By titling her book The Namesake, Jhumpa Lahiri indicates that Bengali naming traditions are one of her central themes. Pages 25 to 29 describe those traditions and tell the story of naming Gogol.

I found myself comparing the Bengali custom of good names and pet names to American use of nicknames and formal names. I think one difference is that not every American has a nickname, but every Bengali does have a pet name. Another difference is that American nicknames are often standard ones--either abbreviated forms, like Pat for Patricia or Rob for Robert, but also variations on the formal name--Peggy for Margaret, Bill for William. But we also often come up with nonstandard nicknames--almost terms of endearment--for each other, that are given by parents, children, spouses, or lovers, not as widely used as the Bengali pet names seem to be.

In the book, Gogol loses both his good name and his pet name; the good name when the letter from Ashima's grandmother is lost in the mail; the pet name, when Gogol himself decides to legally change it. The manner in which he loses his good name to me is one of the first symbols in the book illustrating the Ganguli family being forced to separate themselves from their homeland. The manner in which he loses his pet name illustrates Gogol's choosing to separate himself from his parent's homeland.

While I was writing this, my book happened to open to page 9, and in the middle of the page I saw this sentence--"It was only after the betrothal that she'd learned his name," referring to Ashima and Ashoke. What do you think is the significance of that?

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