magsiswritingnow

[magsiswritingnow]

If you're celebrating Biden's win, consider celebrating by donating to a bail fund, planned parenthood, or the Navajo Water project.

Your action to help the marginalized shouldnt end at presidential candidates and voting.

[magsiswritingnow]

too many posts fishing for asks you have to answer. i want asks where people just tell me things

[magsiswritingnow]

Naming a South Asian Character

“I need a name for a South Asian character”

We’re going to need a little more information than that…

Please see the following maps of South Asia:

Image description: Two maps of South Asia. The top map depicts the South Asian region, including Afghanistan with color-coding of different regions by 8 color-coded language groups. The bottom depicts the official state/ province/ languages and scripts for countries in the South Asian region, excluding Afghanistan. See end of post for detailed image description under the cut.

(Links: Top Map, Bottom Map)

That’s a lot of languages, right?

Names in South Asian cultures are primarily dictated by religion and language. While there’s some overlap between cultures, we can make an educated guess of someone’s ethnicity & religion based on their name. For example:

Simran Dhillon … is a Punjabi Sikh.

Priyanka Ghosh … is a Bengali Hindu

Maya Srinivasan … is a Tamilian Hindu.

Harsh Patel … is a Gujarati Hindu.

Amin Usmani … is a Muslim from a traditionally Urdu speaking community.

Teresa Fernandes … is a Goan Christian.

Behind the Name is a good place to start looking as they state the specific language the name is from. As for religion, there are more factors to consider.

Sikhs

Sikh first names are gender neutral. The 10th Sikh guru designated Singh (meaning lion, for men) and Kaur (meaning heir to the throne, for women) as Sikh surnames. These surnames were designed to be equalizers within Sikh communities. However, many Sikhs keep their Punjabi surnames (many of these surnames are now primarily associated with Sikhs) and use Singh and Kaur as a middle name (eg. Ranjit Kaur Shergill, Amrit Singh Cheema). More devout Sikhs use only Singh and Kaur or use the same format legally but do not share their surnames.

Sikh first names are derived from gurbani (Sikh holy texts), so they are often uniform across cultures. Most Sikhs who aren’t Punjabi use Singh & Kaur or cultural surnames in the same format. The latter is usually seen among Afghan & Delhiite Sikh communities. While most changed their surnames to Singh & Kaur, some families still kept the surnames they had before they converted from Islam and Hinduism (eg. Harpreet Singh Laghmani, Jasleen Kaur Kapoor).

If you’re stuck on a surname for a Sikh character, Singh for men and Kaur for women is the safest way to go regardless of ethnicity.

Good resources for Sikh names can be found here:

https://www.sikhs.org/names.htm

http://www.sikhwomen.com/SikhNames/ 

Christians

South Asian Christians naming conventions depend largely on who brought Christianity to the region and when. For example, Christianity was largely brought to Goa by Portuguese Catholics so you’ll see Portuguese surnames, while many Christians in the Seven Sister States didn’t change their names. South Asian Christians will also often have Christian first names, either in Portuguese or in English.

Hindus, Jains, castes and gotras

Hinduism is the majority religion in India and the South Asian region overall. A key thing that many newcomers overlook when writing about Hindus is that rather like feudal Europe, a person’s last name can also tell you what their family used to do because of the caste system. Both Hindus and Jains employ gotras (or lineage systems) designed to keep people from the same patrilineal line from marrying each other. Thus, if your Hindu character is a Vaishya (tradesman/ merchant class), but you have chosen a last name for them related to farming, or if your Kshatriya (warrior) character has a last name that means bureaucrat, you’ve made a mistake. Most Hindus and Jains will have last names derived from Sanskrit, or a language with Sanskrit roots.

A note on middle names: in South India, Hindus will often use the father’s first name for the child’s middle name.

For what it is worth, South Asia is hardly the only region to have these particular features. Japanese society until the end of the Edo era was heavily segregated by caste, and to this day, many families with samurai last names occupy relative positions of privilege compared to other castes, even though the Japanese caste system ended with the Meiji Restoration. 

A note of caution: Baby name websites tend to be inaccurate for Hindu names, often confusing Farsi and Arabic-derived Urdu names with the more traditional Sanskrit-derived names. Behind the Name is by far the most accurate website, but it doesn’t hurt to check multiple sources. For Hindu and Jain surnames associated with different castes, regions and gotras, Wikipedia is surprisingly thorough.

Muslims

Islam is the majority religion in Pakistan and Bangladesh as well as the second largest religion in India, but the differing ethnicities and arrival periods of Muslims in South Asia over the course of history can have a significant impact on a character’s name. For example,  think of when your character’s family will have arrived in South Asia or converted to Islam:

During the Delhi Sultanate, when Hindustani would have been spoken? 

Under the Mughals when Persian was more common? 

Are they from Bangladesh and thus speak Bengali? 

Do they have ancestors from Afghanistan or Swat Valley, and thus have Pashto last names? 

Does the family speak Urdu? 

All of these will impact what their name might reasonably be. As a general rule, Muslims will have last names that are in Farsi/ Persian, Urdu, Arabic and Bengali. Bangladeshi Muslims may have Hindu names (both first and last) as well.

Buddhists

When discussing Buddhists in South Asia, we are primarily talking about Nepal and Sri Lanka. The majority languages in these countries are Nepali and Sinhala, respectively. Both languages are part of the Indo-Aryan language family, and like many Indo-Aryan languages, show heavy Sanskrit influence.

Others

Don’t forget that India also has a large number of lesser known minority religions, including Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Tibetan Buddhism and a host of indigenous religions. 

Judaism: There are a number of historical Jewish enclaves in India, as the result of specific waves of migration. Like South Asian Muslim names, Jewish last names will vary depending on the ethnicity and arrival period for each particular wave of Jewish diaspora. 

Zoroastrianism: People who practice Zoroastrianism are likely to have Farsi last names. 

Tibetan Buddhism: Tibetan Buddhists will obviously have Tibetan names and are often a part of the Tibetan diaspora who entered India as refugees during the Chinese government’s invasion of Tibet.

In Conclusion

An in-depth coverage of name etymology in South Asia would probably be the size of an encyclopaedia. The above is hardly exhaustive; we haven’t scratched the surface of the ethnic and linguistic variations in any of the South Asian countries displayed on the maps above. We hope, however, that it motivates you to research carefully and appreciate the cultural diversity South Asia has to offer. Just like in any setting where issues of lineage are plainly displayed by a person’s name, names in South Asia tell stories about where a person is from, what language they speak, and what their ancestors might have done, even if this has little bearing on the character themselves. It may seem a little elaborate to try and imagine the ancestors of your character before you even decide who your character is, but the reality is that most South Asians know these things instinctively, and whether or not you do your due diligence will be part of how we judge your work. 

Name a thing to fight over, and South Asians have probably fought over it at one point or another, whether it be religion, ethnicity, language, or caste. However, one thing many South Asians have in common is pride in our individual origins. Respecting this love of identity will be invaluable as you plan your story.

At the end of the day, there is no substitute for actually talking to people who share your character’s background. We will always recommend having someone from the community you’re writing about check your naming.

– Mods SK and Marika

Follow up

A disclaimer for our Desi followers

Keep reading

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[Image description: tweet by Robert Reich @RBReich: “Georgians: If you turn 18 by January 5, 2021, you are eligible to vote in the run-off elections that will determine whether we take control of the Senate from Mitch McConnell. You have until December 7 to register to vote. Please tell your friends.”]

DIRECT LINK TO OFFICIAL GEORGIA GOV. REGISTRATION WEBSITE: https://registertovote.sos.ga.gov/GAOLVR/welcome.do#no-back-button

DIRECT LINK TO OFFICIAL GEORGIA GOV. REGISTRATION REQUIREMENTS AND INFORMATION: https://sos.ga.gov/index.php/Elections/register_to_vote

[magsiswritingnow]

thanksgiving is a holiday based on a falsified narrative full of white guilt and the erasure of history so what are some good native organizations to donate to this coming thursday

[magsiswritingnow]

but are YOU a reliable narrator?

[magsiswritingnow]

where were you when joe biden was elected forty-sixth president of the united states

[magsiswritingnow]

Don’t forget to take your frickin meds my dudes they can’t work if they aren’t in you

[magsiswritingnow]

fireworksgate is fucking real yall i was walking by some residential street earlier today and a car driving by threw a bigass firecracker out their window at a house with three kids playing in the front yard and their mom. cops pulled up SUSPICIOUSLY fast (like literally 10 seconds later fast), rolled down their window, listened to the mom, basically said “wow that sucks, good luck”, and drove off without getting out

[magsiswritingnow]

rb this post with what you fuck around with on your phone when you can’t sleep in the tags

[magsiswritingnow]

Could you maybe reblog this post if you think respecting trans peoples' names and identities is a basic right and not a political opinion?

No pressure. Just seeking some validation of my sentiment. Due to some. people

[magsiswritingnow]

Death of the author feels like such a white take tbh

[magsiswritingnow]

i know there’s a lot going on but ICE are now one step closer to literally creating gas chambers. they are spraying a chemical called HDQ neutral roughly 100 times a day, every 15 minutes at the adelanto detention center (one of the biggest in the country). people are getting rashes, headaches, their insides are bleeding, etc. the guards are wearing gloves and masks but the detainees have NOTHING. and here’s a quick reminder - america inspired the nazis to create gas chambers when they gassed latino people during the 1917 bath riots. 

here’s a petition to sign. it’s close to it’s goal. if there’s anything else we can do to help i’ll update this post.

[magsiswritingnow]

A career for a career - Megan Fox deserves to have hers back. Michael Bay deserves to be blacklisted, something he had no problem doing to her when she exposed him for his awful, predatory behavior.

[magsiswritingnow]

some villain tips

i saw someone else do this and was inspired. prefacing this with this is just what i personally want to see in fiction and you don’t have to follow it:

i’d love to see more villains that were about upholding oppressive systems juxtaposed against more revolutionary heroes. in media it always seems like the hero is the more conservative counterpart against a villain that is somehow coded as a breaker of the system so i’d like to see that get turned on its head, make people uncomfortable ig.

i would also like to see more corruption/downfall arcs as in someone who started off in a good place but gradually made a series of decisions that see them get plunged into darkness. if they’re a pov character or even a protagonist this could be even more effective! and we sort of have mainstream examples of this like the godfather/breaking bad/star wars but we can always have more imo.

i would love to see more female villains, especially female villains that are motivated by pride/rage/ambition. basically anything other than love and/or victimhood. you can still let her have both of the above but i just really want some angry women, some violent and ruthless women who won’t let anyone stand in their way. and i want them to also be competent and intelligent, let them be something to really be feared.

going on from the first point, i don’t mind seeing more villains who are reacting to the fact that they are marginalised or victimised by an oppressive system and have taken on a Burn Down The World approach. i think the reason why these narratives traditionally don’t work for me is because of who typically receives them. but i would like to see some villains who i can root for from a cathartic perspective while also marvelling at the breadth of their skill.

this is just one of my personal fave arcs but i would LOVE more villains who take on more of a dr jekyll/mr hyde approach. as in villains who have one public face and private face, maybe they have a family that they love and dote on or just a specific group of people who get to see a different side to them. i think it makes it more effective when we see their Bad side come out. plus it gives an opportunity for more angst if/when the people they love find out who they are.

i’m not a huge fan of redemption arcs but i would like to see a villain get extended the opportunity and refuse simply because they prefer stepping on others to get what they want and feel no remorse. just for kicks and giggles xDDDDDD.

[magsiswritingnow]

A very insidious form of transmisogony is that there can never be a positivity post for trans women without people (usually afab trans people) either derailing it OR reminding them about terfs and it’s ONLY for trans women- it’s much less often that anyone will mention “transphobes don’t look at this” on posts for trans MEN.

Trans women can’t exist without everyone reminding them that someone out their hates them, even people in their communities, and we as allies HAVE to do better. Instead of saying “terfs don’t look at this” or whatever preformative allyship floats your boat- deplatorm terfs, block them and STOP ENGAGING, and uplift trans fem voices!!!

As a Jew I rarely see “Nazis don’t even breathe on this post” when it’s Jewish positivity, but I ALWAYS see it on anything even REMOTELY related to trans fem things. It’s transmisogony, simple as that

[magsiswritingnow]

A friend of mine posted this and tagged my old instagram account, asking me to share it. I figured sharing it here where I actually have a following, would be far better.

Please remember that just because the government is giving into pressure and greed, that doesn’t mean that any of this is getting any better, in a lot of ways it’s getting worse. And even if you yourself aren’t being as heavily affected anymore, there are people and communities that are.

Stay safe Darling ones, and help others remain safe too.