Penguin Book of Hindu Names

by Maneka Gandhi

The prodcut of several years of research, this is a comprehensive compilation of Hindu names in current use. The meaning of each of the 20,000 names in the volume is extensively discussed and information on sources and usage is also provided. The book is cross-referenced to make it easier to use.

522 pages, Paperback

First published March 30, 1992

Reviews

[Ashish Iyer]

An excellent book by Maneka. This is a great piece of scholarly work - a vast compilation of Hindu names. If you're looking for a source of unique baby names you can see the painstaking work and research carried out to bring this book. It gives us Sanskrit names with a very meaningful insight on each of them.

There are plenty of other good things about the book which include:
1. The original language of the name.
2. The gender a name applies to.
3. Literal meaning.
4. Meaning with Hindu itihasa context, where applicable.
5. Unique and Rare ones are given,which is hard to find.

I think the book is worth its money, & some of the challenges it faces are challenges of the medium itself - but perhaps some thought could be spared on the following areas in future editions.

It is the best gift a couple expecting a child. Recommend to all.

[Palak]

I bought this book when we wanted to name my niece. We were looking for a traditional name with a good meaning, but which also sounds modern at the same time. I did go through the entire book and did find some very good and interesting names. But a lot of them were so old and outdated that they were quite irrelevant. I do understand that book is about Hindu names and these names have been sourced form ancient scriptures, stories, epics, etc. But if you are looking for a more modern name, you will be luckier with a website. If you are looking for some traditional modern sounding names (they are sprinkled all throughout), then this might be the book for you.

[Tim Poston]

Truth in advertising would call this the Penguin Book of Northern Hindu Names. Most of the Hindus I meet in Bangalore have names that do not belong to the Aryan invaders, and are not in this book.

[Chandradip Dass]

this takes more time than you'll ever have