Choosing my name for my first publication
@Buffy's and @user2768's answers raise good points to consider when choosing.
I'd like to recommend in addition: Get yourself an ORCID and use it. An ORCID is a unique identifier that you can keep, however you may later on decide to change your name again.
ORCID allows several names, they say the only one really required is the first names (which can also be multiple first names) in order to also work for cultures like yours. So you could leave surname blank and actually keep your name as it is.
You can also specify how you'd like to be cited (I'm not sure how many look this up, though. But literature data bases should hopefully get that right), and you can even give also-known-as names.
As a side note: while it's good to think a bit which name you like to use, it's not that you cannot change it if it turns out not to work as well as you thought. If you use an identifier like ORCID, this won't even lead to confusion whether it is still you.
(And people in western culture do change their surnames as well, e.g. when getting married or divorced.)
It's not that western cultures don't know patronyms (usually with some change, e.g. prefix or suffix meaning son/daughter, diminutive or genitive). In many western countries they meanwhile became family names but AFAIK in Iceland it is usual (and Denmark possible) to give children a proper patronymic or matronymic name. They put the patronym/matronym as surname - so if you don't know the name of the parent, you don't notice the difference between a proper patonymic/matronymic or one that meanwhile became family name.
Aaron is my name, Sabu is the name of my father and John his father. Also, I do not have a proper surname since it is not part of our custom.
I suggest adopting Sabu as your surname, Aaron as your given name, and John as your middle name, or some variant of that. I think this is advisable, because you'll regularly be asked for your surname and given name, and sometimes your middle name or it's initial. Such an adoption will simplify administration. That said, I appreciate that you might want to follow your customs, rather than those of others.
In terms of publishing,
- Pick a name you'll use forever.
Your name is your brand. It's how you'll be identified.
- Pick a name that is unique (or at least rare, especially to Google).
A unique name is easier to find.
You might decide upon Aaron Sabu, Aaron J. Sabu, or Aaron John Sabu, for instance. Google each and see if it is unique or rare.
From comments:
As pointed out...there is no obvious choice that will send the message that you want to be called Aaron and cited as Aaron et al. That choice just doesn't fit well in the conventions of the Western naming culture, unfortunately
I disagree, S. J. Aaron or J. S. Aaron could be used (an initial could also be dropped). Citations will appear as Aaron et al. and there seems only to be an option of calling the OP Aaron.
Actually, you have a lot of freedom to do it as best pleases you. You could even create an alter ego (as I have here) under which to publish.
But there are two constraints.
The first is that you probably want to choose a name that you will be happy with over your career, so that people won't get confused by seeing different names from the same author.
The second is that you want people to be able to find and connect with you. Mostly that will be via email, I suspect, but if someone calls up your university and asks for you by your public persona name it should be easy to reach you personally.
If you just use the name you have used here, few people outside your own culture would even notice and just assume that your "family" name is Sabu. Some names in Western European culture arose in just that way. Others arose from peoples occupation (Taylor and Smith, for example). But people might also want to refer to you as Professor Sabu, rather than Professor Aaron, which you might prefer.
But, don't worry that there are conventions that restrict your choices here. Assume that you have control over your own name.