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arya

Wednesday, April 13, 2005

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!

posted by arya at 8:53 PM

7 Comments:

  • Arya, I am so Proud of u...
    keep this running and updated, its important for every body to know who we are and where we're comming from.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 4/29/2005 02:30:00 PM  

  • Awesome - another blogger! And such a cute picture too! :)

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 5/11/2005 04:20:00 PM  

  • Welcome Arya! I look forward to some fun content:)

    By Blogger Jon Whitelaw, at 5/11/2005 07:30:00 PM  

  • Hey, how about some of your take on some iranian news that we might not get exposed to...

    Like Iran refusing to investigate the torture and murder of the Canadian reporter, or the presidential elections, of the continuation of nuclear programs (peaceful or non-peaceful), or perhaps the new decision in kuwait to allow women to vote (a right iranian woman have had for quite some time).

    Iran has been getting a lot of bad press, I think a blog entry about the lifestyle, way of life, misperceptions would be a wicked idea! :)

    By Blogger Jon Whitelaw, at 5/18/2005 12:06:00 AM  

  • interesting man!

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 6/21/2005 10:02:00 PM  

  • How interesting, thanks for sharing that.... haha I wasn't planning to stop there. I always wondered how Persia became Iran, thanks for the historical update. Unfortunately my name only goes so far as meaning spring so it must be really cool to have a name with so much history behind it. Great blog!

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 7/12/2005 12:17:00 AM  

  • Just wanted to bring to your attention that Arya can also be a last name in India - sometimes even a first name. Arya in the sanskrit language really means a good person , sometimes Kings will be referred to as Arya. It is pronounced 'Ar'(say the letter R) + 'ya' (where 'a' soudns like the article 'a' not as in the 'a' in father). it is indeed a lovely name with different meanings depending on the language\place it comes from .

    Just thought this info might be interesting to you !!

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 1/10/2006 02:30:00 PM  

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