Hindu God & Goddess Names Used as Nepali Names (Meanings)

Across Hindu Nepal, a large share of personal names are drawn directly from the deities of the Hindu pantheon or from their many epithets. Parents choose a divine name to place the child under a god's protection, to mark family devotion (kuladevata or ishtadevata), or simply because the meaning is auspicious. The same names circulate among Bahun, Chhetri, Newar and many Janajati Hindu families, which is why a directory grouped by divine source is more useful than a flat alphabetical list.

The formal name is usually fixed at the Nwaran, the name-giving ceremony traditionally held on the eleventh day after birth. A priest (pandit) prepares the newborn's janma kundali (birth horoscope) from the exact time, date and place of birth, identifies the child's nakshatra (lunar mansion) and rashi (zodiac sign), and derives an auspicious starting syllable (the naam-rashi). Families then pick a name that begins with that syllable, and a deity name that fits is a common, safe choice.

Two vocabularies feed these names. One is the deity's principal name (Shiva, Vishnu, Krishna, Lakshmi, Saraswati). The other is the vast store of epithets catalogued in the sahasranama ('thousand-name') hymns, such as the Vishnu Sahasranama, the Shiva Sahasranama and the Lalita Sahasranama. Each epithet is a compact Sanskrit word with a specific meaning, which is why names like Madhav, Shankar or Gauri carry layered significance beyond simply pointing at a god.

Shiva, the auspicious destroyer-transformer of the Hindu trinity, is Nepal's most iconic deity, enshrined at Pashupatinath in Kathmandu. His name itself, Shiva (Shiv), literally means 'the auspicious' or 'kind', and his hundreds of epithets are collected in the Shiva Sahasranama. These names are among the most common choices for a baby boy in Hindu Nepali families.

Shankar (Sanskrit Shankara) is built from 'sham' (auspiciousness, welfare) and 'kara' (maker, bestower), so it means 'the giver of good fortune' or 'benevolent one'. Mahesh (from Maheshvara, maha 'great' + ishvara 'lord') means 'Great Lord', and its expanded form Maheshwar is also used. Rudra, an ancient Vedic name of Shiva often glossed as 'the roarer' or 'the fierce one', is chosen for its strength; the softer euphemistic epithet Shiva itself is said to have originated as a kinder title for Rudra.

Other widely used Shiva-derived boys' names in Nepal include Shambhu ('source of happiness'), Hara ('the remover'), Nilkantha ('blue-throated', from the poison Shiva held in his throat), Bholanath and Bhola ('the simple, innocent lord'), Girish/Girija-nath ('lord of the mountain'), and Someshwar. Because Shiva is Pashupati, 'lord of creatures', the name Pashupati and its short form Pashu-pati-nath also appear.

Vishnu (Nepali Bishnu), the preserver of the trinity, supplies a huge family of boys' names, most of them attested as epithets in the Vishnu Sahasranama, the thousand-name hymn found in the Anushasana Parva of the Mahabharata. Because Vishnu's avatars Ram and Krishna are worshipped in their own right, their names and Krishna's cowherd epithets add a second large branch to this cluster.

Hari is one of Vishnu's most beloved names, understood as 'the one who takes away' - the Lord who removes sins and obstacles. Madhav (Madhava) is an epithet of Krishna and Vishnu variously explained as 'lord of Ma (Lakshmi/knowledge)', 'of the honey (madhu) family', or 'of the spring season'. Gopal literally means 'protector of cows' (go 'cow' + pala 'protector') and names Krishna in his childhood role as the divine cowherd; the related Gopinath and Govind/Govinda ('finder/protector of cows') are equally common.

The wider Vishnu-Krishna set that Nepali parents draw on includes Narayan ('refuge of all beings', a supreme name of Vishnu), Keshav ('the one with beautiful hair' or 'slayer of Keshi'), Damodar, Madhusudan ('slayer of the demon Madhu'), Murari, Banshi/Bansidhar ('flute-bearer'), Ram and Rama-chandra, Krishna itself ('the dark one', 'the all-attractive'), and compound names like Hari-Krishna, Ram-Krishna and Bishnu-prasad ('gift of Vishnu').

Parvati, the consort of Shiva and the benevolent form of the Great Goddess, is the source of many of Nepal's most popular girls' names. Her name Parvati means 'daughter of the mountain (parvata)', reflecting her birth as the child of Himavan, lord of the Himalaya - a lineage that resonates strongly in mountainous Nepal.

Gauri means 'fair, bright or radiant' in Sanskrit and is one of Parvati's best-known epithets, emphasising her golden complexion and her devotion as an ideal consort. Uma, another of her most common names, is traditionally linked to the exclamation 'u ma' ('O, do not!') said to have been uttered to stop her severe austerities, and is also read as 'splendour' or 'tranquillity'. Shailaja means 'daughter of the mountain' (shaila 'mountain' + ja 'born of'), with the near-synonyms Shailaputri, Girija and Haimavati carrying the same sense.

In her warrior aspect the goddess is Durga, 'the invincible / the unassailable', celebrated across Nepal during the great festival of Dashain. Durga and her fierce and maternal epithets give names such as Ambika ('dear mother'), Bhawani ('giver of life'), Shakti ('power'), Kali, Bhagawati, Jagadamba ('mother of the world') and Maheshwari ('the great goddess'). Newar and pan-Nepali families also use Taleju and Kumari in devotional contexts tied to living-goddess worship.

Lakshmi (Nepali Laxmi), the goddess of wealth, fortune and beauty and consort of Vishnu, is honoured across Nepal at Tihar (Deepawali) on Laxmi Puja night. Her name and epithets are widely given to girls to invoke prosperity and grace. Direct forms include Laxmi, Mahalaxmi and the compound Laxmi-Devi.

Epithets of Lakshmi used as names include Shree/Sri ('auspiciousness, prosperity, grace and dignity'), Kamala and Padma ('lotus', her seat and emblem), Indira, Rama (in the sense of 'the lovely one'), Chanchala, and prosperity words such as Sampada and Dhanashree. Because Shree also functions as an honorific, it blends naturally into many longer Nepali names.

Saraswati, the goddess of knowledge, speech, music and the arts, is the third great goddess of this cluster; her name is often parsed as saras ('flowing water, a pool') + vati ('she who possesses'), evoking a flowing river of wisdom. She is worshipped at Basanta Panchami / Shree Panchami, especially by students. Girls' names drawn from her include Saraswati itself, Bagdevi and Vani/Bani ('speech, the goddess of speech'), Sharada, Bharati, Medha ('intellect, wisdom'), Vidya ('knowledge') and Gyanada ('giver of knowledge').

Beyond single deity names, Nepali naming favours compounds that pair a god's name with a devotional suffix. The most common is -prasad ('gift, grace, blessed food offering'), giving names such as Bishnu-prasad, Krishna-prasad, Shiva-prasad, Ram-prasad and Hari-prasad. These are especially frequent among Bahun-Chhetri families and often serve as a middle name.

Other productive suffixes and prefixes include -nath ('lord', as in Gopinath, Kedarnath, Bholanath), -man ('honour', common in Newar names), -raj ('king'), -devi and -kumari for girls ('goddess', 'maiden/virgin goddess'), and -maya ('full of', as in Krishna-maya, Lakshmi-maya). Kumari has added weight in the Kathmandu Valley through the living-goddess tradition.

It is also common to combine two deities in one name - Hari-Har (Vishnu + Shiva together, a syncretic form), Radha-Krishna, Sita-Ram, Uma-Shankar and Laxmi-Narayan - expressing devotion to a divine couple or to the unity of the gods. This flexibility is why the same handful of divine roots generate hundreds of distinct Nepali names.

The meanings given above rest on classical Sanskrit lexicography (the Monier-Williams and Apte Sanskrit dictionaries) and on the traditional glosses attached to the sahasranama hymns and their commentaries, such as Adi Shankaracharya's bhashya on the Vishnu Sahasranama. Some epithets have more than one accepted derivation - Madhav and Uma are good examples - so a single 'correct' meaning should be treated with care, and multiple readings are noted where they exist.

For parents, the practical path is to confirm the auspicious starting syllable at the Nwaran, shortlist deity names that fit it and the family's ishtadevata, and check the exact Sanskrit sense so the meaning is one you want the child to carry. Because Nepali transliteration varies (Bishnu/Vishnu, Laxmi/Lakshmi, Gauri/Gowri), it helps to fix a preferred spelling early for documents.

Each name in this directory links to its own detail page, where the etymology, scriptural attestations, notable bearers and spelling variants are set out in full. Use the god-by-god sections above as an index into that slug family, whether you are searching for Shiva names for a baby boy, a Vishnu or Krishna name with meaning, or goddess names for a baby girl.