Though, in that case, doesn't the legend say the real person they were named for was "Kim Noonien Singh," which goes back to evidence for it being a name.
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Though, in that case, doesn't the legend say the real person they were named for was "Kim Noonien Singh," which goes back to evidence for it being a name.
I've made both arguments in the SNW threads. But going by "Space Seed" his name is Khan. It should be noted that "Khan" is also an Indian surname of Central Asian origin.
Key word, "originally." It's spread far beyond that origin, and is in common use as a surname all over the Muslim world (e.g. Ms. Marvel, Kamala Khan, a New Jersey native whose parents immigrated from Pakistan, the land where the Sikhs originated). It is, however, unusual as a given name.
The real person's name was more likely Kim Noonien Wang. Roddenberry was going to call the character Sibahl or Sabahl Khan Noonien until Kellam DeForest research noted that Sikh males use the surname Singh.
Okay, didn't know that.
But if Khan is supposed to be his family name, then he would be Noonien Singh Khan, not Khan Noonien Singh.
Comedian Craig Ferguson did it for real early in his stand up career as Bing Hitler. The name was coined by Ferguson's friend and future Doctor, Peter Capaldi.
Which supports the theory that the entire name was a creation of "Khan", going for pan-Asian appeal.
I never said it was exclusive to Muslims or that it was a religious practice in itself. I was using its prevalence in Muslim communities as an example to illustrate the fact that its use is not rigidly constrained to any one community or practice. It may have originated with Central Asian nomads, but their conquests and cultural influence spread across Eurasia and the ripples of it propagated far beyond them. My point is that the name is used widely enough that it's unrealistic to insist it can't be used in a certain way.
Besides, the Augments were supposedly multiethnic and multicultural. One can presume that, if they were born and raised together, they were raised with a mix of cultural influences. Insisting on a rigid, inflexible interpretation of cultural practices seems unreasonable in this context.
Not necessarily. As I understand it, a Sikh's surname is usually their second name, with the Khalsa name (Singh for a man or Kaur for a woman) appended after it, though it can be the other way around. The Khalsa name is more like a title representing their baptism in the faith. So it would be Noonien Khan Singh, if Khan were his surname. Again, though, just because it's commonly a surname doesn't make it impossible for it to be a given name. Sikhs don't necessarily even use surnames the way Westerners do, so adopting a second (or third) name doesn't follow any rigid rule.
True. "Personal name, Khalsa name" is almost universal for devout Sikhs, FWIW in my experience, the surname if used (and some sources suggest that devout Sikhs don't due to their opposition to the caste system) goes third, but it's not impossible that it could go second.
As "Khan Noonien Singh" doesn't appear to be a particularly devout Sikh (he observes at most 2 of the "5Ks" AFAICT), then it's actually more likely that he's Muslim rather than Sikh and should properly be Noonien Khan in any case.
IIRC, in Greg Cox’s Eugenics Wars novels, he says that Khan is an assumed title (which was common in Central Asia at one time as a ruler or military leader).
It wouldn't be out of character for it either way as plenty of dictators assume religious trappings while behaving only to their own benefit.
I think the hodgepodge of names was intended to have cross-cultural appeal to his followers/subjects.
The irony is that Roddenberry was only a couple of decades off about the rise of a lot of modern populist cult of personality dictators globally after a period of liberalism. Mind you, none of these are superhuman [as far as we know] and it's never been the case there weren't some around the globe.
Nearly 80% of Indians are Hindu. Surely that would be the most likely alternative if we wanted to ignore the canonical assertion that he's Sikh. And the name Singh (Sanskrit for lion) is used widely in India, not at all limited to the Sikh community.
I only wish the casting had followed suit.
Well having a name from that region doesn't mean the you have genetic ties to that region. The Soongs seem to and that's might be why Arik chose those names. But yeah, a more diverse group of actors as the Augments would have been nice.
I don't remember that, but I did write those books some thirty years ago, so my memory is fuzzy. I do remember that I dealt with Khan being a very atypical Sikh by having him decide, grandly, that the old rules didn't apply to a genetically-engineered superhuman such as himself.
Which, honestly, seemed very in character for him. On the TV episode, only Marla labels him a Sikh. Khan never refers to himself in those terms; instead he proudly identifies as a superior specimen of (super)humanity. That's how he defines himself, not as a Sikh.
For no apparent reason, since he has no visible attributes of Sikh identity and she doesn't know who he is yet. 1960s American TV was very bad at portraying Asian cultures. Even with researchers giving them notes, they still got a lot wrong.