Sherpa Names

The perceptive must have realised by now that Sherpa names recur a little too frequently. It is not the scarcity of names, but the curious custom of naming people after the day of the week they were born in that results in so many Pasangs. Here is the complete list: Sunday-Nima, Monday-Dawa, Tuesday-Mingma, Wednesday-Lhakpa, Thursday-Phurba, Friday-Pasang and Saturday-Pemba. This custom is however not mandatory and there are other names too: Gyaltzen- victory, Norbu-precious stone, Tshering-long life, Sonam-merit, Dorje- lightening and Lobsang-good. Find out what Tenzing means.