Study Guide

The Namesake Characters

By Jhumpa Lahiri

All right, dude. Which is it – Gogol or Nikhil? We're getting a little tired of all the...

Gogol's mother Ashima is the heart of the story. While the other characters don't show a lot of...

As fathers go, Ashoke is one of the good ones. We never see him losing his temper with Gogol, or...

How can Shmoop put this delicately? Let's just say, it's easy to dislike Moushumi. A bit...

Sonia, Gogol's little sister, is born around the time that Gogol enters kindergarten. Right from...

Ladies and gentlemen, we bring you the home wrecker. We jest, we jest. In the end, it's Moushumi...

Just out of architecture school, Gogol is working in New York City when he meets Maxine at a...

Maxine's parents Gerald and Lydia Ratliff are the polar opposites of Ashoke and Ashima Ganguli....

Graham, a rich investment banker, is Moushumi's ex-fiancé whom she meets while both of...

Astrid is one of Moushumi's best friends from Brown, and is married to Donald, an artist. They're...

Ruth is Gogol's first serious girlfriend, but their relationship doesn't last long in terms of...

Ghosh is a businessman that Ashoke meets on the fateful night of his train accident in 1961. With...

Ben is Sonia's fiancé, whom we meet at the end of the book. We don't know much about him,...