Nikhil or Kiran?

[WorldAtlasOfTea]

What do you think and why?

And, if you wouldn't mind answering my demographic question: how Indian are you? (I'm not at all; DH is by heritage/family. Interested to see if there is a difference of opinion between people exposed to Indian names and people not similarly exposed.)

Thanks!

Indian descent.

Kiran - common for girls (less so for boys) BUT I know both male and female Kiran's.

Nikhil - I don't know I'm just not 'feeling' it.

Boy names:

Roshan, Arjan, Viran, Arun, Arin, Aarian, Hari, Dhiyan, Xavier...

I like Nikhil

I like Nikhil.

My mother was Indian. My partner is half Bangladeshi and our daughters have one European one Asian name (actually they both have Jewish first names and so do my sister's boys but we aren't Jewish).

Nikhill is pronounced like the metal, like Nickel? That's not so great, either (it's a poisonous metal). But kids won't know that. Nick is a very nice nickname & would reflect dual heritage.

I have heard often Kieron pronounced to rhyme with Mirren. I guess that explains my confusion.

There is a local lad called "Kai-run" as spoken. I don't know the spelling but could indeed be Kiran.

I would say the metal with more of a neutral -ul at the end: nick-ul. Bit more of a definite 'i' sound for the name: nick-ill.

I think it hugely depends on your accent - mine is Home Counties, DH is from London, we live in the south west. Not many Irish vowels in that mix!

We're thinking James for a middle name, but have no particular attachment.

TrueLove that's a helpful list. Some ruled out because they are already in use, and anything ending in -i is too matchy matchy with our surname. But there are other ideas in there.

I like Amit, but DH has vetoed on grounds of one he once knew. And he likes Nitin, which I have vetoed because it sounds ridiculous in my accent - a bit too street crochet.

What about Ashok? Or Devi?

Siddharth seems to be popular at the moment. Name of the Buddha before he became Buddha. Usually shortened to Sid.

I had to laugh at Nitin sounding like street crochet 😂

I like Nikhill, less keen on Kiran, but purely because he'll be constantly correcting people who pronounce it like Kieron.I prefer Kiaan.

My favourite Indian boys name is Avinash (nn Avi or Ash)

What about...
Akash
Rohan
Shaan
Ojas
Ajay
Ravi
Jai
Sethu/Seth
Eshan
Hiran

I like Nikhil better

Ok I am 100% Indian. Both are super common Indian names. Can you pronounce the 'kh' in Nikhil yourself? I ask because not all English people can.
Kiran is pronounced as Kirr-un.
The commonest Indian expat boy name of our generation is Ishaan.
I also like Rohan. Samar. Raghav.

Most Indians name their kids based on where in India they come from. So where I come from Kiran would be pronounced Kirr-on and would be deeply uncommon. I agree that it's a Punjabi name.

Luchi, no, not really. But I'm kinda putting that down to accent (in the same way that so can't pronounce geordie or Scottish sounds. TBH DH speaks only English, and I think he'd struggle too!

Other name suggestions are all helpful, thanks. As well as anything ending in -i, anything with a 'sh' in it is out (doesn't go with surname), and anything overtly religious (we're Christian).

We like Rohan, but Rowan is such a common boy's name round here - much worse than Kieran/Kiran.

I like Arun, Indian people pronounce it aroon but the mixed race British/indian arun I know just calls himself a-run.

Honestly most Indian names are pronounced a lot differently but most British Indians I know just go by the phonetic sound - like ravi is pronounced as it is spelt and not ruvi which is how it should be pronounced. Hope you know what I mean! So when naming a kid who is going to grow up in a mostly non Indian society, I'd think about whether you like the Indian and English pronunciation or only one of them!

Can't see how Nikhil or Kiran would be pronounced very differently so I think they work. Also

Arun
Neel
Sam
Ram (pronounced raam)
Rajan
Ajay
Jai

All I can think of!

Pakistani, personal preference I think Nikhil is a lovely name. I have a nephew who is called Kiran, as a take on Kieran

Not at all Indian here and I like Kiran.

Will you pronounce it So it rhymes with mirran? I know one person called Kiran and that's how they say it. It's lovely.

And the one I know is male.

Hindu Indian baby names like the ones you have chosen are usually based on Sanskrit concepts/qualities and these are usually nouns and therefore masculine, feminine or neutral.

Kiran can only be a girl's name because the noun 'sunbeam' is a feminine noun. I know a few British Indians (who have usually had minimal exposure to classical Hindi) use Kiran for boys, because it sounds familiar, like Keiran. But it's not "correct", if these things are important to you.

Male names that sound a bit like Kiran are Kirin (pronounced like Enid Blyton's Kirrin Island) and Karan (pronounced a bit like Curran).

I have nothing against Nikhil but it is ubiquitous; I know several. I think because it's very easy for native English speakers to pronounce whilst approximating very closely to the classical Hindi pronunciation (which is closer to 'Nick Hill').

Names that we considered for DD had she been a boy: Narayan, Vir, Rajan, Pavan, Sunil, Jivan, Saroj. All sound nice even when slightly mispronounced by native English speakers.

No! Indian men can be called Kiran. There was a member of the Indian cricket team called Kiran More. Look up Kiran Karnik as well.

dd2's best friend (boy) is Kiran, he is white British, and actually until this thread I didn't realise it was an Indian name, and I have only ever heard of it as a boy's name in UK. (pronounced to rhyme with Mirren as you say)

Nikhil is to me an Indian name, rarely heard on a non Indian child.

Of the 2, I prefer Nikhil.
(I am white British)

I like both names. I'm white English and both names sound really attractive to me.