Jhumpa Lahiri, the author of The Namesake, had her own struggles with her name while she was growing up. Her Bengali parents immigrated to London, where Lahiri was born, and then they moved to America when Lahiri was three years old. Lahiri began her schooling in Kingstown, Rhode Island:

Like her character Gogol, Lahiri experienced some confusion over her name when starting school. Her parents tried to enroll her using her “good” names—Nilanjana and Sudeshna—but the teacher insisted that those were too long, and opted instead for her pet name, Jhumpa. Lahiri notes that, “Even now, people in India ask why I’m publishing under my pet name instead of a real name” (Source: NEA Big Read).

Consider the importance of names in The Namesake and how Gogol’s evolving identification with and rejection of his name connect to his evolving cultural identity and his sense of belonging, whether in America or in India. Particularly, consider chapter 6 of the novel, which focuses on Gogol’s relationship with Maxine Ratliff and his closeness to her parents and their entire way of life. As he integrates more fully into Maxine’s world (as Nikhil), Gogol realizes that “his immersion in Maxine’s family is a betrayal of his own” (141).

Leave a response below in which you discuss how Gogol’s relationship with Maxine (and her parents) is affecting his evolving self-understanding and his cultural identity. Also discuss the ways in which your own name has contributed to your own identity and sense of belonging, whether at home, here in the US, or elsewhere. Do you adopt an “American name” in the US, for instance? If so, does this ever lead to feelings of a split identity like Gogol experiences?