Free Nakshatra Name Finder
Baby Name by Nakshatra Pada
The four syllables your birth nakshatra carries, in Devanagari, with the names that actually exist under each one — and a straight answer where a pada has none.
All 108 padas and their syllables
The syllable each pada carries, in Devanagari, with the number of names in use under it. A zero is not a missing entry — it is a pada whose sound begins no established Indian name, and the reasons are set out below.
| Nakshatra | Pada 1 | Pada 2 | Pada 3 | Pada 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ashwini | चु Chu 2 | चे Che 5 | चो Cho none | ला La 10 |
| Bharani | ली Lee 6 | लु Lu 1 | ले Le 3 | लो Lo 6 |
| Krittika | अ A 14 | इ Ee 9 | उ U 10 | ए Ay 7 |
| Rohini | ओ O 7 | वा Va 10 | वी Vee 11 | वु Vu none |
| Mrigashira | वे Ve 8 | वो Vo none | का Ka 10 | की Kee 7 |
| Ardra | कु Ku 9 | घ Gha 2 | ङ Ing none | छ Chha 2 |
| Punarvasu | के Ke 7 | को Ko 4 | ह Ha 9 | ही Hee 7 |
| Pushya | हु Hu 1 | हे He 7 | हो Ho none | द Da 10 |
| Ashlesha | डी Dee 9 | डू Doo 3 | डे Day 10 | डो / दो Do 1 |
| Magha | मा Ma 10 | मी Mee 5 | मू Moo 8 | मे May 5 |
| Purva Phalguni | मो Mo 6 | टा / ता Ta 8 | टी / ती Tee 4 | टू / तू Too 5 |
| Uttara Phalguni | टे Tay 3 | टो / तो To 3 | पा Pa 8 | पी Pee 3 |
| Hasta | पू Poo 9 | ष Sha 8 | ण / न Na 8 | ठ / थ Tha none |
| Chitra | पे Pe none | पो Po none | रा Ra 8 | री Ree 6 |
| Swati | रु Ru 7 | रे Re 5 | रो Ro 5 | टा / ता Ta 8 |
| Vishakha | टी / ती Tee 4 | टू / तू Too 5 | ते Te 3 | टो / तो To 3 |
| Anuradha | ण / न Na 8 | नी Nee 10 | नू Noo 2 | ने Nay 3 |
| Jyeshtha | नो No none | या Ya 6 | यी Yee none | यु Yu 5 |
| Mula | ये Ye none | यो Yo 5 | भा Bha 8 | भी Bhee 2 |
| Purva Ashadha | भू Bhu 8 | ध / ढ Dha 8 | फ Pha 2 | ध / ढ Dha 8 |
| Uttara Ashadha | भे Bhe none | भो Bho 2 | जा Ja 8 | जी Ji 6 |
| Shravana | जु Ju 2 | जे Je none | जो Jo none | घ Gha 2 |
| Dhanishta | गा Ga 8 | गि Gi 6 | गु Gu 4 | गे Ge none |
| Shatabhisha | गो Go 7 | सा Sa 8 | सि Si 5 | सु Su 10 |
| Purva Bhadrapada | से Se 1 | सो So 6 | द Da 10 | दि Di 9 |
| Uttara Bhadrapada | दू Du 3 | ठ / थ Tha none | झ Jha 2 | ञ Tra 7 |
| Revati | दे De 10 | डो / दो Do 1 | च Cha 8 | ची Chi 6 |
Syllables in roman follow the spelling used in panchang tables, which marks vowel length rather than the way names are written — ली is printed Lee and the names under it begin Li. Select a nakshatra above to see the names themselves with their meanings.
Namkaran Sanskar and what the syllable is actually for
Namkaran is one of the sixteen samskaras, held on the eleventh or twelfth day after birth in most traditions and on the sixteenth or the first day of the second month in others. The father speaks the chosen name into the child's right ear, and it is then announced to the family. The rite is old enough that the Grihya Sutras already argue about how many syllables the name should have and whether it should end in a long vowel.
The naming syllable comes from the Moon. At the moment of birth the Moon occupies one of the 27 nakshatras, and each nakshatra is divided into four padas of 3°20′ each; every one of those 108 padas carries an assigned syllable. A name beginning with that syllable is held to sound the note the chart was already playing. That is the whole claim — it is about the first sound, not about the meaning, the length, or the language the rest of the name comes from.
The pada, not the nakshatra, fixes the syllable
This is the part most name lists blur. A nakshatra spans 13°20′, which the Moon crosses in a little under a day, and its four padas are quarters of that. Knowing the nakshatra narrows you to four syllables; knowing the pada gives you one. The pada needs the exact clock time and place of birth, because the Moon moves roughly one pada every five and a half hours.
So a page like this can honestly tell you which four syllables your nakshatra carries and which names exist under each. Deciding which of the four is yours is a calculation from the birth time, and if the birth was near a boundary it is worth having done properly rather than estimated.
Why some padas have no name at all
The 108 syllables come from dividing the zodiac, not from asking what Sanskrit permits, and several of them land on sounds that cannot begin a word. Ardra's third pada is ङ and Uttara Bhadrapada's fourth is ञ — the velar and palatal nasals. Neither can start a word in Sanskrit or in Hindi; they only ever close a syllable. There is no name for those padas, and that is a fact about the script rather than a gap in anyone's list.
A second group is the retroflex stops — ट ठ ड ढ ण, which fall to Purva and Uttara Phalguni, Hasta's third and fourth padas, all four of Ashlesha, and Purva Ashadha's fourth. Almost no inherited Sanskrit word begins with these, so pandits and panchang tables substitute the dental counterpart: त थ द ध न. That substitution is why Ashlesha's डी pada is answered with Divya and Dinesh, and it is worth knowing you are looking at a substitution rather than the syllable itself.
A third group is simply unused: पे and पो in Chitra, वु and वो in Rohini and Mrigashira, चो, हो, ये, यी, जे, जो, गे, भे. These are pronounceable and no name in circulation begins with them. Where that is the case, this page says so and shows the traditional alternatives instead of filling the space. The names usually printed for these padas are built by bending an existing name to fit — Vinod becomes Vunod, Mukesh becomes Vukesh — and a name that exists only in a name generator is worse than an honest blank.
What to do when your pada's syllable is empty
Three substitutions are traditional and all three are in ordinary use. The first is another pada of the same nakshatra: the pada fixes the syllable but the nakshatra is what the rite is built on, and a sibling pada is the commonest accommodation. The second is the rashi akshar — any syllable belonging to the same Moon sign, which widens the choice to about nine syllables, since each rashi covers nine padas. The third is a name of the nakshatra's presiding deity, which sets the syllable question aside altogether: Rudra for Ardra, Indra for Jyeshtha, Vishnu for Shravana, Agni for Krittika.
A family pandit's list takes precedence over any of this. Regional traditions differ on several padas, and the pandit conducting the rite is working from the lineage's own table.
The Moon sign route, and where it is enough
Naming by rashi rather than by pada is the looser and far commoner practice, especially where the exact birth time was never recorded. Mesha covers Ashwini, Bharani and Krittika's first pada, so its syllables run Chu, Che, Cho, La, Li, Lu, Le, Lo and A. Every rashi works the same way, nine padas each. It is a real tradition, not a shortcut, and for most families it is what actually happened.
What it costs you is precision: nine syllables instead of one, and no way to know which of them the chart itself favoured. If the birth time is known to the minute, the pada is worth calculating.
Where these names come from, and what is not here
Every name on this page is one in actual use, listed with its conventional Sanskrit gloss, and marked when it belongs to a regional language rather than to Sanskrit. The count per syllable is uneven on purpose — some padas carry thirty names and some carry none. Any list that returns exactly four boys' and four girls' names for all 108 padas has invented the difference away.
What this page does not do is choose. A name is weighed for its meaning, for how it will be shortened, for the family's deity and lineage, and often for its numerology, and none of that is a lookup. The syllable is the constraint the chart supplies; the rest is yours.
Frequently asked questions
Which letter should my baby's name start with?
The syllable assigned to the pada the Moon occupied at the exact moment of birth. Knowing the nakshatra alone narrows it to four syllables — the four padas — and the exact birth time decides which of the four. Select the nakshatra above to see all four with the names that exist under each.
My pada's syllable has no names at all. Is the list broken?
No — some padas genuinely have none. Ardra's third pada is ङ and Uttara Bhadrapada's fourth is ञ, and neither of those letters can begin a word in Sanskrit or Hindi. Several others, such as पे, पो, वु and वो, are pronounceable but unused as name initials. In those cases the traditional substitutes are another pada of the same nakshatra, any syllable of the same Moon sign, or a name of the nakshatra's deity.
Why does Ashlesha's list show names like Divya and Dinesh when the syllable is डी?
Because ड, the retroflex d, begins almost no inherited Sanskrit word, so practice substitutes the dental द. Every panchang table does the same thing; this page just says that it is doing it. The same substitution applies to Purva and Uttara Phalguni's ट padas, Hasta's ण and ठ, and Purva Ashadha's ढ.
Why do two websites give different letters for the same nakshatra?
Two reasons. Regional traditions genuinely differ on a handful of padas, and the roman spelling of the same Devanagari syllable varies — one table prints Lee, another Li, for ली. A third reason is less respectable: where a syllable has no names, some lists quietly move the neighbouring syllable's names into it, which changes what the column appears to mean.
Can we use the Rashi letter instead of the Nakshatra pada syllable?
Yes, and most families do. Each Moon sign covers nine padas, so naming by rashi gives you nine syllables to choose from rather than one. It is an accepted tradition in its own right, particularly where the birth time was not recorded precisely enough to fix the pada.
Does the whole name have to start with the syllable?
The first sound of the given name is what the tradition asks for. A compound name satisfies it if its first element does — Devdatta answers दे. Some families use the pada syllable for a ritual name spoken only at the ceremony and a different everyday name, which is a long-standing practice rather than a compromise.
When is the Namkaran ceremony held?
Most commonly on the eleventh or twelfth day after birth, with the sixteenth day and the first day of the second month also prescribed. The day itself is then chosen for a favourable tithi and nakshatra — Rikta tithis, Amavasya and Ashtami are avoided — which is a separate calculation from the naming syllable.