Saint Thomas Christian names

Saint Thomas Christian names describes the naming convention that is in use by the Saint Thomas Christians of Kerala, the south western state of India. These Christians known as Syrian Malabar Nasranis, trace their origins to the evangelistic activity of Thomas the Apostle in the 1st century. They still follow a very old naming convention, which is entirely different from other races and religions.

Their names are both biblical and inherited and are passed on from one generation to the next. The male names are patronymic and the female names are matronymic. Usually a person’s name will include the names of their parents and grand parents or that of a very close blood relative. At the same time, these names will not have names of saints or of great religious personalities or of political leaders or of foreign names. Family names are also included. Unlike Indian Christians of other denominations, foreign family names are absolutely irrelevant for Saint Thomas Christians as they embraced Christianity long before the arrival of European missionaries in India . So a Nasrani can easily be identified by name, from among other Christians. Even today, this pattern of giving name is visible in almost all Syrian Christian denominations.

Before the arrival of the Portuguese in May 1498, Saint Thomas Christians of Kerala were known to belong to the Margam, a word when translated is ‘The Way’.

In 1599, Catholic Archbishop Alexio-de-Menezes called a synod at Udayamperoor, in which Christians in and near the kingdom of Cochin attended. Here he decreed that St. Thomas Christians should abandon their ancient naming conventions. They were specifically told not to use the name Easow because it was holy. But, the Saint Thomas Christians ignored this command and had continued with their ancient customs. Even today they do follow this method of naming. Even the Nasranis that did convert to Catholicism (Syrian Catholics) still use the "old margam" names. The Latin names are shunned

During the 20th century some names were created by joining two or more syllables. For example Abey (AB), Aji (AG), Bibi (BB), Biji (BG), Jessy (JC) and so on. Today, several Syrian Christians name their children by Indian names like Deepak, Rahul, Neethu, Asha etc. But by the 21st century biblical names began to reappear. Thus names like, Isaac, Joshua, David, Ezekiel, Timothy, appeared on the scene. Generally they still follow the system detailed below.

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