What to name your kid

An international website recently, after an exhaustive study of names of film actors of the past 20 years, has come up with a guide to choose names for newborns that have the best odds of becoming successful film stars. According to the site, the names Christopher and Jennifer held the key, while J proved to be the most popular letter for both actors and actresses in Hollywood.

We thought why not do a similar research here and find out the ‘lucky’ names or alphabets. Bollywood’s fixation with names is well-known, so it is more relevant here. Our screen idols are known to add and drop alphabets from their name spelling as per numerology, to give them that little edge. And all that for a good reason too… While there is no denying that talent always shines, we cannot rule out Lady Luck, astrology and numerelogy etc.

This is what emerged: Some names and alphabets do have an edge over the others. The letters A (Amitabh, Akshay, Ajay and Anil) and K (Kapoor, Khan and Kumar) seems to work for celebrities. So naming your child with these alphabets may have an added advantage. What are the most conducive names to consider if you want your child to be a superstar someday? Read on to find out…

The K clan
A look at the names of the top most stars right since the 1940s reveals that while names are rarely ever repeated (except for Sanjay: Dutt, Kapoor, Suri, Khan Bhansali etc) the surnames Kapoor, Khan, Kumar are a permanent feature. Kumar has always been popular — Dilip, Rajender, Manoj, Pradeep, Raaj, Kishore and Akshay. Kapoor was almost dynastical until now — Prithviraj, Raj, Shashi, Rishi, Randhir, Shahid, Ranbir, Arjun, Anil, Sonam, Aditya Roy and Shraddha. Khans have all been part of the industry right from the 60s — Feroz, Sanjay, Shah Rukh, Aamir, Salman, Saif, and Fardeen. Every decade of the film industry has seen stars with one of these surnames. Blame it on the high Punjabi influx, but Chopra is yet another surname that seems to be a favoured one. Don’t want to change your child’s last name? Remember a guy called Harikrishna Giri Goswami became Manoj Kumar. Haribhai Jarivala became Sanjeev Kumar. Rajeev Bhatia changed his name to Akshay Kumar and stardom chased them all.

A and S are the luckiest!
When it comes to alphabets, names starting from A and S are extremely popular. Take a look at the current crop of ruling stars. Right from the senior most brigade to the newest hearththrobs...

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan
Amitabh Bachchan
Abhishek Bachchan
Akshay Kumar
Aamir Khan
Anil Kapoor
Arjun Kapoor
Arjun Rampal
Anushka Sharma
Ayushmann Khurrana
Ajay Devgn
Ashok Kumar
Amol Palekar
Akshaye Khanna
Ameesha Patel
Amrish Puri
Amrita Singh
Asha Parekh
Asin
Aditya Roy Kapur
Alia Bhatt
Amjad Khan
Anupam Kher
Anu Kapoor
Annu Malik
A R Rahman

The favoured letters
Saira Banu
Sarika
Sharmila Tagore
Sonali Bendre
Sohail Khan
Smita Patil
Shabana Azmi
Shah Rukh Khan
Suniel Shetty
Shilpa Shetty
Salman Khan
Sonakshi Sinha
Shatrughan Sinha
Saif Ali Khan
Sonam Kapoor
Siddharth Roy Kapoor
Sridevi
Sunil Dutt
Sanjay Dutt
Sanjeev Kumar
Sunny Deol
Shilpa Shetty
Sanjay Khan
Sushmita Sen
Sidharth Malhotra
Shilpa Shirodkar
Sunny Leone
Shraddha Kapoor
Sonu Sood
Sushant Singh Rajput
Shruti Haasan
Shekhar Kapur

Actors who changed names
Dilip Kumar – Yusuf Khan
Dev Anand – Devdutt Anand
Madhubala – Mumtaz Begum
Guru Dutt — Vasanth Kumar Shivashankar Padukone
Meenakumari — Mahjabeen Bano
Shammi Kapoor – Shamsher Raj Kapoor
Shashi Kapoor – Balbir Raj Kapoor
Rajesh Khanna – Jatin Khanna
Dharmendra – Dharam Singh Deol
Jeetendra – Ravi Kapoor
Sanjeev Kumar – Haribhai Jarivala
Rekha – Bhanurekha Ganesan
Rajinikanth – Shivaji Rao Gaekwad
Govinda – Govind Arun Ahuja
Mahima Chaudhary – Ritu
Katrina Kaif – Katrina Turquotte
Mallika Sherawat — Reema Lamba