Nepali baby names

Handpicked for families who want names with roots: the beloved classics, what parents in the culture choose today, and the cool discoveries most US name sites never surface.

Aakriti form, shape (Sanskrit akriti); a 2000s and 2010s Kathmandu favorite

Aaradhya worthy of worship; a 2010s and 2020s favorite in Kathmandu as across South Asia

Aarav usually linked to Sanskrit rava, sound, and glossed as peaceful sound; tops boys' charts in Kathmandu as in Mumbai, and it has charted on the US SSA list since the mid-2010s, so it works for Nepali-American families on both sides of the hyphen

Aayush long life (Sanskrit ayus); a defining Nepali boys' name of the 1990s and 2000s cohort

Anish usually derived from Sanskrit anisha, having no master, sovereign, an epithet of Vishnu; big with Nepal's 1990s and 2000s cohort

Anjali an offering made with cupped hands; a 1990s and 2000s favorite that Americans already know how to say

Ashish blessing (Sanskrit ashis; also spelled Aashish); a staple of Nepal's 1980s and 90s cohort

Bibek the Nepali form of Sanskrit viveka, discernment, wisdom; the B where India writes V (Bibek, not Vivek) is the signature Nepali romanization, an instant tell of Nepali rather than Indian heritage on a US class roster

Bidhya knowledge, learning (Sanskrit vidya) in its Nepali form; carried by Bidhya Devi Bhandari, Nepal's first woman president, and the b and dh spelling is unmistakably Nepali against Indian Vidya

Bikash Nepali form of Sanskrit vikasa, blossoming, development; a 1970s and 80s cohort staple with the characteristic Nepali B spelling

Binod Nepali form of Sanskrit vinoda, delight, pleasant diversion; a parent-generation staple

Bishal Nepali form of Sanskrit vishala, vast, grand; big with Nepal's 1990s birth cohort

Dipesh lord of light (Sanskrit dipa and isha); note the Nepali single-i romanization against Indian Deepesh

Gita song; evokes the Bhagavad Gita; a grandmother-generation staple in Nepal

Jharana waterfall; a nature name straight from the hill landscape

Junu usually linked to Nepali jun, the moon; a soft everyday girls' name of Nepal's 1980s and 90s cohort

Kamala lotus; grandmother-generation Nepal, and newly familiar to Americans as a first name since 2020

Kiran ray of light (Sanskrit kirana); in Nepal it is usually a boys' name, though Americans read it as unisex

Laxmi the goddess of fortune honored on Laxmi Puja, the third night of Nepal's Tihar festival; the x spelling, standard in Nepal, marks the name as Nepali against Indian Lakshmi

Matina love in Nepal Bhasa, the Newar language of the Kathmandu Valley; borne by Matina Shakya, Kathmandu's Kumari, its living goddess, from 2008 to 2017; a precise and proud Newar heritage pick

Maya in Nepali, maya means love and affection, a different word from Sanskrit maya, illusion; the root of hill classics like Phulmaya and Sunmaya, and it reads seamlessly as mainstream American Maya, the rare name that is fully Nepali and fully American at once

Muna bud, young sprout; the heroine of Muna Madan (1936), Laxmi Prasad Devkota's verse epic and the best-loved work of Nepali literature; two syllables Americans pronounce right on the first try

Nima the sun, and born on Sunday, in the Sherpa day-name tradition; given to boys and girls alike

Nischal steadfast, unshaken (Sanskrit nishchala); a modern Kathmandu favorite

Parbati Nepali form of Parvati, daughter of the mountain, consort of Shiva; fitting for the country of the high Himalaya, with the characteristic Nepali b spelling

Pemba born on Saturday, from the Tibetan day-name system that also gives Nima, Dawa and Pasang; a proud marker of Sherpa heritage in the large Himalayan community centered in Queens, New York

Phulmaya flower-love (Nepali phul, flower, with maya, love); a grandmother-generation name of Nepal's hill communities, especially Tamang, Gurung and Magar families

Prabin Nepali form of Sanskrit pravina, skilled, adept; note the Nepali b where India writes Praveen

Prakriti nature itself (Sanskrit prakriti); a 2000s and 2010s pick

Prem love (Sanskrit prema); one syllable that spans every Nepali generation

Rajamati heroine of the beloved 19th-century Newar folk song Rajamati; built from Sanskrit raja and mati, royal and minded, but thoroughly Newar as a name; a deep-heritage pick for Newar families

Ramesh lord of Rama, that is of Lakshmi, an epithet of Vishnu; grandfather-generation Nepal

Roshan bright, shining; genuinely Persian, carried into Nepali through centuries of contact, and one of Nepal's most common men's names

Sadikshya usually derived from Sanskrit diksha, initiation, dedication; the -kshya ending, shared with Samikshya and Dikshya, is the most distinctive of all Nepali romanizations, found on no Indian birth certificate, and marks the 2000s and 2010s Nepal cohort

Sagar ocean (Sanskrit sagara); a favorite in landlocked Nepal, and easy to say everywhere

Samikshya observation, careful study (Sanskrit samiksha) with the signature Nepali -kshya ending

Samjhana memory, remembrance; the everyday Nepali word, not a Sanskrit borrowing taken whole, and beloved through 1970s and 80s Nepali film and song; instantly recognizable to any Nepali as home

Sapana dream (the Nepali word, from Sanskrit svapna); three light open syllables, easy in English

Sarita river, the flowing one; a parent-generation staple that also matches Spanish Sarita, little Sara, a happy accident in US classrooms

Sirjana creation (Nepali sirjana, from Sanskrit srjana); a 1980s and 90s Nepali girls' staple, sometimes spelled Srijana

Sita furrow; the heroine of the Ramayana, born at Janakpur in Nepal's Mithila plains, which makes the name home-ground heritage for Nepali families rather than a borrowing; a grandmother-generation classic

Sujan good, honest person (Sanskrit sujana); an everyday Nepali virtue name for boys

Suman good-minded, also a flower (Sanskrit sumanas); in Nepal it is mostly a men's name, unlike in parts of India

Sunita well-guided, of good conduct; a defining name of Nepal's parent generation

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