Arjan: a historical name, a Guru and a modern bearer

A name recorded in an early dictionary

Bhai Maya Singh’s dictionary gives Arjan a short, specific entry. It relates the form to Sanskrit Arjun and identifies the fifth Guru of the Sikhs. This is evidence that the dictionary treats Arjan as a historical personal name, rather than as a word to which it assigns an English personality trait.[1]

The limited scope of that entry matters. It supports the recorded Punjabi form and its reference to the Guru, but supplies no literal gloss such as a virtue or desired quality. A modern name-meaning page should preserve that distinction instead of turning a reference to another language’s form into an unsupported English translation.[1]

An institutional religious form

The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee’s profile uses Sri Guru Arjan Dev Ji in its title. Its opening identifies Goindwal and describes his installation as Fifth Nanak. The page also uses Arjan Sahib in its narrative. These forms document the Guru’s name together with religious titles and honorifics; they do not mean that all those surrounding words belong to every person named Arjan.[2]

A different bearer and a commemorated full name

A Ministry of Defence notice dated 15 April 2022 names Arjan Singh, Marshal of the Air Force, and records his birth in Lyallpur, now Faisalabad. It describes his training at Cranwell, career in the Air Force and later diplomatic service. This is a distinct Punjab-connected bearer, identified through both a full personal name and a professional title.[3]

The notice also records the renaming of Air Force Station Panagarh as Air Force Station Arjan Singh in 2016. Here a personal name becomes part of an institution’s commemorative name. Retaining the full form avoids confusing the air station, the military officer and the Guru. Nothing in this commemoration establishes why the officer’s family chose Arjan or whether it referred to a particular earlier bearer.[3]