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Singh is an ancient Indian vedic name meaning "Lion" (Asiatic Lion), dating back over 2000 years to ancient India. The tenth guru of Sikhism Guru Gobind Singh, made it mandatory for all Sikh males to use Singh as their second name, as described in this Sikh book. Guru Gobind Singh is the martial and spiritual father of all Sikh men. Sikhs had used the name hundreds of years before but the 10th Guru made it mandatory for all Sikh men without any exceptions. The Sikh references attached are a Sikh book and a Sikh study published about Sikhs and they shows it is used by over 10 million Sikhs worldwide. The references are a book and study published on the Sikh people .
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Etymology
Singh is derived from the Sanskrit Simha meaning "Lion". It is used throughout Northern India with various transliterations. For example, in Hindi (Devnagari script), the name is written as िसंह (Singh) and pronounced as िसघ (Singh). In Punjabi (Gurmukhi script), the name is written as ਸਿੰਘ (Singh) and pronounced as Singh. In Gujarati, it is spelled as Sinh.
Although it is common to call a lion and a tiger by the common name "Sher" (of Turko-Persian origin) in Northern India and Pakistan, most terms for the tiger in Indian tongues include Baagh (Hindi), Baaghaa (Bengali), Baghiyaad (Punjabi) and Vaagh (Gujarati and Marathi). All these are derived from the Sanskrit word for tiger, Vyaagraha.
'Singh' in Ancient Indian
"Singh" was an ancient Indian name for the lion (Asiatic Lion / Indian Lion), dating back over 2000 years.
The tenth guru of Sikhism Guru Gobind Singh, made it mandatory for all Sikh men,to use Singh as their second name, as described in this Sikh book. Every Sikh male has the name Singh, whilst the female equivalent is 'Kaur', meaning 'princess'.
Naming patterns
- As mentiones above sometimes, Singh is used as a middle name after the given name and followed by the clan/family name. For example, "Chandan Singh Kumar", "vikram singh pratap", "Natwar Singh", "hanuman Singh Khanna" etc (Pattern: 1. First name, 2. Singh, 3. family/clan name).
- One usage is the given name and Singh as the surname. For example, "Maharana SIngh", "Kishan Singh", "Raghubir Singh", "Mohan Singh" etc.
- It is important to note that whilst not all Singhs are Sikh, all Sikh males are Singhs. Similarly, all Sikh women are Kaur.
Singh in fiction
- The arch enemies of The Phantom are The Singh Brotherhood.
See also
- Singh means "Lion", the name comes from Asiatic Lions / Indian Lions which are now critically endangered, once found throughout south-west Asia and adjoining Europe the very last of this specie survive only in India today.
References
- Khushwant Singh, A History of the Sikhs, Volume I
- Dr. McCleod, Head of Sikh Studies, Department of South Asian Studies, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
- Dr. McCleod, Head of Sikh Studies, Department of South Asian Studies, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
- Khushwant Singh, A History of the Sikhs, Volume I
- Khushwant Singh, A History of the Sikhs, Volume I
- Khushwant Singh, A History of the Sikhs, Volume I.