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Comment by gumby | Hacker News Reader

That was probably his whole name. The IBM Fellow Mohan sometimes adds an initial “C” to avoid this kind of confusion (“C Mohan”)

Also see https://www.kalzumeus.com/2010/06/17/falsehoods-programmers-... , for example item 20

Even in Europe, surnames weren’t that common until a fashion for or wave of surname assignments spread from the mid 19th century into the 1920s.

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Arvind Mithal:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arvind_(computer_scientist)

Some surnames of people seem to be based on the names of the traditional occupations of their ancestors.

Examples:

English or British origin people:

Carpenter, Miller, Fisher, Tailor, Weaver, Smith, Cooper, etc.

This happens in some other countries too. E.g.:

India:

Munim, Vakil, Gavli, Engineer, something-vala or -walla (this last one for Parsis, typically), Pandit, Kulkarni, Shimpi, etc.

The best example I know for India is a Dr. Devika Icecreamwala, who is not an ice cream seller but a dermatologist. (It's her married name; she was born Patel, which is about as boring as you can get for an Indian surname.)

I give you Sir Cowasji Jehangir Readymoney

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cowasji_Jehangir_Readymoney

I prefer the Indian singer Kunal Ganjawala. Also shoutout to the Tobaccowalas and Daruvalas!

Best one that I have heard of is Sodabottleopenerwala.

Not sure if it's made up or real.

That’s a restaurant chain that serves Parsi food afaik! Like a modernized Brittania. I remember that they hired mostly hearing impaired wait staff and have instructions for interacting with them. It’s a really cool concept and the food is good too.

Interesting. Where is the chain, in Mumbai?

And is Brittania the name of a Parsi restaurant?

I’ve been to one in Delhi and Gurgaon. I think there’s one in Mumbai. Brittania is one of thr OG Parsi spots still open in Mumbai.

Lots of German ones too.

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Category:German_surnames_from...

I scanned all responses to see if someone had posted this link! One of the great blog posts about the intersection between computer science and humanity.

Item 40 is the best one. Of course, the majority of items on this list will create problems in society long before they are an issue with computer systems.

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