India (given name)
India is a feminine given name derived from the name of the country India, which takes its name from the Indus River. The name was used for India Wilkes, a character in the novel and movie "Gone with the Wind". Its use for girls in England began during the British rule in India during the 19th century. It has been used for daughters of aristocratic families in England that had ties to Colonial India, such as India Hicks. Just like names derived from seasons like Summer, Dawn, Solstice, Autumn are feminine, India is internationally recognized as a female name since it is the name of a country and it had been used as a feminine given name for more than hundred years in England and the U.S. Although India is a feminine given name in the world, it is not a popular given name in India. Girls who are given this name are usually called with a nickname "Indy", or "Indie" which are also given names for girls in English speaking countries.
History of Hindustani
The term "Hindustani" is derived from Hindustan, the Persian-origin name for the northwestern subcontinent. The term "Ordu," or "camp language" (cognate with the English word, "horde"), was used to describe the common language of the Mughal army. The works of the 13th century scholar Amir Khusro are typical of the Hindustani language of the time:The language went by several names over the years: "Hindavi" ("of Hindus or Indians"), "Dahlavi" ("of Delhi"), "Hindustani" ("of Hindustan") and "Hindi" ("Indian"). The Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan built a new walled city in Delhi in 1639 that came to be known as Shahjahanabad. The market close to the royal fort (the Red Fort) was called "Urdu Bazar" ("Army/camp Market", from the Turkic word "ordu", "army"), and it may be from this that the phrase "Zaban-e-Urdu" ("the language of the army/camp") derives. This was shortened to "Urdu" around the year 1800. The language spread from the interaction of Persian-speaking Muslim soldiers to the local people who spoke varieties of Hindi. Soon, the Persian script in the cursive Nasta'liq form was adopted, with additional letters to accommodate the Indian phonetic system. Large number of Persian words were adopted, as were even grammatical elements such as the enclitic "ezāfe".