Karava ‘Ge’ Names

The ‘Ge’ names of the Karava explained. 

The institution of the ‘Ge’ name is somewhat slowly disappearing from the naming conventions of the Sri Lankan society. Western influences that started with the Portuguese, has made steady inroads to most aspects of the culture and society. The naming conventions too have gradually changed over time and have now adopted a more westernized, surname based convention. The ‘Ge’ name or Pelapath name is hardly seen beyond the confines of a Birth Certificate or an Identity Card. In today’s cosmopolitan society, the caste too is very rarely spoken about and the Ge names, in most cases are abbreviated to a set of initials. In some cases the original Ge name is now used as a Surname.

The traditional belief amongst most people is that the ‘Ge’ name means something similar to ‘from the house of’ and indicated their family lineage and/or the birthplace. Although correct to an extent, the Ge names in use today are an end product of the range of complex social situations and functions. The names may encompass the kind of services performed by the families, their place of origin, titles given by the kings or in some cases the clan divisions amongst a caste. The Ge name may also be indicative of the status within the caste.

The baptismal rites and the tombo registrations introduced by colonial administrators changed the low country naming standards forever. The rules (with their associated naming conventions) gave certain advantages even to the non-Christian communities in the possession of lands and in joining a public career. Because of these reason even Buddhists and Hindus converted to Christianity in order to acquire a civil distinction. The officers or men of higher stature especially of Karave and Salagama casts acquired European names as they were close to the administrators. Prefixes such as Don or Dom were used in the Portuguese era to signify the high status of a person. Members of the Goigama castes preferred to use the traditional naming patterns. Whereas personal names changed significantly under European influence, the Ge names lived on relatively unchanged.

Components of a Name:

In days gone by, the name of a person consisted of three distinct sections.

The first was the name given to him on birth and in later years corresponds to a name given at baptism. These may be a pet name or may indicate some characteristic of the child such as the appearance, color of skin, or his place in the family among the brothers and sisters. These names varied much between the different social strata and casts. The names given by the colonial administrators on baptism, were biblical in origin.

The second part of the personal name was known as vasagama, or ge name. This was the family name and corresponds to the surname. It also frequently denotes the name of the lineage or the ancestral or pelapath name. This name was given to a family according to the service or rajakariya they performed in the past. Vasagama is the name of the village where the person resided. So this part of the name usually carries the name of the lineage and the services performed by his ancestors. When a person was awarded with patabendi nama his wasagama took the secondary position.

The third part of the name Patabendi name, was conferred to a person either by the Singhalese King or by the Portuguese or the Dutch Governor in appreciation of the recipient’s remarkable service or brave deed. The Sinhala Kings very often used the term patabendi, when they awarded honorific title to a native chief along with a head ornament or frontlet. Award of these titles was taxed and contributed considerably to the revenue of the state.

Some of the Patabendi names with their loose translations, are listed below:

The patabendi name was used by the awarded to substitute his wasagama which became a practice after the Portuguese times. Some of the familiar examples are Silva, Perera, Mendis, Soysa and Fonseka. The term patabendi was misspell by the Portuguese as well as by the Dutch and recorded as patagatljn. The Dutch at a subsequent time used the term patangatijn to refer to the chief of the Karava cast. The patabendi name was perpetuated, becoming an inheritable family name. This in later years it has also become common surnames.

The distinct sections of the name as described above, is clearly visible in some of the ancestral names reproduced in the genealogical charts of this site. The names such as Godwin Jacob de Fonseka Samarawickrama Arsekularatne and Percy Augustus Mendis Jayawardene etc demonstrates these components.

Karava ‘Ge’ names:

Some of the main categories of Karava Ge names are listed below. Within each of these categories are its extended forms. Where available a brief explanation of the meaning of the ‘Ge’ name has also been provided.

The Ge names analyzed above could be found amongst a majority of the Karava population. But along the littoral from Negombo to Chilaw and up to Kalutara, a section of the Karava has adopted a threefold clan division of Kurukulasuriya, Mihindukulasuriya and Varunakulasuriya. These people use the clan name as a prefix to their personal names and have not adopted the Singhalese system of Ge names. The De Fonseka families belonged to the Varunakulasuriya clans and used the clan name Varnakula Aditya Arasa Nila Yitta. Under greater Singhalese acculturation, Ge names seem gradually to have replaced these clan designations but many a Ge name, still bears traces of this earlier clan organisation. This is clearly evident in the De Fonseka families as the earlier clan name of ‘Varnakula Aditya Arasa Nila Yitta’, in later years was shortened to Varnage.

Other ‘Ge’ names and their meanings:

Bibliography:

        RAGHAVAN, M. D., The Karava of Ceylon – Society and Culture, K. V. G. de Silva, 1961.
        WEERASURIYA, A. S. F., Kurukula Charithaya II, Sujatha Press, 1960.
        PARANAVITANA, K. D., Land for Money – Dutch Land Registration in Sri Lanka, Sridevi 2001.