Anupam Mittal challenges traditional naming norms for his daughter: “We just wanted her to start as herself.”

In a bout to break traditional norms, Shark Tank judge Anupam Mittal shared a heartfelt note on a social media post talking about his daughter. The post melted hearts and made the public happy.
The entrepreneur talked about his daughter and recalled the moment when she was born. Rather than dictating his daughter’s name according to old traditions, the family wanted their daughter to have her own identity when it came to choosing her middle name. He shared that “In many Indian regions, the father’s name gets handed down automatically. And when it's a daughter, her husband's name eventually replaces it. It’s such a quiet pattern that most don’t even notice, let alone question. But we did.”
The businessman also provided more insight into the decision, sharing, “In a world where women are still introduced as someone’s daughter, someone’s wife, someone’s mother...we just wanted her to start as herself.”
The couple defied normal traditions of passing down names and instead gave a meaningful middle name to their daughter that had some semblance to them. Mittal explained in the post, “Anantara means boundless. It draws from the word 'Ananta'—another name for the goddess Saraswati, who represents knowledge and learning.”

He talked about how a name may seem to be a small and tiny detail; however, for the couple, it was a way to free their daughter from carrying forward anyone’s legacy but her own. Mittal shared that he does not wish for his daughter to be defined by the men in her life and that she is free to write her own story.
In his post, he concluded it on sharing that this wasn’t in any way a proclamation about a bold move; instead, “It was simply the right beginning for us. A quiet way of expressing our belief in equality—in her, in her autonomy, and in her future. And for us, that was powerful enough.”
Traditionally, when a daughter is born, she usually carries her father’s name and then later on her husband’s name. This move on Mittal’s part came forth as a way for him to free his daughter from traditional norms.
The public had sweet reactions to the post shared on online platforms. People commented on the post, sharing how it moved them and how the story resonated with them on a personal level.