In general, when a man receives a name derived from a village or other place, the village or place is one belonging to his own clan. Names may be derived from ti places as well as from ordinary villages, of which Makars (10) and Pursas (42) are examples.
The special feature of interest about these sources of nomenclature is that personal names may thus preserve records of the past, and a full investigation of the genealogies from this point of view might bring to light the names of many other villages now extinct.
Names are also derived from dairies, buffalo-pens, stones, and other objects of the village; thus Tarziolv, the special name of the kudrpali of Kars, is borne by a member of the Karsol (15), and Tilipa (12) is probably a corruption of Tilipoh. A boy of Nidrsi is named Punatu (43) after the buffalo-pen of his village, and the men called Agar (7), Pepners (44), and Persinkudr (16), have received names connected with the operations of the dairy.
The names of stones occur in the examples Menkars (10) and Mutchud (45). Several men are named after the sacred bells, or mani, of which examples are Nalani (35), Kerani (35), Pongg (47), while Mudriners (57) is named after Mudrani, one of the patatmani of Kiudr. The name of Eshkiaguln of Kars (8) is very much like that of one of the bells of Nidrsi, Eshkiakudr, and in one case a man is called Maniners (62).
The kwarzam of the prayers form a frequent source of personal names. Thus the name of Puthion (64) occurs in the last clause of the Kuudr prayer, and no less than six men take their names, either directly or with some modifications, from the Kiudr prayer; these are Kil, Erai, Etamudri, Kwelthipush from Kwelpushol, Kishkar from Arsvishkars, and Keikudr, who was also called Parvakudr, derived from [[622]]another kwarzam of this prayer. In one of these cases the name is taken from the kwarzam with so much modification that I should not have guessed its derivation if I had not been told; and if this extensive modification is frequent, there may be many more names derived from kwarzam than appears to be the case at first sight.
The names of deities are not uncommonly adopted as personal names; the chief examples being Nòtirzi (47), Meilitars (44), Teipakh (20), Etepi (26), Karzo (12), Pòrzo (4), and Pakhwar (16). Two people are also called Tevò (3 and 53), which is a corruption of Teipakh, and a boy is called Kòdrthokutan (43). In many cases men are named after hills, of which Drugevan (40), Kòdrner (7), and Mopuvan[2] (16) are examples, and it is not improbable that these hills are also provided with deities. Two of the instances given above are the names of river-gods, and there is also a man, Palpa (16), named after the stream by which Kwoten met the goddess Terkosh. Punatvan (53) is named after one of the personages in the story of Kwoto. Among these names it is noteworthy that Nòtirzi, the name of a female deity, is borne by a man, and that there is no instance in which a man is named after one of the three ancient and important deities, Pithi, Ön, and Teikirzi.
This use of the names of deities as personal names seems to point to the absence of any high degree of reverence for the divine beings. The Todas are by no means free from the ideas of danger and disrespect connected with the utterance of names; and if their gods still received any great degree of veneration, I think it is improbable that their names would be allowed to be in everyone’s mouth, as must be the case when used as personal names. It is possible that this use of the names of deities is recent; it is certainly more frequent at the present time than in the older generations recorded in the genealogies, and I strongly suspect that the practice adds another indication to those already given of the decay of the religious sentiment of the Todas.
It seems to be extremely rare for persons to have the same [[623]]names as buffaloes. There is only one doubtful example in the genealogies, Kerani (35). This is also the name of a bell, and I am doubtful whether it is really a buffalo-name. It is probable that the absence of the names of buffaloes is merely utilitarian and has no deeper significance. Buffaloes are generally referred to by name, and it would obviously be inconvenient that they should have the same names as people.
Many other names are derived from objects or from the language of everyday life. Examples of such are Nipa, stream; Perol, unsanctified man; Irsimitch, lime; Sakari, sweet; Kakar, a grass; Mogai, cubit; Kapur, camphor; and Pòl, a two-year-old calf. Sometimes such words become names by the addition of the terminations -kûdr or -veli, as in Panmkudr, the horn of a four-anna piece, and Nirveli and Kadakveli, derived from the words for water and for the wild rose. Probably with a wider knowledge of the Toda vocabulary, it would be found that a very large number of the names are formed in this way.
In one case a girl was called Mudukugh (72). She was the third girl in the family, and the name was no doubt given to commemorate the fact.