little boy who is now called Chetan! The celebration was large and reminded me of a marriage function, lots of guests and lots of food!
The lovely woman who comes and cooks at my in-laws house is one of the sweetest women you would be able to find, she has been working for the family for over seven years. She always gets worried if I don’t eat enough food and always offers to make something different, she even makes extra roti for Alfonso! I was really happy to have been invited to her family’s special celebration!
Chetan’s mother was beautiful and obviously very much in love with her gorgeous son. He was such a quiet baby, fast asleep as people passed him around for cuddles, that is until get got hungry and started to cry! When it was time for his dinner, we went and ate ours! The food was lovely and I ate six gulab jamun (a super sweet cake soaked in syrup!).
I think having a party like this is lovely way to welcome a new person into the world, don’t you?
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English Wife, Indian Life 
How sweet. It’s quite nice how you can be involved in the personal lives of your cooks and cleaners in India. People in India are so open for people into their homes, eve if you are a stranger! I always say I find some of the best hospitality in the world there.
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Thank you, Mani!
Yess, the hospitality is really nice, sometimes too nice when you are force fed and you have already eaten dinner 😛
This was a lovely evening though 😀 xx
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It depends from community to community. Bengalis do not have baby naming ceremony. Talking about baby naming ceremonies, when are you having yours??
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How do Bengalis name their babies??
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Bengalis neither have the nameing ceremony nor the head shaving ceremony. What is more interesing it the practice of nick names which have nothing to do with the real name. All Bengalis have two names Bhalo Naam (good name which is the offical name) and daak naam (pet name) and both are equally important and taken seriously like Superman is known both as super man and Clark Kent. This dual naming is one pecularity of bengalis.
Bengalis do have baby shower ceremony known as “Shhadh” which is common to most Hindus across the country.
http://bengaliwife.blogspot.in/2009/09/my-saadh-day.html
http://bengaliwife.blogspot.in/2009/02/who-heck-is-alistaire-how-many-names-do.html
Then the is a grain eating cermony called Annaparashan ceremony. Annaparshan in Sanskrit means Grain initiation. This is the day when the child is formally introuduced to solid food or grain. The first morsel of food is fed by the child’s Mama or maternal uncle.
http://www.mamasmiles.com/world-culture-mukhe-bhaat-ceremony-in-west-bengal-india/
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Oh that is really interesting!
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Does your cook’s family do the mundan/chaula/choodakaruna haircutting ceremonies too?
Muslims as well as Hindus and some Sikhs do this also in India, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Pakistan.
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Yes in Maharashtra they do
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I think so, always seeing bald babies 😀
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Beautiful! Six gulab jamuns is a lot 🙂 You know what else I like about Indian celebrations? Most of them are alcohol free, and this is so refreshing. I wrote about one of such parties here – http://www.indiapalette.com/what-i-like-about-parties-in-india/ .
It took me time to get used to passing the baby to all the guests though 🙂
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Lots of passing of babies, I hope it wasn’t too stressful for you, Antonina! xx
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Lovely post Lauren, I really enjoy looking at everyday happenings in your life and the people around you. This is extra sweet cos a lovely baby is involved!! Keep the posts coming!!
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Thank you soooo much for reading and commenting, Tracy!!!! 😀 xx
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What a beautiful baby! The naming process is so different, that’s for sure!
I’m a huge fan of gulab jamun. 😉
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Yess, I hear you can made them yourself, Crystal 😉 xx
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Ahaha that’s right! 😀 ♥
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In Marathi this celeberation is called barase from bara means 12. So ideally this needs to be done on 12th day. Visitors are expected to gift the new babu with clothes, sweaters, socks, caps etc.
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Yes, we bought him a cute little knited jumper 😀
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Whose smile is bigger, DIL’s or MIL’s?
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Impossible not to smile around such a lovely little one! 🙂
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so sweet ………
But were these really 6 ! wow
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I am sure I have eaten more in the past haha 🙂
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Stay blessed and thanks for really nice stories
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Thank you soo much for reading ❤ xx
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I feel blank when I think of names for the future kids 😛
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I’m sure some will come to you! 😀 xx
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I’m surprised that the baby is not wearing Indian clothes for this ceremony. Is that the norm these days?
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I don’t think I have seen a baby in Indian clothes here, usually wearing something like this 🙂
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I love having a naming ceremony – we did one for Maya too. It is a wonderful way to welcome the baby into the family 🙂
We actually picked out Maya’s name when I was 6 months pregnant, and we were going to go with it regardless of the astrology. Luckily, the name we picked coincidentally worked well with her birth time and birth date! (My hubby’s uncle is an astrologer). They said we could spell her name “Maya” or “maia”!
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Awww, lovely!!
Divine coincidences 😀 xx
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Indian culture have great value of Vedas and in Hindu community the naming ceremony of a new born baby is so special ,it is necessary to have a name according to astrology and Vedas in our Indian Hindu culture…your story is heart touching..and smile comes on lips after reading it.well keep writing such blog.
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Aww thank you so much, Mahi!!
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i love how much your posting now-a-days! i love hearing about your life and learning what to expect when i move to india! i’ve still never taken a trip so i’ll be moving with little experience of being over there. i try to learn as much as i can to get comfortable so you’ve really helped me out!
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Aww, thank you so much!
I hope all goes well with your move, it’s a shame you won’t be able to take a little trip first. I hope these blogs are as helpful as they can be!!
Good luck 😀
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It’s really amazing how you are being a part of such ceremonies and the people around you’s lives. It’s commendable, the way you are building new bonds 🙂
I usually stay home while my parents go out and attend such family functions. I think I have had enough of them :p
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Aw thank you so much, Manju!
Lots of love xx
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I was just going through the awesome pics on your Instagram. I saw a painting of the cow. It was A.M.A.Z.I.N.G! You are super talented! 🙂
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i had picked on a name for my daughter even before i married,so was unprepared when I first got a son.i had to scramble to find a name for him: I wanted a unique name and named him ranjak which means ,one who pleases.At first he would have to spell his name to persons who could not catch it.Later I got my daughter and gave her the name I had been storing up for so long!!.It is Aabharna,which means ornament
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Beautiful ❤
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