 Kaling has said she has never been called Vera, her first name, but has been referred to as Mindy since her mother was pregnant with her while her parents were living in Nigeria.They were already planning to move to the United States and wanted, Kaling said, a "cute American name" for their daughter, and liked the name Mindy from the TV show "Mork & Mindy".The name Vera is, according to Kaling, the name of the "incarnation of a Hindu goddess."