The Journey of My Name: From Seethappa to Diaz

I am about to publish my 300th piece on Medium, a significant milestone in my writing journey. I have been considering various topics. My friend Shahroo asked what name she should use on the place card for her upcoming wedding event.
I got my name from my grandfather, Sri Seetharama Sastry, a temple priest in a small village called Kasamballi Agraharam near KGF. Although I have never lived in the town, I have visited to see the temple and the house where my grandfather lived.
My father used to call me Seethappa, which is likely how people in the village also addressed my grandfather. However, my grandmother never called me by name because she disliked Sastry. On the other hand, my mother always called me ‘Seetharam’, while my friends referred to me as ‘Seetharam’. In my family, my sister-in-law is the only one who uses the word ‘Seethappa’, and my uncle calls me ‘Seethi.’ Their reactions to my name reflect their unique relationships with me.
As for my surname, Dravida, my grandmother moved to her father’s village, Vajrakarur, with my father when he was two months old after losing her husband early in life. My father grew up with his grandfather and inherited his surname ‘Dravida’. My grandmother preferred her father’s surname over her late husband’s surname due to the care she received from her father after becoming a child widow. Please note that my surname has no association with the political parties DMK or ADMK, despite assumptions made by many.
I carried my full name for a long time. During my engineering class, there were three of us with the same first names but different surnames: J, P, and D. It was a challenge for the professors to evaluate and report our performances at the end of the year, so our ‘initials’ were used to address us.
When I started my first job in Bombay, my German manager challenged me to pronounce my full name — Dravida Seetharam. As a result, ‘DS’ became the name I was known by to all my colleagues. I grew fond of this name as it shared the same initials as my father, which made me feel a sense of connection and pride.
The name ‘DS’ stuck with me throughout my corporate career; to this day, many of my friends still refer to me by that name. Some people speculated that I was related to the legendary Rahul Dravid and would ask me about it, to which I would smile and not answer.
My name took another turn when a Starbucks ‘partner’ created a new name for me. When I ordered my favourite Chai Latte, she asked for my name, and I responded with ‘DS.’ She then wrote ‘Diaz’ on the cup. I discovered it was a Spanish name and started using ‘Diaz’ at all coffee shops.
Once again, two young girls in my family changed my name. I called Adhya Pandit ‘Aadhya P’, and in return, she called me ‘Thatha P’ to differentiate me from several other ‘grandfathers’ in the family. Varalakshmi, also known as Vara, gave me the name ‘Seethaam’ after hearing my sister call me ‘Seethram’.