[hemanth.anand]

Originally Posted by Samurai

It will be very hard to come up with names that are acceptable across the whole country. What sounds beautiful in one language may be incomprehensible in another language. Keep in mind we don't have one language that is understood in the whole country. Only English comes close.

Although I understand your case that in our country there may be opposition for even such small things, I don't think finding an "acceptable" name is that difficult.
Languages may differ, but almost all our languages originate from Sanskrit and so there will be so many beautiful words which mean the same is most languages.
The immediate example that comes to my mind is "Agni"

Originally Posted by bobbafett

Pride comes when one is devoid of inferiority towards ones identity as well as towards ones work

Well said!
Your entire post is as crisp as it can get

Originally Posted by ganesc

Rajdhani and shatabdi that somehow sounds royal (I don't know Hindi and its meaning though).

Rajdhani means 'Capital-of the Kingdom/coountry' and 'Shatabdi' means Century/Centenary

Originally Posted by wilful

I don't think naming cars in Hindi or Tamil or Oriya would make the slightest difference to the fortunes of the product or our national pride. if a product is good, priced well and marketed sensibly, it will sell well. That we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.

True...No one will contest this point here

Another thing that came to my mind is that Indian names will atleast be easy to pronounce for many people instead of many foreign names.
Many people can't even pronounce their own car names!
for example 50% of the guys say "Shift" for "Swift", and so many people pronounce Hyundai Accent as "as.sent" instead of "Ak.sent"
Also I've seen two pronunciations of Punto- "Poon.to" and "Pahn.to" the former being the correct one

On a lighter note, when Apple Inc. can give an Indian name to their flagship tablet , why can't Indian Automotive OEMs?
Wondering what...its iPad Mini or iPadmini

[vb-saan]

Of the international lot, I believe only Italians come up with very local names. And the names sound pretty sweet too.
Otherwise the names are pretty generic, even for cars originating from countries with severe language barriers (e.g. Japanese). And some manufacturers like VW source names from across the world. Considering their affinity to synonyms of wind, I won’t be surprised if a future model goes by the name VW Hawa

[S2!!!]

Originally Posted by vb-san

Of the international lot, I believe only Italians come up with very local names. And the names sound pretty sweet too.
Otherwise the names are pretty generic, even for cars originating from countries with severe language barriers (e.g. Japanese). And some manufacturers like VW source names from across the world. Considering their affinity to synonyms of wind, I won’t be surprised if a future model goes by the name VW Hawa

Fair point. However Italians use the names with a lot of pride which automatically gives it that cool quotient which the rest of the world is in awe of. Having said that I think Indian names too can be cool if used the correct way, for example, 'Pantaloons' is a brilliant amalgamation of a Hindi word and an English word.

All we need now is an auto company to launch a brilliant product and give it an Indian/ 'Indian-ised' name, the rest will follow seeing its success. Its just a matter of time

[thoma]

Not to forget the Shaktiman trucks which have served us indirectly.

Apart, I don't see much sense in 'why not desi names', when the majority of us are after foreign cars and other things foreign.

[DCEite]

Originally Posted by hemanth.anand

Although I understand your case that in our country there may be opposition for even such small things, I don't think finding an "acceptable" name is that difficult.
Languages may differ, but almost all our languages originate from Sanskrit and so there will be so many beautiful words which mean the same is most languages.
The immediate example that comes to my mind is "Agni"

With my limited knowledge, i can only think of Hindi, Kannada, Telegu and Oriya to have somewhat common words from Sanskrit.

Languages like Tamil/Malyalam/Manipuri/Kashmiri.. i don't think have anything in common to Sanskrit.

Pls correct me if i am wrong.

[Latheesh]

Originally Posted by DCEite

Languages like Tamil/Malyalam/Manipuri/Kashmiri.. i don't think have anything in common to Sanskrit.

Pls correct me if i am wrong.

Even Malayalam is based and derivatives of Sanskrit.
Tamil has no relation to Sanskrit I think

[Samurai]

None of the southern languages are derived from Sanskrit, some of them have borrowed words from it.

[prashanthyr]

I had tweeted about this to Tata Motors in Sep 2013, for which I got a 'Thank you for your feedback' response. Fundamentally, I believe the fascination with Indian names will come the minute a 'foreign' maker introduces a product with an Indian name. That can potentially turn the tide.

[srishiva]

Its amusing to read couple of above posts and see that we dont know much about our own languages ! We are also doubly interested in learning foreign languages compared to our own (Indian) ones.

I guess Sanskrit words would be generally acceptable across country. Also, if someone gives a regional name on a good car, it should not be a problem and I am sure people will not avoid buying it just because its based on a regional language word.

[prokinetic]

So, there are people who get the same thoughts.

Just for the sake of fun, I sometimes think if Indica was named Tata Bharti. If Fiat had launched the Bindu and Rekha.

Nothing wrong in the Indian names. The market leader very gracefully carries a name derived from the Sanskrit word "Marut", meaning wind.

[VeluM]

Originally Posted by prokinetic

Nothing wrong in the Indian names. The market leader very gracefully carries a name derived from the Sanskrit word "Marut", meaning wind.

Agree with you that there is nothing wrong with Indian names, but some of the ones chosen just don't sound right.

The numerous languages and derivatives would make it just another name to some people, while it might mean something completely else to others. Efforts to name products in the local language have caused a lot of trouble in the past, as several words with a slightly different pronunciation can have a completely different meaning. For example (although not intended to be in Hindi) the Skoda Laura, and why most north Indians find that name funny.

Separately, Maruti is the other name of Hanuman, who is the son of Marut, the God of Wind. It is not the Sanskrit word for Wind, though.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maruti

[RadiantKarma]

Sanskrit base can offer a very large number of good words for car models that most folks anywhere in India can easily identify with. As a matter of fact, that is not even relevant, for how many really know and care what Santro, Ertiga, Innova, Punto, Brio, Etios, Celerio mean. And what about i10, i20, SX4 et al?!

As many have pointed out, it's all about our positive mental association with most things phoren. And this trend is not limited to Auto Industry. Sample these successful desi owned brands unabashedly sporting phoren sounding tags in another industry:

Louise Philippe
Van Heusan
Allen Solly
Park Avenue
Peter England
Monte Carlo
Provogue
Flying Machine
..........
..........

Look around some more, and the list is endless...

[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by RadiantKarma

it's all about our positive mental association with most things phoren. And this trend is not limited to Auto Industry. Sample these successful desi owned brands unabashedly sporting phoren sounding tags in another industry:

Louis Philippe
Van Heusen
Allen Solly
Park Avenue
Peter England
Monte Carlo
Provogue
Flying Machine
..........
..........
Look around some more, and the list is endless...

Correct as far as the "aspirational cues" associated with "Phoren sounding" names is concerned.

This is also why until quite recently, aspirational brands used to use "Foreign" Models.

Then suddenly it got turned on its head with the adage, Think Global and Act Local, which caused even International Brands to start using local faces.

[shipnil]

I was thinking of other countries who also do not name their cars in their local languages. I think even the Japanese or Korean manufacturers do not name all their cars in Japanese or Korean. Exceptions similar to Mahindra Thar would always be there in case of them too.

[sgiitk]

Not only linguistic diversity but also snobbery of many kinds. The world seems to like Italian or Spanish names.