Namakarana Samskara (Name-giving ceremony) for conversion?

[MikeMalaysia]

Have any of the Hindu converts here had a Namakarana Samskara to formalize their conversion?

 

I would like to have such a cremony to make my conversion to Hinduism formal. I'm not sure about the procedure in Malaysia - I don't speak Tamil very well and I don't know if there are any temple pujaris here who can speak English. I'm not even sure if they've heard of such a procedure for a convert to enter Hinduism. 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", "RamanSivan" 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.

 

Mayil is the Tamil word for 'peacock' and 'Mayilvahanam' means 'The one whose vehicle (vahanam) is a peacock, i.e. Lord Murugan, a.k.a Skanda, Subramanya, Kartikeya, Kumara and other names. Sivadasan means "servant of Shiva".

 

I know that it doesn't correspond to my Nakshatra, but it sounds similar to my given name. My wife's name doesn't correspond to her nakshatra, either - I don't know if any Hindus here follow such a procedure.

[Gita Dharma]

Instead of choosing a name which sounds similar to your current one, have you<br> considered choosing a name based upon what inspires you or perhaps <br>choosing a name which expresses ideals that you want to strive to uphold?

[MikeMalaysia]

 

Instead of choosing a name which sounds similar to your current one, have you<br> considered choosing a name based upon what inspires you or perhaps <br>choosing a name which expresses ideals that you want to strive to uphold?

 

I can't think of anything like that at all. I know that the name refers to Lord Murugan, who is a popular god here in Malaysia (we have a HUGE festival here for Thaipusam, bigger even than India).