Whats in a name( last name)

It is a very interesting question .Traditionally we were given a names by our parents or their proxies. In majority of the societies which are patriarchal a woman takes her husbands name and children carry the same last name as of the father ,even when we can not be sure of paternity .That is true from the earliest times in India ,China ,Middle east and even puritanical colonial America.Jefferson,s slave had his children which were not recognised by any body till recently.Any way contribution of male is minimal for the formation of the embryo.It takes only one sperm ( produced in thousands almost on demand)to fertilise an egg,which is available for fertilization only for 3 or so days once a month .Most females have only 360 or so eggs .Just this part of biology makes the female contribution much more valuable than any thing male contributes.Female body is self regulated because her contribution is vital as she becomes older she stops producing eggs and that regulates the creation of other humans also.

Now the in second phase of development which takes 39 weeks to make this two cell entity into breathing ,crying ,feeling ,hearing, seeing ,eating and defecating(most complex and simplest of bio fed machine) more capable than any most powerful computer created by any body.If it was a man made computer not man created( reproduction as creation) it would need its own power plant and cooling systems,maintenance staff and will have only a life of few years against potential life of 100 years..It(MAN MADE) will be limited to the pre developed software and operating systems, on its death will create problems of disposal,recycling.In case of human it can live well on 2000 calories of variety of organic material,converting into needed energy and will produce surplus energy, with its own self powered mobility platform and greatest dexterity with light weight two very flexible arms .Will learn on its own and improve on the knowledge.It has a built in capacity to network with visual clues,oral clues,sensory and smell will help it to become better trained at understanding nature and its complexities.

If you wanted to create a computer capable of human sensory capacities alone all the scientist of space programmes from beginning the national labs of all nations and our elite institutions and people will fall much short and we will not be able to match this creation of any healthy couple and the ease with which they make a copy and after nurturing can create a wonder many in the world do not want to give them credit for and say humans are creation of God.Even the glory of God depends on the copulation by this young woman and man.

No wonder many faiths say god the all powerful made the man in his own image.So may be these are god like qualities which many agnostics can also believe.

I just got charmed by the glory and capacity of human as a machine.His divinity is totally a different matter.His cruelty has kept many awake for centuries.Now back to the name.

In Jewish societies one remains a Jew only if mother is Jew.Other matriarchal societies have not done much better with the last name(family name).In early societies it reflected the trade of the parents like son of smith(steel worker) was smith.Kennedy children are entitled to leadership and privilege.We have Patriarcha as mafia boss which meant father like.their roles for sure are mixed up.Many women in order to honor their father or to take advantages provided by name has started using hyphenated name and keep their fathers name and their husbands name.



In India Name ,particularly last name does not have any advantage unless if you belong to lower casts and can get benefit of the quota system reserved for them in every category of venture from education to election to a seat in the parliament.Many names tell you what religion one belongs to and may also tell you what was the profession of father.

In modern society learning barriers are breaking down by the shear genius of being many people have excelled from sciences to arts and business breaking all the old barriers.Many people have chosen not to use last name .My cousins though Hindu have all the children's first names of Muslims this i guess because in memory of my uncle who grew up with many Muslim friends in Lahore was a good way to show that they do not believe these artificial divisions.One of my nephews is named Parvez he is trying to loose it as Pakistan has had a Dictator named Parvez in recent times.

In India people are named Stalin,different members in the family carrying different names .Recently an author Kamala Das died who had converted to Islam and many people wanted to have her last rites performed as Hindu but her sons who are Hindu said that their mother had converted to Islam and she would be buried by following Islamic rituals.My brother in law does not use a last name and it has always been interesting discussion ,his children have chosen their own traditions.

At one time In India lower cast Hindu's would convert to Christianity and as being a foreign religion would gain enhancement in status provided to outsiders which was much higher.