What's In A Name

My full given name is Sarang Gupta. I have no middle name, although I've experimented with "D", "X" and "Q" as middle initials.

The Name: Sarang

My first name, Sarang, is a Hindu (Hindi is one of the languages of India) name that I was told roughly translates to "chiming of noontime bells". My parents chose this name probably because I was born at 12:15pm, although there may be another (sinister and as yet unrevealed) reason. Some of the links on this page have different etymologies of "Sarang". In particular, the word meaning "chiming of noontime bells" might actually be "Sarangi", and my name might just be a short form of this.

I pronounce my first name SIR-rang, which is, technically, incorrect. If you want to seriously annoy me, you can use the correct Hindu pronunciation, SAH-rung (audio forthcoming as soon as I can find someone who can pronounce it), but only my parents get to do this with impunity. I used to have a joke in here about how non-technical my parents were, but my Dad had an Internet-conected machine on his desk before I did, so the joke no longer applies! I've also been called Sir Wang, S-orangutan-g, and other variants. If I ever become a famous mad scientist, I want to be known as "So Wrong" Sarang.

is presumably the way to write my name in Hindi.

On Valentine's Day, I was always depressed because those candy white hearts never had my name on them. At least this one comes close!

I thought Sarang was a fairly rare name (even for someone from India), but the Indian Air Force named their helicopter formation display team "Sarang", so maybe not. Until a few years ago, I didn't know any other people with my first name, but through the power of Internet search engines and email, I found...

There's also a guy with my first name as his last name, Sandro C. Sarang; his sister is Sunitta Sarang. Sandro also knows another, unrelated, "Ms. Trupti Sarang" at the University of Texas. The CD "Rare Artists- Rare Ragas" (with Swapan Chaudhuri on tabla) includes the raga "Mia Ki Sarang". I don't know what either a tabla or a raga is, but this sounded interesting. The name "Sarang" is mentioned (as a tiger) in an episode of the TV series "Wild, Wild West". (If anyone has more info on the episode in which my name is mentioned, please contact me!). If you're ever near London, you might visit the Sarang Indian Restaurant, listed on Vegetarian Cafes & Restaurants in the North East [of London]

Roger A. Caras wrote a book entitled Sarang: The Story of a Bengal Tiger and of Two Children in Search of a Miracle, and the title character is named after a real-life tiger. Here are some scans taken from the Reader's Digest condensed edition of this book, with more information about Roger A Caras and Sarang.

"Sarang" is the Korean word for "love". Consequently, there are a few Korean web servers with "sarang" in their names, for example this one. "Sarang" is also the Malaysian word for "nest". You can come up with your own joke about "love nest". :)

On the English front, "Sarang" can be re-arranged to spell "gas ran", and sarangousty means "waterproof stucco". I'm not quite sure how to feel about that.

According to the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency's (NGA) GEOnet Names Server (GNS), there are 180 place names that start w/"Sarang" (including cases like "Poelau Sarangaloe" where the 2nd word starts w/ "Sarang", but not including cases like "Besaranggi" or "Kasarangan" where "sarang" just appears inside a word-- also, repeats are only listed once [eg, there are several populated places called "Sarangwala, Punjab, Pakistan", but I only list it once below]). Ordered by country, these are: (click a name to do a google search on that name -- this isn't 100% accurate and may lead to 0 results):

If you search iTunes for "Sarang", you'll get these 35 hits (this includes songs, artists, or albums with "Sarang" in them):
SongArtistAlbum
brindhavi sarang Various Artists CCCC IV
Chali Re Chali Main Asha Bhosle, Sudesh Kumar, Jaishri Gadkar Saranga
Daiya Re Daiya Ek Lata Mangeshkar, Chorus, Sudesh Kumar, Jaishri Gadkar Saranga
Gaud Sarang Bhimsen Joshi Gaud Sarang
Haan Diwana (revival) Mukesh, Sudesh Kumar, Jaishri Gadkar Saranga
Haan Diwana Hoon Mukesh, Sudesh Kumar, Jaishri Gadkar Saranga
Kadiravan Gunadisai - Pasuram - Tondaradippodi Alwar - Rangapura Vihara - Brindavana Saranga - Rupakam - Muttusvami Diksita Aruna Sairam Sri Ranganattawami Temple: Ksetra Srirangam
Kese Kese (Where's the Sarangi Mix) DJ Cheb i Sabbah Maha Maya: Shri Durga Remixed
Kheyal In Gour Sarang Ali Akbar Khan Legacy
Koi Ghar Aayega Lata Mangeshkar, Chorus, Sudesh Kumar, Jaishri Gadkar Saranga
Lagi Tumse Lagan Lata Mangeshkar, Mukhesh, Sudesh Kumar, Jaishri Gadkar Saranga
Likh de Piya Ka Naam Suman Kalyanpur, Sudesh Kumar, Jaishri Gadkar Saranga
Na Ja Mere Saath Mohd. Rafi, Chorus, Sudesh Kumar, Jaishri Gadkar Saranga
Piya Kaise Miloon Lata Mangeshkar, Mohd. Rafi, Sudesh Kumar, Jaishri Gadkar Saranga
Raga Madhumad Sarang Prabhakar Karekar Eastern Soul
Raga Shuddh Sarang Kumar Gandharva Raga Shuddh Sarang
Raga Shudha Sarang Ustad Vilayat Khan Raga Shudha Sarang
Raga Shudha Sarang-jalad Ustad Vilayat Khan Raga Shudha Sarang-jalad
Sada Saranga Aruna Sairam Madhurasmriti - A Trail Of Nectar
Sada Saranga Nayane M. S. Subbulakshmi Sada Saranga Nayane
Sarang Jolly Mukherjee & Madras Cinematic Orchestra Fusebox
Saranga Teri (revival) Mukesh, Sudesh Kumar, Jaishri Gadkar Saranga
Saranga Teri Yaad Mein Mukesh, Sudesh Kumar, Jaishri Gadkar Saranga
Saranga Teri Yaad Mein Mohd. Rafi, Sudesh Kumar, Jaishri Gadkar Saranga
Sarangi Hooverphonic A New Stereophonic Sound Spectacular
Sarangi. Raga Mishra Khammaj Tala Dipachandi North Indian Classical Music Anthology of World Music: North Indian Classical Music
Shaant Paa-Ee Gur Satigur Pooray (Raga Brindabani Sarang) Corina Bartra (Amar Kaur) Chants from the Seeds of Bliss
Shuddh Sarang Bade Ghulam Ali Khan Shuddh Sarang
Shuddh Sarang Kesarbai Kerkar Shuddh Sarang
Shuddh Sarang Sharafat Hussain Khan Shuddh Sarang
Shuddh Sarang Bhimsen Joshi Shuddh Sarang
Shuddh Sarang Bade Ghulam Ali Khan Shuddh Sarang
Shudha Sarang G.S.Sachdev/Zakir Hussain Flights of Improvisation
Sivaperumaan Kirubai M. K. Thyagaraja Bhagavathar Naveena Sarangadhara
Vasantha Mullai Pole T. M. Sounderarajan, Sivaji Ganeshan Sarangadhara

An Internet Movie Database (IMDB) search for Sarang turns up a few interesting hits, but nothing really spectacular(?).

If you have an alternate pronunciation of "Sarang", requested info about either of my names, or, if you just have a silly name and want to start a "people with silly names" home page, please send email to sarang@sarangworld.com.

The name: Gupta

My last name Gupta is a fairly common Hindu surname. According to the 1990 US Census, Gupta is the 6,863rd most common name in the United States, and 0.002% of the U.S. population has this last name. Approximately 1/3rd of all people have last names less common than Gupta. It is pronounced GOOP-tah (not gupp-TAH), and, unlike my first name, I can pronounce it correctly. To the best of my knowledge, I am not related to anyone at Gupta Corporation, creator and distributor of client/server database products. I fancy myself a descendant of the Gupta Empire, but there's no evidence to support this contention. In middle and high school, people sometimes called me "guppy". Because of the commonality of my last name, I'm thinking about dropping it and just using my first name (Sarang), following the lead of Cher, Madonna, Jackee', Sinbad, and so forth.

In the 156th episode (Season 7, Episode 12) of the television show Frasier, Daphne says that "Dr. Naran S. Gupta, D.D.S." ("Naran S." being a near anagram of my firstname!) has lost her business for sending an Xmas card late (to which Martin quips "losing a set of English teeth... he'll feel that." Interestingly, an earlier episode of Frasier (the 153rd episode [Season 7, Episode 9]) refers Frasier's plan to create "Frasierland". We first think Frasierland is an amusement park, but it's then revealed to be a website that Fraiser plans to create. This was similar to my thinking in naming Sarangworld.

NGA's GNS lists 14 "Gupta" placenames, same caveats as for the "Sarang list" above:

iTunes lists 25 hits for "Gupta": (as above, "hits" just means "results"-- I don't mean that these songs are all in the Top 40 [though they should be!])
SongArtistAlbum
Aaj Iski Hai To Shankar Das Gupta, Chorus, Balraj Sahni, Usha Kiran Dil Bhi Tera Hum Bhi Tere
Aaji Je Rajani Jay Swagatalakshmi Das Gupta Aaji Je Rajani Jay
Aao Bachcho Tumhe Pradeep, Chorus, Abhi Bhattacharya, Pranoti Ghosh, Bipin Gupta Jagriti
Agaman (recitation) Swagatalakshmi Das Gupta Agaman (recitation)
Amar Diner Sesh [reci] Swagatalakshmi Das Gupta Amar Diner Sesh [reci]
Ami Swapane Royechi Swagatalakshmi Das Gupta Ami Swapane Royechi
Andhar Rate Ekla Swagatalakshmi Das Gupta Andhar Rate Ekla
Aranya Kand Mukesh, Vani Jairam, Pushpa Pagdhare, Kamala Sista, Pradeep Chaterjee, Surendranath Gupta Tulsi Ramayan Vol 3
Baisakher Ei Bhorer Swapan Gupta Baisakher Ei Bhorer
Bhul Bhange [recitation] Swagatalakshmi Das Gupta Bhul Bhange [recitation]
Diner Pare Din Je Swagatalakshmi Das Gupta Diner Pare Din Je
Ghora Rajani Swagatalakshmi Das Gupta Ghora Rajani
Gupta's Deliverance John Williams The Terminal (Soundtrack from the Motion Picture)
Hare Re Re Re Kanan Devi, Sachin Gupta Hare Re Re Re
Hum Laye Hain Toofan Mohd. Rafi, Abhi Bhattacharya, Pranoti Ghosh, Bipin Gupta Jagriti
Jabo Na Jabo Na Manju Gupta Jabo Na Jabo Na
Ki Korili Moher Chhalane Swagatalakshmi Das Gupta Ki Korili Moher Chhalane
Na Bole Jeyo Na Swagatalakshmi Das Gupta Na Bole Jeyo Na
Nirab Rajani Dakho Swagatalakshmi Das Gupta Nirab Rajani Dakho
Ok Ke Bandhibi Ke Swagatalakshmi Das Gupta Ok Ke Bandhibi Ke
Rajanir Sesh Tara Swagatalakshmi Das Gupta Rajanir Sesh Tara
Rater Gari Swagatalakshmi Das Gupta Rater Gari
Sabare Baasre Bhalo Manju Gupta Sabare Baasre Bhalo
Tamasa Chhailo Jibane Swagatalakshmi Das Gupta Tamasa Chhailo Jibane
Tumi Nei Sudhu Ei Sachin Gupta Tumi Nei Sudhu Ei

An Internet Movie Database (IMDB) search for Gupta turns up a few interesting hits. Nothing really spectacular, but:

The IMDB search engine doesn't search character names, so misses:

Last modified stardate: 20070609.123525

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