Punarvasu पुनर्वसु · pada 1 of 4
Punarvasu Pada 1 Baby Names — Ke (के)
7 names with meanings for a child born with the Moon between Gemini 20°00′ – 23°20′ — the first quarter of Punarvasu, whose syllable is Ke. Moon sign Gemini, navamsa Aries.
- Pada
- first of four · Punarvasu is nakshatra 7 of 27
- Naming syllable
- Ke के
- Span
- Gemini 20°00′ – 23°20′ · 80°00′ – 83°20′ sidereal
- Moon sign
- Gemini (Mithuna) — this nakshatra straddles a boundary, so the pada decides it
- Navamsa
- Aries (Mesha) — the 11th navamsa from Gemini
- Names listed
- 4 boys' names, 3 girls' names
- Position in Gemini
- the seventh of the sign’s nine pada syllables
- Nakshatra lord
- Jupiter · presiding deity Aditi · symbol Quiver
Names beginning Ke for Punarvasu pada 1
Ke is what the first quarter of Punarvasu is assigned, and to no other pada of the 108. Any of the names below satisfies the rite for a birth between Gemini 20°00′ – 23°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 — 4
| Name | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Keshav | of fine hair — a name of Krishna |
| Kedar | a mountain field — Kedarnath |
| Keval | only, absolute |
| Ketan | a banner — also a home |
Girls' names — 3
| Name | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Ketaki | the pandanus flower |
| Keshini | having beautiful hair |
| Keya | the ketaki flower, in Bengali |
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.
Punarvasu pada 1 is the seventh of the nine, contributing Ke at 80°00′ – 83°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 | 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 — this pada | 7 |
| 8 | Ko को | Punarvasu pada 2 | 4 |
| 9 | Ha ह | Punarvasu pada 3 | 9 |
Punarvasu 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. Punarvasu is one of them: its four padas fall in Gemini for padas 1 to 3 and Cancer for pada 4. Pada 1 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 Punarvasu 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 Punarvasu
A nakshatra is 13°20′ wide and a pada is a quarter of that, 3°20′ — so the first quarter of Punarvasu occupies Gemini 20°00′ – 23°20′ and its other three sit either side of it. What the four share is Punarvasu itself: Jupiter as lord, Aditi as presiding deity, the quiver as symbol, and a character read as renewing, optimistic, philosophical. What separates them is the navamsa, the Moon sign — Punarvasu crosses a boundary — and, the naming syllable, which is Ke for pada 1 and Ko, Ha and Hi for the others.
| Pada | Syllable | Moon sign | Navamsa | Names |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pada 1 — this page | Ke के | Gemini | Aries | 7 |
| Pada 2 | Ko को | Gemini | Taurus | 4 |
| Pada 3 | Ha ह | Gemini | Gemini | 9 |
| Pada 4 | Hi ही | Cancer | Cancer | 7 |
All four listed together, with the full name tables and the Punarvasu profile, are on the Punarvasu 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 Punarvasu pada 1 page covers what this quarter means beyond the name.
Punarvasu pada 1 — common questions
What letter should a Punarvasu pada 1 baby's name start with?
Ke, in Devanagari के. That syllable belongs to the first pada of Punarvasu specifically, not to the whole nakshatra: each of the four padas carries a different one, and Punarvasu's other three are Ko for pada 2, Ha for pada 3 and Hi for pada 4.
How many names begin with Ke?
7 names, 4 for boys and 3 for girls, each with its meaning — that is what Ke carries, and so what the first pada of Punarvasu 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 Punarvasu pada 1 gets what Ke actually begins.
Which rashi is Punarvasu pada 1?
Gemini — Mithuna, entered at 80°00′ – 83°20′ sidereal longitude. Only for this pada: Punarvasu is split across two signs, and pada 1 is the one that lands seventh in Gemini. Ask for the rashi of Punarvasu without naming a pada and there is no single answer — Gemini for padas 1 to 3 and Cancer for pada 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 Ke 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, Punarvasu pada 1 owns Ke outright.
Does the navamsa change the name for Punarvasu pada 1?
Not the syllable. The syllable comes from the pada, and for Punarvasu pada 1 it is Ke. The navamsa — Aries here, the 11th navamsa counted from Gemini — is read for the child's temperament and for chart work rather than for the naming letter.
Naming a Punarvasu pada 1 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.