If you went on the Google home page today, you’d have to rub your eyes and wonder whether you were still on Planet Earth. Google has been renamed Topeka! Then you realize – right, its April 1 and this is Google’s idea of an April Fools’ Day prank. As you must remember, some days back the city of Topeka in Kansas did Google the supreme honor of actually renaming itself Google and this has so touched this Jagannath of all internet activity that it decided to change its world-famous name to Topeka – for a day!
“Early last month the mayor of Topeka, Kansas stunned the world by announcing that his city was changing its name to Google. We’ve been wondering ever since how best to honor that moving gesture. Today we are pleased to announce that as of 1AM (Central Daylight Time) April 1st, Google has officially changed our name to Topeka,” notes Eric Schmidt, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Google –er – I mean Topeka. You can read the whole post here
Cities aside, parents have often named their children after famous and illustrious people. I remember there was a rash of Indiras, even in Russia, when Indira Gandhi was prime minister of India, and I’m sure the Obama presidency has led to a lot of baby Baracks. There are also lots of children named India, and there is no dearth of Tiffanys, after the famous jewelry store. Indian parents, though, have generally named their children after Hindu Gods and Goddesses.
How come enterprising and pushy Indian parents haven’t thought of naming their offspring Google in order to curry favor with the Google Gods? Wouldn’t it move some hearts in human resources, if a job applicant at Google was named Google?
Gogul Balakrishnan, a computer science researcher at NEC Laboratories America, Princeton, NJ, has had his name often confused with Google. “People mispronounce my name all the time,” he says. “When I introduce myself to a non-Indian, they ask me if my name is like “Google.” Also, Google is one of my nicknames among my friends.”
Since he was born long before Google, how did he get a name like Gogul, which sounds like that of the Russian writer Gogol in the movie ‘Namesake.’ He says, “It is an Indian name. As you know, Lord Krishna is also called Gokul. My parents simply used a different spelling. When I asked my mom why I was named Gogul, she told me that she was inspired by the name of one of the famous talcum powders in India: Gokul Santol. But, I am pretty sure she was pulling my leg.”
Well, there is someone whose name comes pretty close to Google phonetically, and that is Gokul Rajaram – and look how far he got at Google! He was the Product Management Director at Google, and hailed by Fortune magazine as ‘one of the Godfathers of Adsense.’ He is now Director at Associated Content and Tumri, advisor to Canoe Ventures and Coupons Inc., and CEO at Chai Labs.
No research has been done on this but names similar to Google may be having similar, successful outcomes. So instead of investing in an Ivy League education, parents-to-be should think about naming their kids Google. If Topeka can get world-wide fame with its name change, so can you!
