Tibetan Weekday Birth-Names in Nepal: Sherpa, Tamang & Gurung Meanings

Among Nepal's Tibetan-Buddhist communities, especially the Sherpa, Tamang and Gurung, one of the most widespread naming customs is to name a child after the day of the week on which they were born. The seven weekday names come directly from the Tibetan calendar, where each day is linked to a celestial body: Nyima (Sunday, the Sun), Dawa (Monday, the Moon), Mingmar (Tuesday, Mars), Lhakpa (Wednesday, Mercury), Phurba (Thursday, Jupiter), Pasang (Friday, Venus) and Pemba (Saturday, Saturn).

This is why the same word can mean both a day of the week and a person. For example, Dawa means 'moon', 'month' and 'Monday' all at once, and as a personal name it carries the idea of one who gives light and drives away darkness, the way moonlight does. Nyima likewise means both 'sun' and 'Sunday'. Because the words are ordinary calendar terms, the naming system is instantly recognisable to anyone who knows the Tibetan week.

The custom is practical as well as auspicious. It gives every child an immediate, meaningful name at birth without waiting for a formal ceremony, and it is believed to place the child under the protection of the deity or planet that rules that day. A more elaborate religious name is often added later by a lama, so a person may carry both a weekday name and a second Buddhist name (see below).

The table below lists the seven Tibetan weekday names as they are commonly romanised and used across Nepal. Spellings vary from valley to valley and between Sherpa, Tamang and Gurung usage, so you will also see Mingma, Phurbu/Phurpu, Penpa/Pemba and Nima. All refer to the same underlying calendar days.

These names are gender-neutral on their own. A second syllable is frequently added to mark gender or to add meaning, most often -mo, -mu or -Lhamo ('goddess') for women, so Pasang alone can be a man or a woman, while Pasang Lhamo is clearly a woman's name. The late Pasang Lhamu Sherpa, the first Nepali woman to summit Mount Everest, is a well-known example of exactly this pattern.

Because these names are so common, their meanings are among the most-searched questions about Sherpa names. 'Pasang meaning' is simply Friday, the day ruled by the planet Venus; a person called Pasang was, by tradition, born on a Friday. The name carries no negative sense and is used for both men and women, alone or in combinations like Pasang Sherpa, Pasang Tenzin or Pasang Lhamu.

Alongside the weekday names, a set of religious and virtue names appears again and again in Sherpa, Tamang and Gurung families. Dorje (Tibetan 'rdo rje') means the vajra or 'diamond thunderbolt', something indestructible that can cut through anything; it is one of the most important symbols in Tibetan Buddhism and a very popular name, so 'Dorje name meaning' is best answered as 'the indestructible one'. Sonam means merit or good fortune, and Tenzin means 'holder of the (Buddha's) teachings', a name closely associated with the Dalai Lama, whose personal name is Tenzin Gyatso.

Women's names often end in the feminine syllables -mo or -ma. Lhamo means 'goddess', Dolma or Drolma refers to the female bodhisattva Tara, and Pema (from Sanskrit 'padma') means 'lotus'. Other everyday names include Karma ('action, deed'), Tashi ('auspicious, fortunate'), Norbu ('jewel') and Wangchuk ('mighty lord'). Many of these are shared with Bhutanese and Tibetan naming traditions, reflecting a common Himalayan Buddhist heritage.

A single person often carries two or more of these elements. A weekday name is usually paired with a religious name, a virtue name or a gender marker, producing names such as Nyima Tenzin, Dawa Dorje, Lhakpa Sonam or Pemba Lhamo. There is no fixed word order in the Western sense of 'first name plus surname'; the elements are simply juxtaposed, and either can come first.

Traditionally these communities did not use inherited family surnames the way many other groups do. Instead, the ethnonym itself often functions as the surname in official documents, so a person may be recorded as Nyima Sherpa, Dawa Tamang or Pasang Gurung. Sherpa clan names (such as Lama, Sherpa or specific ru or clan names) may also appear. This is why the words 'Sherpa', 'Tamang' and 'Gurung' are seen so often at the end of names in Nepal.

Because two children born on the same weekday can end up with the same core name, families use the added syllables, clan names and religious names to distinguish individuals. In practice this creates enormous variety from a small starting set of seven weekday words.

In Tibetan-Buddhist tradition, personal names are frequently bestowed on a child by a lama, who may include an element of the lama's own name or of the family's chosen deity. In the diaspora, some families request a name from a senior teacher such as the Dalai Lama. This religious name sits alongside, and does not replace, the weekday name given at birth.

This layering explains why a Sherpa, Tamang or Gurung person can hold several names over a lifetime: a weekday name from birth, a religious or ordination name if they take Buddhist vows, and the community name used on citizenship documents. The weekday name, being tied to the moment of birth, is the one most people are called by in daily life.

It is worth noting that the meanings given here reflect widely attested Tibetan usage rather than a single fixed rule. Spelling, pronunciation and preferred combinations differ across regions, dialects and generations, and some families choose names purely for their auspicious meaning rather than for the actual day of birth.

The weekday naming system is strongest among Nepal's traditionally Buddhist Himalayan peoples. According to Nepal's 2021 National Population and Housing Census, conducted by the National Statistics Office (formerly the Central Bureau of Statistics, CBS), the Tamang numbered about 1.64 million (around 5.6 per cent of the national population), the Gurung about 544,000 (around 1.9 per cent) and the Sherpa about 131,000 (around 0.45 per cent), out of a total population of roughly 29.16 million.

The Tamang are concentrated in the hills around the Kathmandu Valley and across central Nepal; the Gurung are centred in the central hills of Gandaki, including Lamjung, Kaski and Manang; and the Sherpa are best known from the Solukhumbu (Everest) region and other high valleys. All three are recognised as indigenous nationalities (Adivasi Janajati) and count Tibetan Buddhism among their principal traditional religions, which is why the Tibetan calendar names are so common among them.

The same names also appear among other Himalayan Buddhist communities of Nepal such as the Bhote, Thakali, Yolmo (Hyolmo), Lhomi and Walung, and among Tibetan refugees settled in Nepal. As a result, the weekday names are heard well beyond any single ethnic group, forming part of a shared Nepali Himalayan naming culture.