What's in a name?

Photo: President John F Kennedy with his family sailing in the Nantucket Sound

By Shevlin Sebastian 

A former colleague asked me the other day, ‘How did you get the name Shevlin?” 

This is the first time somebody has asked me that question. 

I have spent a lot of time, over the years, thinking about my unusual name. 

So I asked my mother about it. 

She said my father had named the eldest child; so he said it would be her turn to name me. 

Since my sister was born in June, my father decided to call her June. 

But my mother wanted to give me a unique name. When she was pregnant with me, she came across a photo feature in Life Magazine of American President John F Kennedy and his relatives and friends swimming and sailing on the Nantucket Sound, near Hyannis Port, Massachusetts.

When she read one caption, she noticed that one of Kennedy’s relatives or friends had the name of Shevlin. The name struck her. She liked the sound of it. She felt this would be a unique name. It is of Irish origin. And that is how I ended up with it. 

I like this name. And I like it when paired with my surname Sebastian. There is a rhythm and symmetry to it, with the two ‘S’s, especially when you see it in print. 

But early in my career, I realised people could misunderstand the name. When I was working in Sportsworld magazine, I would get letters addressed to ‘Miss Shevlin’. That’s when I realised it is difficult to identify the gender of a person when reading my first name. 

One reader wrote, ‘Apart from your beautiful writing, I am sure you look beautiful, too.’ 

I had to quickly type out a reply informing him I had to disappoint him and that I am, unfortunately, a male. This was the era when we used typewriters. There was no social media or Google where we could type the name of a person and get biographical information about him or her. I didn’t get a reply from this letter-writer. He must have been shocked into silence. 

In Kerala, where I have lived for the past several years, it is almost impossible for most people, especially strangers, to call me Shevlin. Instead, they always call me Shelvin. It has happened so many times that I no longer correct people. Some acquaintances have been calling me Shelvin for years. 

I noticed that a certain group of people — government, corporation and hospital clerks, plumbers, carpenters and electricians — find it difficult to pronounce my name. So, I opted for the easier and more common name of Sebastian. 

Sometimes, people have advised me not to use my name. Once a senior colleague suggested to me, I used a pseudonym when writing erotic stories. “This will damage your image,” he said. But I declined by saying that I was proud of my name and I did not feel any shame in writing erotica. 

Of course, unlike in America, children don’t call their parents by name in India or across Asia. So, my children call me ‘Baba’. This is a tribute to my roots, as I consider myself half-Bengali, having been born and brought up in Calcutta. 

So, thank you, Mom! 

Despite all the niggling issues, I love my name and I loved the creative way you selected this name.