which indian girl name?

[user1473276264]

meenakshi or indira for a half indian (half white) girl? are either very difficult to pronounce for british people? both are very sentimental names so i'd love to use one of them.

also if there are any other indian girls' names you vastly prefer, i'd love to hear them!

To be honest I wouldn't know how to pronounce either correctly seeing them written down bit then generally people introduce themselves. I've always thought Jyoti was cute my friends baby was born in India and they gave her an Indian name.

I could pronounce Indira straight away .Meenakshi I had to say out loud i prefer Indira.

I prefer Indira, and think it is more familiar to English speakers/Europe.

Indira is lovely and easier to pronounce and read

Indira is very easy to pronounce and a famous name. I'd be surprised if people hadn't heard it before. Not keen on the other one, though Meena is easy enough.

You should. Go with what you prefer people will catch onto pronunciation.

I generally find Indian names fairly easy to pronounce, I am white English, typically they are written quite phonetically, so even if they initially look long and scary, when you actually look and break down the name there isn’t a problem. In my experience there isn’t sounds used in Indian names that don’t exist in English, in a way Welsh can be harder in that regard with rolling Rs.

Depends how you are pronouncing Indira. English people tend to say in-DEER-uh, but Indian people mostly say IN-dir-uh, as far as I know.

I don't know Meenakshi as a name, but it seems nice. Is it mee-NUHK-shi?

thank you all for your replies so far!! meenakshi would be pronounced MEEN-ahk-shee, nn probably meena.

Have a look at this site for Indian girls' names.

www.peanut-app.io/blog/indian-baby-girl-names

I like Meenakshi! What do the names mean? I love the meanings behind names. Influences my choices hugely.

I really like Meenakshi, Meena is a very nice nickname too. I’d have no problem pronouncing either name (in Scotland). I would focus on which name you prefer, and not worry about it people can say it properly - they’ll quickly learn!

I prefer Indira, if only because I primarily associate Meenakshi with the selfish sister in law from A Suitable Boy (fab book though)!

Indira is easy to pronounce and those who are over 40 will know the name due to indira ghandi

I like Meenakshi. Is she the 'fish-eyed' goddess revered in Southern India? I like Anjali and Priyanka but I don't know how those are perceived nowadays, popular, frumpy. I don't know

The names of girls/women I know of with Indian heritage:
Bhavna
Roshana
Rukshana (Roxanne)
Anita
Sita
Geeta
Pallavi
Meera
Maya
Veena
Meena
Sara
Tara
Rita
Tanya
Tina
Sabina
Yasmin

@SnowdropFox

I like Meenakshi! What do the names mean? I love the meanings behind names. Influences my choices hugely.

meenakshi means 'fish shaped eyes' (i.e. beautiful eyes) and the goddess is an avatar of parvati, and indira means 'splendid' in sanskrit. they are the names of my mother and grandmother. :-)

They are both beautiful names, and Meena or Indie as nicknames are lovely too.

Use them both!

I wouldn't go with Indira but that's not because I don't like the name but due to its negative connotations historically with what happened to Sikhs in India under her premiership.
My daughter has a name that is long and traditionally Indian, we are in an area with few ethnic minority families but her nursery, school and other people we have contact with, (Doctor, opticians etc) have all been very good with pronouncing it.

Indira Varma is a pretty well known actress as well as the name being known from Indira Ghandi, so I would imagine far more people being able to pronounce it immediately, but Meenakshi's not hard either and Meena is lovely.

Really beautiful names OP. I am not Indian but instinctively pronounced them , so they seem straightforward to me . I am not English, I’m Welsh.

I've always thought Priya was a lovely Indian girls name, I had a friend with this name at school so I've always like it. no idea what it's meaning is though.

India is a massive place so do you want a name based on religion or religion and region?

Only mentioning this as my daughter has the first name of a Bollywood actress - as pointed out several friends and colleagues who are Indian or of Indian heritage- but it is a Christian name.

@Cotswoldmama

To be honest I wouldn't know how to pronounce either correctly seeing them written down bit then generally people introduce themselves. I've always thought Jyoti was cute my friends baby was born in India and they gave her an Indian name.

Have you never heard of Indira Ghandi?

I like Indira the best but I do like the nn Meena. Both pretty names.