On the Charms of Silk Smitha

There was this lady from Elluru
Who wanted to be known even in Bengaluru
To stand out from her ilk
She changed her name to Silk
And ever since she’s escaped from Obscure-ru

Silk Smitha is dead and so long gone. But her sensuous name lives on. In the jealous hearts of wannabe vamps and the erogenous zones of repressed men. For an enchantress born as Vijaylakshmi, that’s no mean achievement.

I am of the opinion that a large chunk of Voluptuous Vijaylakshmi’s oomph factor flows from her alliterative name. Without the satin cadence of repeating consonants, our lady, would never have been the It Girl of India. Namers of yore have, had an inkling, about the mystic power of alliterations on public memory. Perhaps that’s why Charles Dickens wrote a romantic novel titled Nicholas Nickleby.

If you don your thinking cap, you’ll realise, this naming strategy has been used and abused by men and women from all walks of life. Ben Lyon, the 20th Century Fox executive leveraged it brilliantly when he met a young actress, way back in 1946. With a blonde bombshell look and a name like Norma Jeane Dougherty, he felt the actress might end up as a Jean Harlow me-too. So he renamed her Marilyn Monroe, as it had a nice flow and ring to it. And how right was Ben.

Somehow Shakespeare didn’t think so highly of consonant callisthenics. I am yet to come across a major character of the Bard with an alliterative name. But clearly the world doesn’t share his view. Turn the pages of history and you’ll discover: Charlie Chaplin, Harry Houdini, Janet Jackson, Donald Duck, Mike Myers, Ozzy Osbourne, Pablo Picasso, Ronald Reagan, Hugh Hefner…I can go on and on.

The fascination for phonemic tautology is most rampant in Tamil Nadu. Aren’t we all guilty of coining such cheesy names as Mokkai Mohan, Lord Labak Das, Revolver Rita, Gapsa Gopi, Balaji Bajji, Sarakku Santha, and Jalsa Jaya? Strangely, no local brand has tapped into this insight to sex up their name. May be it’s time they studied Velvette Vani & Lycra Latha!