Naming of my children

Each name has a history or at least a story. I want to tell here how both my children were named.

My first born is son. Me and my husband decided to name him after a great Indian king. We short listed few names - Ashoka, Kanishka, Vikramaditya, Harshavardhan, Rajendra ( of Chola dynasty ) and Rajaraja ( also a chola king). Kanishka was straightaway rejected as there was an ill fated aircraft by this name which crashed killing all passengers on board. Asoka and  Rajendra have become so common that they no longer remind of the original kings. Rajaraja did not sound very impressive. So, we were left with two choices both equally appealing as far as virtuosity of the kings go. What tilted the scales in favour of Harshavardhan was the literal meaning of the name - one who increases the joy and the relative ease with which the name can be pronounced. So, our son was named Harshavardhan.

Naming the daughter was pretty simple. Before marriage itself, my husband told me, " if and when we have a daughter, she shall be named Rajeshwari (after his sister)". So when after much wishing and prayers, our daughter was born, she was promptly named Rajeshwari amidst mild protests from my sister in law.