Meet the Kovids: Why More People Today Find Their Names Problematic

The pandemic has sucked for a lot of people, but one underrepresented group of victims are people who happened to be named Kovid, as this Washington Post article spotlights. Kovid Kapoor, a resident in Bangalore, India has been tweeting about the many indignities his name has caused, from teasing at Starbucks to an inability to search his name on Google without autocorrect kicking in.

Beyond the pandemic, this idea of a name taking on a larger meaning and significance in culture is likely to be an increasing issue for more people. Alexa, Siri and Cortana are a handful of problematic names that may reinforce gender biases and create problems for those who had those names long before the related technologies came along.

When you add in how we name hurricanes (Katrina!) and how much people report it sucks to share the same name as a celebrity, it is clear we're living in a time where our names can create a minefield of problems. Maybe Prince had the right idea years ago when he decided to change his name to a symbol. Or if that doesn't work, you could always change your name to Leodegar, which tops Parade magazine's 2022 list of unique baby names.