I just wanted to let you know that this weekend, Valentine’s Day wknd and the anniversary of my first date with your mother, we finalized our names for you.  Why names (plural)?  Because we don’t yet know if you’re a boy or a girl so we had to pick both.  Assuming nothing changes, the one that doesn’t go to you may very well go to your sibling (if he/she is of the opposite sex).

We spent tonight (V-day night) hanging out with your Masi and Masa (henceforth known as N and P) and a couple of their friends who have recently moved into town.  Well, they’re our friends too but we know them through N. Anyway, if you didn’t know, N and I actually like the same name for our sons – Arjun.  Both of us have similar reasons for this.

Growing up, my brother and I were really into some of the stories of Hinduism – namely the Ramayan and the Mahabharat.  The latter is a story of 5 brothers (the Pandavas) and their exploits in battling their cousins for a kingdom.  I’m totally paraphrasing here as there is a lot of religion and philosophy dictated throughout the story but, as kids, we were initially attracted to the plot and the high level principles that we could comprehend.  Arjun is the middle of these 5 brothers and the one who is a skilled archer and warrior.  In other words, he’s pretty badass (don’t use that word until you’re in college).  I was instantly drawn to the character for his abilities with the bow, his general storyline, and his relationship with Krishna.

Lord Krishna, as I hope you know, is one of our Gods – an incarnate of Lord Vishnu.  In the Mahabharat, he is an uncle of the Pandavas and advisor to Arjun during this war.  It is on the first day of the war, immediately before fighting begins, when Krishna dictated the Bhagvad Gita to Arjun.   This is a moment when Krishna reveals his divinity to Arjun; these words have been documented in a book that people colloquially refer to as the “Hindu Bible”.

While Krishna is the God in the story, I always loved Arjun’s character.  Naming you Arjun (if you are a boy) would be meaningful to me in 3 ways – it would be a reference to our religion, it would be a reference to my childhood, and I love the name.  Unfortunately, your mom prefers to name you something else.  While she likes the name “Arjun”, she prefers something different.  She did, however, agree to keep this as your middle name.  Honestly, this was a pretty great gesture on her part.

Meanwhile, some time ago I thought of the sounds I really like in names – ones that I think make a name sound nice.  Putting some of these sounds together, I mentioned a name…and your mom liked it!  Today, she mentioned it to P and N – they liked it as well.  In fact, P said that the name “spoke to her”.  You’ll have to ask her what that means exactly but it’s clearly a good sign 🙂  I obviously really like the name as well and, so, we agreed that this would be your name!

You’re probably wondering why this post is all about what your name would be if you are a boy, not if you are a girl.  Well the truth is that your mom has had a name in mind for a girl for years.  She told me about it a long time back and I loved it too.  As a result, there was never any debate and, if you’re a girl, it’s likely that this name will be yours.

Now, as a disclaimer, we are still months away from your birth and anything can change.  Still, I wanted to remember (and tell you about) the time we finalized (I think) what your name will be.