Alphons

Alphons (Latinized Alphonsus, Adelphonsus, Adefonsus) is a male given name recorded from the 8th century (Alfonso I of Asturias, r. 739-757) in the Christian successor states of the Visigothic kingdom in the Iberian peninsula. In the later medieval period it became a standard name in the Hispanic and Portuguese royal families.

It is derived from a Gothic name, or a conflation of several Gothic names; from *Aþalfuns, composed of the elements aþal "noble" and funs "eager, brave, ready", and perhaps influenced by names such as *Alafuns, *Adefuns and *Hildefuns. It is recorded as Adefonsus in the 9th and 10th century, and as Adelfonsus, Adelphonsus in the 10th to 11th. The reduced form Alfonso is recorded in the late 9th century, and the Portuguese form Afonso from the early 11th.

Variants of the name include: Alfonso (Spanish and Italian), Alfons (Dutch, German, Polish and Scandinavian), Afonso (Portuguese), Alphonse, Alfonse (Italian, French and English), etc.

Middle Ages

Iberian royal families

Alphons Kannanthanam

K. J. Alphons, Kannanthanam (born 8 August 1953), is an Indian politician, hailing from Kottayam District, Kerala, India. He was the Member of the Legislative Assembly, from Kanjirappally in Kottayam District. Prior to joining politics, he was an officer of Indian Administrative Service. He joined the BJP in 2011.

Early life

Alphons Kannanthanam born in Manimala, in Kottayam District, to K.V.Joseph and Brijith Joseph. His father was a World War II veteran, who became a school teacher after the war. His parents had nine children; they adopted two more from the orphanage.

Kannanthanam had his school education in the nearby Malayalam medium village schools. He completed his masters in Economics, and was one of the toppers of the Civil Services Examination in the year 1979.

Kannanthanam worked in the Indian Administrative Service until 2006, when he was elected a Member of the Legislative Assembly, from Kanjirappally in Kottayam District, Kerala with the support of Communist Party of India (Marxist) led Left front. He has been a voice for progressive change in the Assembly. He is also a practicing advocate in the High court and the Supreme Court of India.

Manorama News

Manorama News (also known as MM TV) is a Malayalam language news channel owned and operated by Malayala Manorama. The channel, based at Aroor Alleppey, was launched on 17 August 2006, which coincided with the Malayalam New Year. The channel was launched with the assistance of media consulting company Mediaguru Consultants Pvt. Ltd.

The thirty-minute simultaneous newscast of regional news, Nattuvartha, from three regions of Kerala, viz. Malabar region, Kochi Region and Travancore region was done for the first time in the country.

Johny Lukose is the News Director and he also anchors a programme "Nere Chove". Romy Mathew and Pramod Raman are the Coordinating Editors of the channel and heads the input and output functions respectively.

Satellite Details

Alphons Joseph

Alphons Joseph is a music director and playback singer in the Malayalam film industry who got a break as a film music composer after composing for the film Vellithira. Alphons is also noted for singing the famous song "Aaromale" from the film Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa, which was composed by A. R. Rahman.

Personal life and early career

Alphons was born in Kaachery near Nadathara, Thrissur, Kerala, India to a musically affluent Christian family. His mother was Thankamma and father was Koladi Joseph, a tablist and a singer but by profession, a KSEB sub-engineer. Alphons was the second among their 7 children. His elder brother, Joemon was a pianist and had composed music for two Malayalam films. His younger brother Paulson was a well known exponent of Sitar and had got first rank in M.A. Hindustani from Dharwad university. He was introduced to music by his father's younger brother K. K. Paul, who was a well known violinist. Alphons considers Philip, another talented musician from Thrissur, as his mentor and guru. He was the one who diverted Alphons to Western Classical Music and ghazals.