On Sep 17, 10:47 am, willshak wrote:
on 9/16/2007 11:19 PM Jeff Wisnia said the following:

Has anyone seen an Indian (asian) phone book? How many are named Singh
(lion)?

--

Bill
In Hamptonburgh, NY
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Quote;

Q: Why do Sikh men have the last name Singh and all women, have the
last name Kaur?

A: Singh means a lion and Kaur means a princess. In Sikhism these
titles eliminate discrimination based on "family name" (which denotes
a specific caste) and reinforces that all Sikhs are sovereigns under
God.

This tradition started because through the last name one could
distinguish what (Hindu) caste you are from. Just by hearing the last
name they would say, "Oh, you are the lowest" or "Oh, you are the
middle" or "Oh, you are from high class". Thus the Guru eliminated the
last name from all the Sikhs so that no one could tell the caste and
achieved equality for all Sikhs. He gave Singh as a last name to all
the Sikh men and Kaur to all the Sikh women.

Women were not treated as equals before the time of the Gurus, and so
to ensure equality, a movement for women's liberation was started five
hundred years ago with the Sikh faith. The Guru said, "You are my
beloved princesses, my daughters. You must be respected. How can this
world be without you?" He admonished men for being rude and bad to
women. He said, "Without women this world cannot be. So give them
rights, give them equal respect.

" So the Sikh faith says that you must respect women. Previously, when
a woman would get married, she would take the last name of the family
she went to. Since Guru eliminated the name, he said, "You don't have
to take anybody else's name. You are an individual, you are a
princess, and you keep Kaur as your last name." It gave women a lot of
self-respect.

.................................................. .................................................. .....

In regard to equal rights for women sounds like a faith ahead of it's
time!

Rather like saying all Amuricans should take the name 'Yank' or
Canadians should take the name 'Beaver' (or Moose!) if/when they
become a confirmed Christian!
A recent fuss in Canada revolved around a misunderstanding that people
using Singh applying for immigration had to 'change' their names. This
was aggravated by a badly worded government letter. In fact applicants
are asked, to, as they do anyway when applying for a bank account,
credit card etc. to have or adopt a third name for better
identification purposes.

I live in a community where the first mayor was named Bill Manning.
There were also several other Bill (William) Mannings some with a
middle initial some without. So day to day the individuals had other
names, such as "Carry's (his mother) Bill" or "Bill Lower Sreet
Manning". etc.

So to all the John Smiths in the USA and Canada, watch out someone
doesn't steal your identity! :-)