Monikers are going viral by association: Babies being named Corona, Covid, Lockdown, Virus are par for the course

Children often have to bear the brunt of their parents’ overwrought sense of history, like the two boys born in India and Thailand in 1979 who were named after the US space station. The examples of DMK president M K Stalin and Meghalaya politician Adolf Lu Hitler Marak, however, show that India is tolerant when it comes to names, given that the latter’s moniker is verboten in many countries. But many babies being named Tsunami after the killer wave of December 2004 also indicates that word associations are different for everyone. Hence, newborns being named Corona, Covid, Lockdown and Virus in places such as Patiala, Raipur, Gorakhpur and Deoria is not surprising. As 1.5 million babies are born every month in India, the names cannot be said to have gone Viral, which, paradoxically, is a very popular name already.

Corona — as the Spanish word for crown — was an acceptable name for girls till the virus made it so infamous that even baby name websites have deemed it ‘unviable’. Covid, Lockdown and Virus obviously have never figured in such lists. Just in case overenthusiastic parents change their minds, Corona could become Corina or Coruna, Covid can be turned into Kovid (like the Indian-American screenwriter), Lockdown can be shortened to Lucky, and, of course, Virus can morph into Virushka.