My company has received an order from a person in Andhra Pradesh, India, who gives his/her name as Sree V----------- Chitra. (I’ve abreviated the second word to protect his/her privacy.)
My questions are:
What does Sree signify? Is it part of the name, or an honorific like Mr./Ms.? Is there a difference between Sree and Sri?
Is Chitra the family name or the given name (or possibly either)? I ask because I’ve heard Chitra used as the first name (of an NPR correspondent).
If Chitra is the given name, is it always a female name (as the NPR person is), or can it be male?
If V----------- is the given name, could we unambiguously identify it as a male/female name?
Andhra Pradesh is in the South of India. South Indian naming conventions are very confusing, so much so that I haven’t really figured it out yet
However, here are my informed guesses:
Sree is part of his name, not a title. Although “Sri” is a title, it is unlikely to be used as a title in a south Indian name, and even less likely to used when asked in the form “Enter Name Here:” while filling applications/order forms or whatever. Shree as a title is usually spelt “Shree” or “Sri”. I could be wrong, and don’t ask me what the difference is. I have no clue.
Chitra, while being a common first name for a female, is in this case more likely what we commonly refer to as “Surname”. South Indians do not generally follow the “First Middle Last Name” convention.
My guess for the V----- is Venkatesh or something similar sounding.
If you want to respond to him in correspondence, you can use “Dear Mr. Chitra”. If it’s informal you can use “Dear Sree”. If you know him well, you could even use “SVC”. When he replies you’ll know what his preference is from his sign off.
I’ll see if I can get a south Indian friend to verify this for me.
