what a cool name!

i often get asked where my name comes from and what its meaning is. my parents named me after the race of the iranian people. aryans were the ancestors of present-day persians - the ethnic majority in iran - and to me the name is a reminder of how unique iranians are.

for as long as i can remember and as far back as i've been told by friends and relatives, iranians have tried to distinguish themselves from others. even around 500 b.c. an inscription was made in the old city of persepolis - home of the once great persian empire - by its greatest emperor at the height of his power:

I am Darius the great King... A Persian, son of a Persian, an Aryan, having Aryan lineage...

ethnically, today's iranians are closest to afghans and indians, sharing the same language family and ancestral origins. as irony would have it however, they are mistaken for arabs because most are muslim and live in a predominantly arab region. the reality is that iranian language, food, art and culture, history, and to some extent religion - shia and sunni - are considerably different than those of arabs.

the nazi party of germany tainted the name of the aryan race - along with the swastika - by deceptively using it to describe a blond, blue-eyed master race of nordic origin. most anthropologists today would agree that descendants of the aryan race are iranians and not germans. pure aryans are best described as pre-muslim persians - white persians living in today's iran, before the invasion of arab armies.

in more modern times, iran's famous king - mohammad reza shah pahlavi - proclaimed himself aryamehr, or light of the aryans. iranians want to be known as aryans, and the belief is something that lives on in the people even to this day in the name of their country. when reza shah pahlavi - mohammad reza's father - renamed persia to iran in 1935, it served as another reminder that iranians were aryans, and their country was to be known as the land of the aryans.

thanks mom and dad, for giving me such a cool, unique and meaningful name!