Mrigashira मृगशिरा · pada 3 of 4
Mrigashira Pada 3 Baby Names — Ka (का)
10 names with meanings for a child born with the Moon between Gemini 0°00′ – 3°20′ — the third quarter of Mrigashira, whose syllable is Ka. Moon sign Gemini, navamsa Libra.
- Pada
- third of four · Mrigashira is nakshatra 5 of 27
- Naming syllable
- Ka का
- Span
- Gemini 0°00′ – 3°20′ · 60°00′ – 63°20′ sidereal
- Moon sign
- Gemini (Mithuna) — this nakshatra straddles a boundary, so the pada decides it
- Navamsa
- Libra (Tula) — the 5th navamsa from Gemini
- Names listed
- 5 boys' names, 5 girls' names
- Position in Gemini
- the first of the sign’s nine pada syllables
- Nakshatra lord
- Mars · presiding deity Soma · symbol Deer's head
Names beginning Ka for Mrigashira pada 3
Ka is what the third quarter of Mrigashira is assigned, and to no other pada of the 108. Any of the names below satisfies the rite for a birth between Gemini 0°00′ – 3°20′, and the meaning matters as much as the sound: a name is used for a lifetime and the gloss is the part a child will be told.
Boys' names — 5
| Name | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Karan | an ear — also Karna of the Mahabharata |
| Kartik | of the month Kartika — a name of Kartikeya |
| Kanha | the child Krishna |
| Kanishk | the Kushan emperor |
| Kalyan | welfare, auspiciousness |
Girls' names — 5
| Name | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Kavya | poetry |
| Kanchan | gold |
| Kalpana | imagination |
| Kamakshi | the goddess of loving eyes |
| Kamini | a desirable woman — also a flowering shrub |
Where the Gemini naming letters come from
A panchang prints nine syllables against Gemini — Ka Ki Ku Gha Ing Chha Ke Ko Ha — 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.
Mrigashira pada 3 is the first of the nine, contributing Ka at 60°00′ – 63°20′ sidereal. That is worth knowing if a family has been given the rashi list rather than the pada: any of the nine satisfies a Gemini 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 | Ka का | Mrigashira pada 3 — this pada | 10 |
| 2 | Ki की | Mrigashira pada 4 | 7 |
| 3 | Ku कु | Ardra pada 1 | 9 |
| 4 | Gha घ | Ardra pada 2 | 2 |
| 5 | Ing ङ | Ardra pada 3 | none |
| 6 | Chha छ | Ardra pada 4 | 2 |
| 7 | Ke के | Punarvasu pada 1 | 7 |
| 8 | Ko को | Punarvasu pada 2 | 4 |
| 9 | Ha ह | Punarvasu pada 3 | 9 |
Mrigashira crosses a sign boundary, so the pada decides the rashi
A nakshatra is 13°20′ and a sign is 30°, and neither divides the other, so nine of the 27 nakshatras have their padas split between two signs. Mrigashira is one of them: its four padas fall in Taurus for padas 1 to 2 and Gemini for padas 3 to 4. Pada 3 is in Gemini, which is why the nine-syllable list above is Gemini’s and not the other sign’s.
The practical consequence is that two children born in Mrigashira a day or two apart can have different Moon signs — and therefore a different rashi letter list, a different monthly rashifal and a different set of substitutes if the syllable turns out to have no names. The nakshatra alone cannot tell you which; the pada can, and the pada needs the time and place of birth.
The other three padas of Mrigashira
A nakshatra is 13°20′ wide and a pada is a quarter of that, 3°20′ — so the third quarter of Mrigashira occupies Gemini 0°00′ – 3°20′ and its other three sit either side of it. What the four share is Mrigashira itself: Mars as lord, Soma as presiding deity, the deer's head as symbol, and a character read as curious, gentle, searching. What separates them is the navamsa, the Moon sign — Mrigashira crosses a boundary — and, the naming syllable, which is Ka for pada 3 and Ve, Vo and Ki for the others.
| Pada | Syllable | Moon sign | Navamsa | Names |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pada 1 | Ve वे | Taurus | Leo | 8 |
| Pada 2 | Vo वो | Taurus | Virgo | none |
| Pada 3 — this page | Ka का | Gemini | Libra | 10 |
| Pada 4 | Ki की | Gemini | Scorpio | 7 |
All four listed together, with the full name tables and the Mrigashira profile, are on the Mrigashira 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 Mrigashira pada 3 page covers what this quarter means beyond the name.
Mrigashira pada 3 — common questions
What letter should a Mrigashira pada 3 baby's name start with?
Ka, in Devanagari का. That syllable belongs to the third pada of Mrigashira specifically, not to the whole nakshatra: each of the four padas carries a different one, and Mrigashira's other three are Ve for pada 1, Vo for pada 2 and Ki for pada 4.
How many names begin with Ka?
10 names, 5 for boys and 5 for girls, each with its meaning — that is what Ka carries, and so what the third pada of Mrigashira offers. The count is uneven across the 108 padas by nature: the syllables come from dividing the zodiac, not from asking what Sanskrit allows at the start of a word, so Mrigashira pada 3 gets what Ka actually begins.
Which rashi is Mrigashira pada 3?
Gemini — Mithuna, entered at 60°00′ – 63°20′ sidereal longitude. Only for this pada: Mrigashira is split across two signs, and pada 3 is the one that lands first in Gemini. Ask for the rashi of Mrigashira without naming a pada and there is no single answer — Taurus for padas 1 to 2 and Gemini for padas 3 to 4.
Are all nine Gemini naming syllables different sounds?
Yes — Gemini is one of the eleven signs whose nine padas give nine distinct spellings, so the syllable Ka is not duplicated anywhere else in Ka Ki Ku Gha Ing Chha Ke Ko Ha. 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 Gemini, Mrigashira pada 3 owns Ka outright.
Does the navamsa change the name for Mrigashira pada 3?
Not the syllable. The syllable comes from the pada, and for Mrigashira pada 3 it is Ka. The navamsa — Libra here, the 5th navamsa counted from Gemini — is read for the child's temperament and for chart work rather than for the naming letter.
Naming a Mrigashira 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.