In the early days of 3HO, Yogi Bhajan called many of his young male students by nicknames, or maybe they were more serious monikers (it’s hard to say) that incorporated their birth names. There was Baba Don, and Baba John, and Baba Bert, and Lehri, and Sat Peter and probably others. By 1972 or 1973, YB was giving out Sikh and quasi-Sikh names, with Singh and Kaur as middle names and Khalsa as our last name.

Many of these “Sikh” first names were extremely Hindu. Or fully blasphemous within the Sikh Faith. Many were just silly.

For example, YB named students after Hindu gods and goddesses – Hanuman or Ganesha or Krishna or Rama, etc. YB gave many people names that started with Guru, instead of Gur. We didn’t understand that having a Guru name means that you are claiming to be the Guru, while the prefix Gur means belonging to, or being a student of the Guru. Similarly, YB created endless Siri names, which are Hindu-ish and not used by Sikhs. Yogi Bhajan gave some of his students the same names as the Sikh Gurus. And Sat Guru Singh or Kaur was a common 3HO name, where in Sikhi the only Sat (True) Guru is the Sri Guru Granth (the Sikh scripture.)

Some of the silly names were Holy Kaur, Smiling Kaur, Hari Har Har Har Kaur, and my personal favorite, Yogi Bir Singh and Kaur, who YB sent to set up an Ashram in the vicinity of Yellowstone National Park.

Yogi Bhajan was clearly “smarter than the average Bir.”

In hindsight it seems like Yogi Bhajan was actively out to insult Sikhs via our names.