Ashwini अश्विनी · pada 3 of 4
Ashwini Pada 3 Baby Names — Cho (चो)
The third pada of Ashwini runs Aries 6°40′ – 10°00′ and is assigned the syllable Cho. No established Indian name begins with it, so this page gives the three substitutes the tradition actually uses rather than four invented names.
- Pada
- third of four · Ashwini is nakshatra 1 of 27
- Naming syllable
- Cho चो
- Span
- Aries 6°40′ – 10°00′ · 6°40′ – 10°00′ sidereal
- Moon sign
- Aries (Mesha)
- Navamsa
- Gemini (Mithuna) — the 3rd navamsa from Aries
- Names listed
- none — no established name begins this syllable
- Position in Aries
- the third of the sign’s nine pada syllables
- Nakshatra lord
- Ketu · presiding deity Ashwini Kumaras · symbol Horse's head
Why Ashwini pada 3 has no name of its own
No established Indian name begins with चो. Lists that show four are padding it — the entries in circulation are Hindi diminutives such as Chotu and Choti, which are nicknames rather than names given at Namkaran.
Sixteen of the 108 padas are in this position, and the tradition has an answer for it that does not involve inventing a word. The three substitutes are below, resolved into actual names for Ashwini pada 3 rather than left as rules.
Where the Aries naming letters come from
A panchang prints nine syllables against Aries — Chu Che Cho La Li Lu Le Lo A — usually with no explanation of why there are nine. They are the pada syllables that fall inside the sign. There are 108 padas and twelve signs, 108 divides by twelve exactly, and so every sign holds precisely nine padas with nothing left over. The rashi list and the pada syllable are not two competing traditions; the first is the second, collected by sign.
Ashwini pada 3 is the third of the nine, contributing Cho at 6°40′ – 10°00′ sidereal. That is worth knowing if a family has been given the rashi list rather than the pada: any of the nine satisfies an Aries birth, so a family working from the list alone has eight usable syllables, while a pandit working from a birth time narrows it to the one this pada owns.
| # | Syllable | From | Names listed |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chu चु | Ashwini pada 1 | 2 |
| 2 | Che चे | Ashwini pada 2 | 5 |
| 3 | Cho चो | Ashwini pada 3 — this pada | none |
| 4 | La ला | Ashwini pada 4 | 10 |
| 5 | Li ली | Bharani pada 1 | 6 |
| 6 | Lu लु | Bharani pada 2 | 1 |
| 7 | Le ले | Bharani pada 3 | 3 |
| 8 | Lo लो | Bharani pada 4 | 6 |
| 9 | A अ | Krittika pada 1 | 14 |
The three substitutes, for Ashwini pada 3
The 108 syllables come from dividing the zodiac rather than from asking what Sanskrit allows at the start of a word, so some land on sounds that begin few names or none. Where that happens the tradition substitutes, and three routes are recognised. Below, each is carried out for this pada rather than stated as a rule.
1 · Another pada of Ashwini
Another pada of the same nakshatra. The pada fixes the syllable, but the nakshatra as a whole is what the naming rite is built on, and using a sibling pada's syllable is the commonest accommodation. For Ashwini that means pada 1, whose syllable Chu carries 2 names, pada 2, whose syllable Che carries 5 names and pada 4, whose syllable La carries 10 names. A pandit will usually offer this first, because the naming rite is built on the nakshatra and all four padas belong to it.
2 · Another syllable of Aries
Any syllable of the same Moon sign. Each rashi covers either two and a quarter nakshatras or nine padas, so this widens the choice to roughly nine syllables. Aries holds nine pada syllables and eight of the other eight carry names, so an Ashwini pada 3 birth has no shortage of options inside its own Moon sign. The fullest are A (Krittika pada 1), La (Ashwini pada 4) and Li (Bharani pada 1) — 14 names apiece or close to it.
3 · A name of Ashwini Kumaras
A name of the nakshatra's presiding deity, which sidesteps the syllable question altogether — Rudra for Ardra, Indra for Jyeshtha, Vishnu for Shravana. Ashwini is presided over by Ashwini Kumaras, so this route is open regardless of what Cho does or does not begin, and it is the one families choose when they want the nakshatra named in the child rather than merely encoded in a sound. None of the three is treated as a lesser choice.
The other three padas of Ashwini
A nakshatra is 13°20′ wide and a pada is a quarter of that, 3°20′ — so the third quarter of Ashwini occupies Aries 6°40′ – 10°00′ and its other three sit either side of it. What the four share is Ashwini itself: Ketu as lord, Ashwini Kumaras as presiding deity, the horse's head as symbol, and a character read as swift, healing, pioneering. What separates them is the navamsa and the naming syllable, which is Cho for pada 3 and Chu, Che and La for the others.
| Pada | Syllable | Moon sign | Navamsa | Names |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pada 1 | Chu चु | Aries | Aries | 2 |
| Pada 2 | Che चे | Aries | Taurus | 5 |
| Pada 3 — this page | Cho चो | Aries | Gemini | none |
| Pada 4 | La ला | Aries | Cancer | 10 |
All four listed together, with the full name tables and the Ashwini profile, are on the Ashwini baby names page. The pada follows from the Moon’s exact longitude, so it needs the time and place of birth — the baby name finder resolves it from a birth date, and the Ashwini pada 3 page covers what this quarter means beyond the name.
Ashwini pada 3 — common questions
What letter should an Ashwini pada 3 baby's name start with?
Ashwini pada 3 is assigned the syllable Cho (चो), and no established Indian name begins with it. That is a fact about the script rather than a gap in a list, so the tradition substitutes instead of improvising: the commonest route is another pada of Ashwini — pada 1 carries Chu, pada 2 carries Che and pada 4 carries La, and names of Ashwini Kumaras, the presiding deity of Ashwini, are always accepted.
How many names begin with Cho?
None in established use. No established Indian name begins with चो. Lists that show four are padding it — the entries in circulation are Hindi diminutives such as Chotu and Choti, which are nicknames rather than names given at Namkaran. The pages that show four for this pada have padded the list, which is why this one does not.
Which rashi is Ashwini pada 3?
Aries — Mesha, entered at 6°40′ – 10°00′ sidereal longitude. For all four padas: Ashwini sits wholly inside Aries, so unlike the nine straddling nakshatras it has one Moon sign regardless of pada. What pada 3 adds is its place in the sign — third of the nine Aries syllables, Cho.
Are all nine Aries naming syllables different sounds?
Yes — Aries is one of the eleven signs whose nine padas give nine distinct spellings, so the syllable Cho is not duplicated anywhere else in Chu Che Cho La Li Lu Le Lo A. That is not true of every sign: Sagittarius carries Dha twice, for the dental and retroflex forms, and yields eight spellings from its nine padas. Within Aries, Ashwini pada 3 owns Cho outright.
Does the navamsa change the name for Ashwini pada 3?
Not the syllable. The syllable comes from the pada, and for Ashwini pada 3 it is Cho. The navamsa — Gemini here, the 3rd navamsa counted from Aries — is read for the child's temperament and for chart work rather than for the naming letter.
Naming an Ashwini pada 3 child?
The syllable is fixed by the pada, but the namakaran itself is fixed by the chart and by the day — which is a reading rather than a table. Our pandits do both.