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Baby names

Find baby name inspiration and advice on the Mumsnet Baby Names forum.

Original poster

Favourite Indian Names?

41 replies

MaraW · 05/12/2018 01:07

We are a mixed race couple living in England and would like to give our child an Indian (Hindu) name. It doesn’t have to be a short, easy to pronounce name, but we’d like to take into account the fact that we’d be raising the child here. So I’d appreciate any suggestions of names you’ve heard and loved.

We don’t know the gender yet and I’m especially struggling with boy’s names. The ones I like seem to end in “n” which is problematic because of our last name (think Johnson or Wilson).

Thanks in advance!

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KoshaMangsho · 05/12/2018 11:38

There are other less obviously Indian/Hindu names for girls like Sana, Sania and Zara. Actually a good friend in Delhi has a daughter called Zara.

Whifty · 05/12/2018 09:33

DH is Hindu and his gran is called Tara. I always liked that.

AliCanTea · 05/12/2018 09:28

Not sure if it's the right origin but I love Ashwin for a boy.

ratherbeshowjumping · 05/12/2018 08:14

I spent some time in Delhi when I was younger & made a lovely friend (male) called Ejaz.
Masum is Bangladeshi but lovely.
Rahul also translates well.

Love Indira for a girl

Original poster
MaraW · 05/12/2018 07:40

Thanks for the responses! I do love Indira and Lakshmi for a girl.

@Choccywoccyhooha no, we will not have a Namkaran. We can choose any name that we like.

@KoshaMangsho I realize that, but wanted to leave it open so as to get more responses. I just wanted to know what names other people here liked.

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KoshaMangsho · 05/12/2018 02:36

Btw common boys’ names in the UK include: Ishaan, Nikhil, Rohan, Aarav, Abhishek, Varun. Just going off names I have heard.

KoshaMangsho · 05/12/2018 02:35

There are several baby books to choose from for Indian names. Also Indian names is slightly misleading because people from different parts of India tend to have different names/variations of the name. So Raghav in the North is Raghavan in the South.
When we named our sons (I can PM you what their names are if you want), we thought of the meaning of the name and then asked several non Indian people to pronounce it to see how close they got to the Indian pronunciation of the name.

flumpybear · 05/12/2018 02:23

Lacshmi and Visharli ... not sure if spelling is correct!

User19834567 · 05/12/2018 02:17

Indira for a girl.
Smile

Slapdasherie · 05/12/2018 01:58

Karishma is a lovely name for a girl.

Choccywoccyhooha · 05/12/2018 01:54

Are you not planning to have a Namkaran? Surely you can't choose a name until you know what initial the baby is given? I had a friend who really struggled to find a name she loved with the initial her baby boy was given.

Original poster
MaraW · 05/12/2018 01:47

@Rainbowrebs girls’ names are useful too! We are starting from scratch so appreciate any and all suggestions. I love some of the ones you’ve listed.

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Rainbowrebs · 05/12/2018 01:42

Hmm... I teach at a school with a large Asian population but it’s a girl’s school, so not sure how helpful I’ll be!

Some of these names may be Sri Lankan/Bangladeshi rather than Indian - I’m sure you’ll know better than me!

Several of the girls I’ve taught have Indian names that can shorten to an English sounding nickname, which I think works well:

E.g. Anandita ==> Annie
Abbienaya ==> Abbie

Other girls’ names that I really like are Shivani, Roshni, Aditi, Rohini and Pavani.

Original poster
MaraW · 05/12/2018 01:32

@DulciUke I love the name Vivek! Unfortunately we are related to someone with this name so it might be a little odd as a choice. Same with Vikram, so we will probably stay away from anything resembling that.

If we get desperate though, anything goes!

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WereYouHareWhenIWasFox · 05/12/2018 01:27

Tulsi

DulciUke · 05/12/2018 01:24

Vivek? Means wisdom/knowledge

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