Ever since Kareena Kapoor Khan gave birth to her baby boy, Taimur Ali Khan Pataudi, not one day has gone by when he didn’t make it to the news. The child, who is just two months old, has yet again made headlines but this time not for the controversy related to his name. Reports suggest that Kareena does not call her baby boy by his official name, which was announced by the couple within a few days of his birth.The actor, who gave birth to Taimur on December 20 last year, apparently calls him ‘Little John’. Doesn’t it remind you of the romantic Hollywood film, Dear John?
Well, it is also being said that the change in the ‘name’ is due to the flack Kareena and Saif received over social media, especially on Twitter, for giving their son a name that was similar to Mongolian ruler Timur Lang. But on a serious note, don’t we call have nicknames for our kids? Leave kids, we often call our friends or even parents with some name because we adore them. Don’t we? Then why we are so bothered by what Kareena chooses to call Taimur?
Over the span of two months, the couple has said a lot about the significance of Taimur’s name and its meaning. They have been repeatedly speaking about how is doesn’t have to do anything with the Mongolian ruler. In an interview, the Rangoon actor said,
“I am aware that there is a Turkish ruler who is possibly a little violent. That was Timur and this is Taimur. It might sound similar because it has similar roots. Also, to judge the past by today’s lens is a little far out. A name doesn’t really mean anything. Asoka is a violent name then. There’s Alexander too.”
And we totally agree with him because it’s too silly to make a name such a big issue. And come on, he is just a kid who is totally unaware of the family he is born into.
In another interview, Saif said that he is considering changing the name of his son but nothing is concrete as of yet. Saif said,
“I thought for a second about changing his name. For a couple of weeks. And Kareena was a little against it. She said, ‘People respect you for your opinion and you can’t’… So I said, yeah, but it’s not about people. I don’t want him to get unpopular. And I still might, maybe when he’s one or two, I might change his name in a while, it’s still sinking in, what to do.”
In the same interview, he even revealed how he once thought of drafting a small note on changing Taimur’s name but later found the reason behind it completely wrong and felt that it was not the right for him to write something like that. He added saying,
“A part of me has realised that if a select few are happy with you, universal acceptance is not required because this kind of populist approval means something scary. I would rather have a handful of people whose opinion I respect, agree with me, that’s enough. I don’t want universal approval if it’s going to require me to pretend.”
But having said all this, it wouldn’t be wrong to say that Taimur has already made him and his parents the talk of the town. And imagine, the Bard said, ‘What’s in a name?’
