The covid-19 pandemic has changed everyone’s life, but especially a businessman from India whose name is Kovid Kapoor.
Kovid was one of the people who demonstrated against the World Health Organization (WHO) after the institution decided to name the SARS-CoV-2 virus covid-19. As expected, the businessman did not receive any response to his complaints and two years later he shares all the problems that this small but important similarity of names has brought him.
Kovid, 31, is the head of a travel company and explained on social media that he had traveled abroad for the first time since the start of the pandemic and that his name “amused many people”.
His quirky name helped him break the ice with his new friends, but it got him in trouble ordering coffee, meeting with clients, and even checking in on his flights.
His case reached Twitter, unleashing jokes and even requests to interview him, which he has accepted, because he believes that he should take advantage of the moment and lighten his bad moments with new and never before imagined experiences.
I’ve always liked my name, but the kind of attention it’s gotten in recent years makes me admire it more. I get asked about it several times, almost every day, and believe me, seeing people’s reactions makes me laugh. I used to joke about it with my friends and the jokes were about to expire when all of a sudden my ‘tweets’ went viral. So I’d say it’s still funny and I laugh about it every time someone notices the similarity in names.
Kovid says that the meaning of his name in Hindi is “scholar” or “educated person”. Also, it is very rare for someone to bear this name and her mother had chosen it even before she knew she was pregnant.
It is a memorable name whose meaning is beautiful and I would not change it for the world. Honestly, one of the reasons I loved my name was that it was so unique. I had only come across a Kovid in 30 years of my life until I went viral. Now there are quite a few ‘Kovid’ who message me on social media after seeing my tweet. They shared their similar experiences with me and we had a lot of laughs!
Despite everything, he loves and is proud of his name. And the best thing is that he has learned to take jokes lightly.