All parents wish to give a unique and meaningful name to their child.
In India, a Sanskrit name is mostly preferred. Often parents turn to
the Internet, which is replete with misinformation on Sanskrit names.
Popular name websites too mispresent meaning of many Sanskrit
words and sometimes even list names from other languages, presenting
them as Sanskrit names. Some bestselling books on Sanskrit names
also carry such mistakes. Parents are misled by such sources and end
up giving a kunāma (‘a bad name’) to their child.
Each Sanskrit sunāma—or ‘a good name’—has a mathematical
derivation (vyutpatti) and/or a mystical explanation (nirukti). This
work by Sanskrit scholar Nityānanda Miśra is a wonderful collection of
more than 3,000 sunāmas, most of which are rare or unused today. He
studied more than 70,000 names in seventy-seven authentic Sanskrit
texts, including seven Vedic saṃhitās, ten Purāṇas, the Rāmāyaṇa,
the Mahābhārata, seven koṣas, three grammar works and thirty-eight
sahasranāmas for this compilation. Each name entry includes the
Devanagari and IAST spellings, gender, meaning, and the person or
deity to whom the name belongs.
SUnāma
beautiful sanskrit names
A work of immense dedication and accurate research, this is a musthave for parents seeking unique names for their child.
Nityānanda Miśra, a scholar of Sanskrit and Hinduism,
is an IIM Bangalore graduate and a finance professional
based in Mumbai. He is a professional onomastician
who provides consultation on Sanskrit names to parents
and business owners. He regularly writes commentaries
on Sanskrit names on Facebook and Twitter.
Cover design: Syed Dilshad Ali
Cover illustration © krupenikova.olga / Shutterstock.com
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nityānanda miśra