By the time Pietro Di Bernardone, a silk merchant had returned to Assisi after a business trip, to France, his wife, who was expecting her seventh child, had delivered and named him Giovanni. However, the father chose to call him Francesco (Frenchman) in view of his business success, in France.
As Francesco grew up, his fame as a mystic and healer, spread all over. He was canonised, within a short time of his death as St. Francis of Assissi and is today, considered among the greatest saints of the Catholic Church. Most newborns came to be known as Francesco, in his honour. There are eighty eight saints in the Catholic Church, as of now with that name, more than any other. Great saints like St Francis of Sales and St Francisco Xavier owe their name to him. And when Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio became the first Latin and first Jesuit Pope, he chose to call himself Pope Francis to honour him. Francesco (Franciscus in Italian, Francisco in Portuguese/Spanish, Francis in English) is now the commonest Christian name simply because the first Francesco (though an unofficial name) came to be a stalwart of the Church.
Fatima was the name of the last and most beloved daughter of Prophet Mohammed. And the name remained solely Muslim, until a century ago, then something happened, which has made it among a popular Catholic name. After Moorish rule over Portugal came to an end, a princess by that name, embraced Christianity and her county came to known as Fatima. Then in 1917, Lucia dos Santos, her cousins, Francisco and Jacinta Marto claimed to have witnessed an apparition of a lady dressed in white. The church certified it as a miracle and suddenly devotion to “Our Lady of Fatima” spread like wild fire. And so did the name Fatima.
Braz Alemao, since deceased, had visions of grandeur and he named his off springs after eminent persons, of the time. Thus we have Churchill, Roosevelt and Kennedy, late Ciabro named after a Portuguese judge and late Alvernaz after the then Archbishop of Goa. The odd man out is Joaquim, born after the death of his grandfather and named after him. The family tradition of naming eldest son after the grandfather has been continued by Joaquim whose eldest son is named Braz.
Winston Churchill and Adolf Hitler were sworn enemies and leaders of opposing forces during the Second World War. But in Goa things are always different. The Goan Churchill is an Alemao, (meaning German) which the original Churchill would certainly not countenance! But, the matters do not end there. Kennedy’s elder son is named Khrushchev. He must be the only person in the world who answers to the name Khrushchev son of Kennedy. We, definitely are a long way from the Cuban missile crisis! And Kennedy’s younger son is named Kruger. Thus the father and the two sons together constitute Goa’s KKK!
It was in September, 2014, that Chinese President Xi Jinping visited India and the news reader at Doordarshan read his name as Eleven Jinping ! She was immediately removed, from the list of news casters. Doordarshan is certainly, not unaccustomed to such a faux pas. The Children’s Day celebrations were on, in Patna, in the mid-eighties of the last century. The TV anchor seeing a bunch of enthusiastic students, called one of them to come forward and say something. One little boy, came forward and said aloud, “gully, gully mein shor hai, Rajiv Gandhi chor hai” (you hear in every nook that Rajiv Gandhi is a crook). It was a live telecast. All hell was let loose.
But another interesting incident took place in Goa, in my student days, in the late sixties or early seventies. Joachim Alva, the Congress leader and MP was on a tour of Goa. After finishing his assignments, he desired to leave for Delhi and proceeded to the Indian Airlines ticket office at Desh Prabhu’s, Panaji. Ticketing in those days was manual and even the concept ‘online’ did not exist. The Manager at the booking office, despite all entreaties, expressed his inability to provide him a ticket, as booking had closed. As Alva pleaded it was suggested that he could proceed to Dabolim Airport, where last minute tickets may be available, depending on vacancies. The manager helpfully told Alva, that he could say that Adolf has recommended him.
Alva made haste, crossed the ferry on priority and reached Dabolim sufficiently in time for the flight, which unfortunately was fully booked. No amount of pleading, could help. So, Alva finally said “but Adolf said you could help”. The Dabolim Manager of Desh Prabhu’s retorted “tell Adolf that Hitler said, no tickets”.
It was too much for the Congress leader, to take and a furore was raised, in the press. Immediately, inquiry was ordered and equally immediately closed. It transpired, that the Panaji Office manager of Desh Prabhu’s was indeed Adolf and the manager at Dabolim, was actually named Hitler. I believe, his name was Gaspar Hitler.
(Radharao F.Gracias is a
senior Trial Court Advocate.)
