Name: Immanuel Khuplunmang Neitham

Dad: Jangkholam Neitham (aka Som/Joe)

Mom: Nengneilhing Neitham (aka Henei)

Date of birth: 05th August 2006

Time: 09:39AM

Birth Weight: 4.010 kg

Length: 51 cm

Place: Thomson Medical Centre, Singapore

Meaning & Naming:

Immanuel - meaning God with us.

 It was my maternal uncle (mom's brother) who volunteered to name me and he came up with the name 'Emmanuel'. For some reason my parents were still contemplating and non-committal on the name and then one day my mom got an sms from 'cheche' Sarah (my god sister) who wanted us to find a name that starts with the alphabet 'I' and that's because the alphabet 'I' lies between H (mom's name) and J (dad's name). My parents were getting concern because they do not want to upset sweet and innocent Sarah because they were already having in mind to name me Emmanuel and somehow the alphabet 'I' do  not seems to find a place in the name. Then all of a sudden dad had this strong urge to check for the spelling of Emmanuel and he opened the Old Testament (Not that he knows where to find Emmanuel in the New or Old testament) and flipped through the Bible and lo he stumbled upon the name Immanuel in Isaiah chapter 7(NIV) and that's when the name Immanuel was finalized.

Khuplunmang -

Amongst us, the Chin-Kuki tribe in the Southern District of Manipur hills in North Eastern India, we have a very unique naming custom. For most of us, our names will have either 3 or 4 syllables. Eg - Jang-kho-lam, Tong-kho-tin-thang, etc. The first syllable of each name will be derived from the last syllable of the paternal grandfather or godfather. Eg - My grandpa's name is Haoneikhup and therefore my name starts with Khup. The middle syllable will not have much significant however the 3rd syllable is important and that's because grandsons will have to take after it . As for me, even the 2nd and 3rd syllable had a very strong significance. The 2nd syllable lun is taken from the last syllable of my dad's eldest brother Thangtinlun who passed away in January 2006 of illness. The last syllable is from dad's youngest brother Ngamkhomang who too died in 1988 due to illness.  Immanuel Khuplunmang is a very special name because through my name my two late paternal uncles will always be remembered by all of us whom they left behind.