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ScottMalaysia
02 May 2009, 01:41 PM
I'm wondering, did any of you on this forum who converted to Hinduism have a formal Namakarana Samskara, whereby you took a Hindu name? And if you did, did you change your name legally (on your passport etc?)

I would like to have one to make my conversion to Hinduism formal. I'm not sure about the procedure in Malaysia - I don't speak Tamil and I don't know if there are any temple pujaris here who can speak English. Maybe I could ask someone who speaks Tamil to help me out.

My full name is Scott Michael Inglis. My wife and family call me Scott, but my work colleagues and students all call me Michael. I thought that I would choose a name that sounds similar to the name that I already have, so this is the name that I have thought of:

மயில்வாகனம் சிவாதாசன் Mayilvahanam Sivadasan

(I originally thought of it as Mayilvahanam Shivadas, but then I looked up the Tamil for "servant" and it was "daasan", not "das", which is the Hindi. But then Tamil often does an an -n to the end of names, for example "Krishnan", "Ganesan", "Raman" "Sivan" etc.)

Would it be okay for people to call me "Mayil" for short? It sounds like "Michael" but Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami's book How to Become a (Better) Hindu lists "Mayil" as female. That's why I chose "Mayilvahanam". However, the book does list "Suguna" as a male name, yet one of my students was called Suguna and she was female.

I know that it doesn't correspond to my Nakshatra, but it sounds similar to my given name.

Eastern Mind
02 May 2009, 05:10 PM
Yes, Scott, I did. The same procedure as outlined in the book you quoted. I did also change my name legally. Not sure how it works in Malaysia, but there are many followers of Subramuniyaswami there, and they would probably be able to advise re a priest. Changing my name proved useful 2 weeks back in Madurai. Besides my namakarana certificate stating the conversion, I also showed my passport to the temple authorities, which indicates a very Hindu name, hence they allowed me in. Malaysia, being an Islamic country, may have different laws. Good luck with it, and welcome to the fold. Aum Namasivaya

ScottMalaysia
03 May 2009, 01:38 PM
Yes, Scott, I did. The same procedure as outlined in the book you quoted. I did also change my name legally. Not sure how it works in Malaysia, but there are many followers of Subramuniyaswami there, and they would probably be able to advise re a priest. Changing my name proved useful 2 weeks back in Madurai. Besides my namakarana certificate stating the conversion, I also showed my passport to the temple authorities, which indicates a very Hindu name, hence they allowed me in. Malaysia, being an Islamic country, may have different laws. Good luck with it, and welcome to the fold. Aum Namasivaya

Hi Eastern Mind, thanks for the info.

Do you have any details for the followers of Subramuniyaswami in Malaysia? I know that Bodhinata vists Malaysia and Singapore (he was in Singapore recently). Do they have a temple or an organisation in Kuala Lumpur?

I've heard that some temples will allow you in if you have a passport with a Hindu name on it. I'd never heard of anyone who has had such an experience before. I'm sure that the Puri temple wouldn't allow you in, though - they don't allow any non-Indians in. It's ironic that they would allow an Indian Muslim or Christian into the temple (they can't tell the difference) but they won't allow a white Hindu in.

My wife doesn't want me to change my name legally, but I want to. Malaysia only allows name changes up until a person is one year old. However, I am not even a permanent resident of Malaysia, let alone a citizen. You have to be here for five years before you can even apply for permanent residency. So therefore, I will be able to change my name through the New Zealand High Commission, as I am still a New Zealand citizen.

In Malaysia, Indians do not have last names - they instead have a system of patrynomics, where a person is known as so-and-so daughter/son of such-and-such. My wife is Seeta Devi daughter of Selvaraj (written Seeta Devi a/p Selvaraj; the a/p stands for anak perempuan, the Malay term for 'daughter'). I do not want my children to be 'son of Scott' or 'daughter of Michael' (my middle name which I use at work). I would not want my daughter to be "Sanisha a/p Scott" - I would want her to be "Sanisha a/p Mayilvahanam".