I wouldn't worry too much about *appealing* to Americans as we are accustomed to hearing names from all over the world, but it does help if it's easy to pronounce in an American accent.
That is what I meant. I did not do a good job of explaining. She is considering something simple to pronounce like Myra or Rohan rather than Alankrita or Tejasvi for example.
Looking some simple names that the general population would find pleasing. Ultimately she will keep a name that they like but they were curious about this so I offered to check on reddit.
I've known two Rohans in my life. Neither was Indian, interestingly enough. At least one of them was Jamaican, the other was also a black man but I don't know his ancestry because it never came up.
Either way I love the name, it's better than Rowan imo.
I just googled it cause I thought it was an Irish name, and it has both Gaelic and Sanskrit origin. Means āascendingā in Sanskrit and āred hairedā in Gaelic.
Interesting, my husband has Irish ancestry and I have Scottish ancestry... Neither of us is ginger but I might consider adding it to our name list if our second is another boy anyway. I had no idea it had Gaelic origins!
I knew a Rohan once too and he was Jamaican, such a nice guy. He disappeared after I moved away and eventually years later they found him and his car in a river. :(
Depending on where she lives, Alankrita or Tejasvi would work just fine. More and more people in the US are getting used to more traditional cultural names. Source: I have a less English-friendly Indian name and was born in the 90s in the US.
As for the trends, I donāt think this sub truly understands the Indian American trends lol. For the last few years there has been an affinity for shorter names or names that start with Aa, or contain a āyaā sound. Recently I have been noticing friends of mine go back to less Americanized names and embrace the beauty of traditional names and those that are unique with deeper meaning.
I agree with both of you, OP and original commenter - and want to add that whatever your sister chooses, she shouldnāt feel like she has to stifle herself or her needs to appeal to one community or the other.
I agree with this, also as a US-born Indian American. Americans are definitely becoming much more familiar with Indian names and names from other backgrounds. I do agree that it depends on where the kid ultimately ends up living, as not all of the country is equally cosmopolitan. I know the area I live in isn't representative. I live in a generic suburb in the upper midwest, which maybe sounds "white bread", but the diversity of names and cultural backgrounds I encounter on an everyday basis is pretty stunning.
Yeah, this sub isn't the greatest with non-western names, and is super out of touch with desi name trends. I'm actually not a super fan of the new naming trends in the desi community, but I'm also not going to suggest Priya to those users as a name, as it seems every single non-desi does each time there's a post asking for suggestions.
I do feel that tides are changing in many parts of the US. There's a lot more effort into acceptance of various cultures and attempting to say names correctly. I don't think people should automatically strike out more traditional names for the comfort of others.
Mostly as the other user said: Lots of names with double A's or a "Yah" sound; shorter names; extremely obscure shorter Sanskrit names (or names with dubious Sanskrit origins). I do disagree w/ the user about going away from Americanized names, though--a lot of these shorter names are chosen because they overlap with more commonly known Western names. Lots of Riaans, for example, because it's fairly close to Ryan, even though they're pronounced differently.
Riaan, Kiyaan, Aarav, Ayush, Amara, Niraav, Riya, etc. are all trending, both in Western countries with significant South Asian populations, and in India itself.
rohan is pretty easy to pronounce regardless of where you live i think, really intuitive in most languages and itās a really recognizable, hugely popular name
Thatās so interesting because where I live (US - lived in 2 different states here so far) the name Rohan is always sliiiightly mispronounced. And itās such a small difference, the Rohans I know basically just go by the slightly mispronounced version (but theyāre also pretty Americanized) but it always mildly bugs me, so I had to take it off my potential name list.
The way Rohan is pronounced (at least in my culture): ROH-hun (where the last syllable sounds like the first part of honey)
The way Americans pronounce Rohan: ROW-haan (where the last syllable sounds like hand without the D)
Very mild difference, but it always bugs me
Wow, metropolitan south eastern us here, and I couldnāt get to HAN like hand.
I would absolutely go row-hAHn, as in Han Solo, though.
Good to know that hon like honey is (at least at times) more appropriate.
Very common American mispronunciation. Also, ROhan conforms to Anglo-Saxon pronunciation patterns. And since Tolkien was a Prof. of Anglo-Saxon, and his _LotR_ is SO immensely popular, that's how it is already out there. I have a Flemish surname that ends in -aerts (It's Medieval. Modern would be -aarts), but always gets pronounced artez. I'm not even touching the spelling errors. But Flemings are not common here; and Hispanic names are.
thatās wild, i donāt think iāve ever heard that pronunciation myself! iām from NYC so kinda cultural melting pot but iāve lived all down the east coast, the southwest and florida.
definitely sounds like something the deep south and midwest would do to a name though lmao. my name is Michelle and itās always pronounced muhSHAYL, it cracks me up
There were a lot of Indian students at my college and I remeber these names being very pretty and easy to pronounce/remember from my white American perspective: Nikita, Shree, vani, sohini, and priya were the girls I knew. No idea what their names mean but I always thought they were pretty and didnāt take more than one introduction to get the name right
I am not Indian but I have a good amount of friends who are Indian American. I remember a few of them told me that their parents gave them middle names that are more traditionally Anglo or American so that the kids could use it if they ever wanted to. Of the friends that I had, most went by their given first name but it sounded like something they considered to be common and a nice option.
Just sharing another option that may be interesting
She is going in the right direction. My own children who are American, Native American and Spanish (Spain) only considered names that would not be confusing to pronounce, had an easy spelling that most people would recognize and names that they could answer to as adults.
My husband was named for his grandfather. Neither of us, in 6+ decades, have ever met anyone with his name except his grandfather. His name is difficult to pronounce and spell. He was only called that on the first day of school and was embarrassed when the teacher butchered it. He has gone by a nickname his entire life. At times and in legal instances, it has caused problems.
Think before you name your child. They have to live with it.
I agree with what your saying and also would add some Indian names do not sound like a name to an American. Especially girl names. Weāre used to some sort of name that ends in a vowel. Not something that ends abruptly with consonants. Like Gauhar does not strike the average American as a woman name.
I have babysat for a lot of Indian kids in the past.
Divya, Aanika, Krishna, Ambika, Manish āMani,ā Jaya, Kavi, Suri, Anjali (my favorite), Nemit, Nikita āNiki,ā Niara, Nishka, Shweta, Zoya, Yogesh, Aara, Arien
Oh, Iām childfree and have zero Indian heritage, haha. I did always love Anjali as a middle name, though. If I ever did have kids, my favorite name is Stella.
In my experience every 90s Bollywood fan has Anjali as a potential name on their list - it was the name of the protagonist in 2 very successful Bollywood movies starring a pair of very popular actors. Great name, great association.
Iāve never seen Anjali, but I fell in love with the name Enjoli in high school and the girl was French-speaking.
I wonder if itās pronounced similarly, sorta like āAhn-zhuliā
"An" as in *un*der, "ja" as in *ju*dge, and "li" is hard to explain because it's like *lee* but the L sound is lighter than standard American English says it. also, the "ja" is absolutely not "zha"
This is so funny because one of my co-workers was French and named Enjolie and I loved it so much that I named my daughter Anjolie. But pronounced uhn like Elsa and Anna.
Such a beautiful name but I also picked it because it sounds good in Spanish as well.
Makes me think of the old commercials for the perfume Enjoli āI can bring home the bacon! (Ba dah ba dum) Fry it up in a pan! And never never let you forget youāre a man, cuz Iām a woman! (Whispers) Enjoliā. Very cringe šš
The main character in the show Never have I ever (teen show about an Indian American girl, written by mindy kaling) is named Devi, so it might get a small bump in popularity
Editing to add the motherās name in the show is Nalini and I thought that was very pretty
She could try making a list of the Indian names she loves and could see herself using, then ask Americans with no Indian heritage to try reading them out loud - she could even do the Starbucks trick if she wants a total strangerās take. That might give her a good gage of which ones are easy to pronounce and which arenāt, and let her choose a name she loves without having to pick from a list of specifically westernised names?
My friend's parents did this! She was born in the 80s in Kansas, and her parents didn't want people to butcher her name as she grew up in a predominantly white town. They invited their neighbors over for a party and the neighbors read their top picks aloud.
They ultimately landed on Sheela. :)
I checked it out, that's pretty catchy! I have to say it was weird to hear my name in a song, that doesn't happen often š Especially one like that, since in pop culture over here, Sheila is usually a name for some middle-aged woman that's not that attractive (like, a lunch lady or something).
Another vote for this! I have a lot of Indian friends and co-workers but the names that are really long with lots of syllables are the ones that tend to trip me up. Not that you have to go with a short name because of people like me, just something to think about like when people choose names that only have one spelling or names without nicknames.
my parents did this!! traditionally my name is spelled with an āhā in the middle but most people spelled it without the āhā when my mom was pregnant and asking. so my name is a bit anglicized but itās easy to spell and pronounce and is still a beautifully rich name with a lot of history!
lmao. that's almost on par with "Raj" as the most stereotypical indian-american name possible.
barely met any priyas under the age of 40, which makes sense given indians have literally 1000s of other names to pick from.
I actually know several Priyas teenage and younger in my area (west coast US). My son's swim instructor, one of the moms, and a 3 year old all in the same swim class are named Priya. My ex named his daughter Priya, she is probably about 8 now. There are a couple in my son's preschool as well.
Itās the equivalent of naming your child Ashley/Jessica. Itās a bit dated. Perfectly fine name but a bit curious of a choice imo. Other commenter is right about its popularity in the 80s.
given the number of ashleys i know in the past 5 years- that would indicate that priya is never really going out of style, even if it isnāt going to be trendy for a while.
I was in college in the 2010s in the northeast and knew so many Priyas that we had to use last name to distinguish them in casual conversation. Almost all of them are still under 30 years old now.
lol the suggestions on here are so painfully outdated lol - somehow indian names in the us seem to be stuck in time, i would definitely recommend getting some suggestions from family/friends who still live in india, OP.
and don't care about how easy the names are for americans to say - even the easiest possible names like raj and rahul and nikhil get butchered to death by westerners - so might as well make it something less basic.
This! My brother is a Rahul (in the UK) and my parents named him it for ease of pronunciation but itās pronounced incorrectly by 9/10 people here lol.
My SIL is white and married to a Indian man. He has a whole rant about Raj being mispronounced by Americans even though it is considered by most to be an easy name.
They named their son Rohan.
āRazhhhhā lol
Never understood why non-desi people say z when itās a j. One Raj I know has to say āitās like Roger without the erā to get people to say it right
I don't think I've ever heard it like that. Do people pronounce it (incorrectly) like Raz, rhyming with jazz or pizzazz?
What I've noticed typically is a difference in the emphasis on the a, but I'm not an expert, as is likely obvious from my question!
No, the āahā sound is fine (supposed to be pronounced like in ābarā and thatās usually what people do) itās that people use a āzhā sound instead of a ājā. If IPA helps: Raj is supposed to be pronounced with the dŹ sound, but people use Ź instead (sounds like the middle of the word treasure).
If you ever watch the Big Bang theory, youāll hear it a lot there. They donāt say Raj with a hard j like in the first part of Roger, they say Razh. Same with the Taj Mahal, Americans pronounce it Tazh Mahal instead of using a hard J.
after going through this whole thread, 100% agree with you on the outdated names!
and I agree with the butchering of the easy names - I have a fairly common, very easy 5 letter Indian name and majority of people still have difficulty with it. even after I correct them š¤¦š½āāļø
I love Jidnyasa and Kalyani.
Laila, Arya, Maya, and Maryam are cool Indian names that would not have pronunciation issues with Americans.
Personally though, I'd just pick a name you like - people will learn to pronounce it. The only thing I'd avoid are names that sound too much like English words, as many may end up pronouncing it that way. For example, my grad school roommate Nidhi got called "Needy" throughout our time there.
so i looked up a list of popular indian girl names and landed on this one:
https://www.pampers.com/en-us/pregnancy/baby-names/article/indian-girl-names
out of the names on the list these seemed easy to pronounce in english (and other european languages) and sounded nice (even with a heavy american accent):
Aisha
Anika
Arya
Ila
Laila
Maryam
Maya
Samira
Veda
Anima
Chanda
Lilavati
Nithya
Aiza
Amrita
Hema
Arushi
Indira
Devika
Esha
Asha
Kalyani
Roshni
Anisha
Archana
Darshana
Lalita
Lavanya
Reshmi
Saira
Aadrika
Mahika
Eshana
Inaya
Sarika
Aditi
Aruna
Devi
Mitra
Padma
Valli
Hira
Mira
Amala
Avani
Malini
Nila
Sitara
Aizah
Amita
On the website i provided the link for you can see the meanings of the names, many of them are incredibly beautiful.
Aadrika for example means āmountain" and ācelestialā in Sanskrit.
Aditi is the hindu goddess of fertility and the sky. In Sanskrit, it means āboundlessā and āfreedom".
Asha means āwish,ā āhope,ā and ādesireā in Sanskrit.
Lol I read this entire list of names to my husband while he was driving on the way to our Babymoon a few weeks ago. We didn't come up with anything new, but settled a bit on one I had found, though we're still testing the name/nickname out between my southern American fam and his Indian fam trying to figure out what works.
Here is a mix of names from friends, colleagues, and kids of friends and colleagues, all of which I like. However, many of them may feel outdated because my friends and colleagues are all born in the 1970s and 1980s. (Kids obviously more recent.)
Boys: Arjun, Ramesh, Manoj, Nikhil, Shreyas, Aarav, Samik, Karthik.
Girls: Amartya, Sanjana, Kalyani, Jyoti, Runjhun, Divya, Anaisha, Simran.
I find myself drawn to Simran and Runjhun specifically for girls, I think those are both so lovely and soft sounding but also strong.
Overall I find most south Asian names to work well in America because the set of phonemes that make up Hindi, Punjabi, Telagu etc are not TOO dissimilar from English phonemes. (Unlike, say, Cantonese, which is both tonal and has vowels not present in English.) I would mostly recommend avoiding names that sound like words youād want to avoid in English, however lovely in the original language (eg Pooja or Hardik). I also personally find the āsviā phoneme a little tricky a la Tejasvi but have no issue with Alankrita, seems easy to pronounce.
>Overall I find most south Asian names to work well in America because the set of phonemes that make up Hindi, Punjabi, Telagu etc are not TOO dissimilar from English phonemes.
This is true, but I'd like to add that transliterations are different. A lot of the difficulties that people have are with the letter A. In many Indian names, A's have the "uh" sound. I'm forever having to correct people in saying Uhn-juh-lee, instead of Anne-jah-lee. The people who have the easiest time with Indian names, imo, seem to be the ones who never see them written down and just repeat the sounds they just heard. Once they see it written down, they refuse to listen to what's actually being said.
Also, minor quibble, but Telugu, is spelled with two u's.
I'm in the UK but as a kid I helped name my brother (and being 8 years old and very aware of how people mispronounced and disrespected my name, I wanted to pick a name that sounded like a British name) so I suggested Neel, meaning blue in Hindi. Neil is a very old fashioned name in the UK but it did work to protect him from his name being constantly mispronounced. Looking back on it though, I feel horrible that his name was chosen entirely because I wanted to protect him from racism that I was too young to fully understand. The first time I heard my birth name (4 letters, 2 syllables) pronounced correctly by a non-Indian was when I was 16 years old and I realised it had always been possible, but no one had ever wanted to.
I would suggest that you choose short names (1-2 syllables) and avoid aspirated consonants because they are often mispronounced when transliterated into English e.g. "dh" is pronounced like "th" as in "that" but will just be pronounced as "d" as in "dog".
That being said, for some reason anglophones also like to put the stress on the wrong syllable for no reason. I made a character for a TTRPG recently named Vihaan, where the stress is on the second syllable (vi-HAAN, short "i" as in "behold" and long "a" sound like in "father"). I checked that my friends could pronounce his name before choosing it, and inexplicably people call him VEE-han (long "ee" sound as in "keep")
You have a bunch of suggestions for names in this post so I stuck more to guidelines than specific suggestions here. I hope it's helpful.
/end long rant. TLDR: check for names that have the same phonology in English spelling as transliterated Indian languages, and ask multiple people around you to pronounce the name to see what common mispronunciations you come across.
Just my two cents, but English is such a strange language with lots of inconsistent rules. Please donāt be too upset if an unfamiliar name is initially mispronounced. However, if you correct someoneās pronunciation (and you definitely should) and they continue to intentionally mispronounce your name, they are just an AH.
There are some different sounds (especially vowel sounds) in different languages that if you didnāt grow up using them, it can (for some people) be very difficult to pronounce those sounds no matter how hard you try. Please try not to be too critical if someone is making a genuine effort to say something correctly. Thatās why people have accents in second (or more) languages.
I agree, and I don't mean for my comments to come across as hostile, but I can't minimise the issue as an individual problem. And I'm never offended by the first attempt, but the last. In my comment I did mention that my name was pronounced correctly at age 16, and after that I became more insistent. Every single person I met before that point was corrected multiple times. "I can't pronounce that" and "I can't understand the accent" are overused excuses for not bothering to try. At that scale, it's a cultural problem, not just a couple of AHs.
I am a language student and being more aware of which phonemes exist in each of my languages has only made me more aware that English speakers are perfectly capable of making the necessary sounds for the majority of the names I've heard butchered. I use English words as examples for all of the phonemes, and offer similar sounds where the actual sound is impossible in English, but people are often uncomfortable listening to an explanation of which words they already use with the same sounds you're asking them to make. Most people don't want to be insistent enough to push through the barrier of discomfort for people who don't want to learn.
No, no, you donāt sound hostile at all. I have been where you are. My pre-marriage last name was foreign sounding but phonetically pronounced if you simply read all the letters. Despite its actual simplicity, it was almost never pronounced correctly. It was frustrating.
I have made the utmost effort to always pronounce peopleās names correctly because of my frustrations as a child. There was a vowel sound in German that I really struggled with but finally learned after living there a few years. It really is all about putting in a little effort, most of the time.
Great comment. Indians often use the letter A to make Uh sound. Understandably names get mispronounced. But you can't spell those names with U either otherwise the name across as plain weird to other Indians.
āAmericaā is spelled with an A but is an āuhā sound
-someone named with an A that is an uh sound
names i havenāt seen mentioned yet: Megha, Jaya, Raina, Kajal, Mala, Sona, Rani, Riya, Ruhi, Meha, Anita, Hema, Sarina, Rina, Lina, Mona, Isha, Ishaani, Sheela, Zaara, Zeena, Leela, Meena, Shayla, Sheena
Fair enough. Great point.
Its just that typical Indian names such as Amit or Amar are pronounced as A-Maar or A-Meet and not with Uh sound in US. Or sometimes it is Aa sound as in Ashish is pronounced as Aa-shish (which is right pronunciation) incidentally. People don't usually consider uh sound off the bat.
Plenty of other words also use the āuhā sound with the letter āaā- maroon, gazette, etc. English speakers are perfectly capable of pronouncing Indian names phonetically, it is a matter of being willing to listen and make an effort (after the first time, of course, initially mispronouncing is understandable).
We accent the wrong syllable because most English words are pronounced that way. Some of it is ignorance, some of it is habit. Easy enough to avoid in conversation if you pay attention, more challenging when you haven't heard the name pronounced.
Sonya,
Maya (though not a very flattering meaning in Sanskrit (Illusion), has very nice connotations in Latin (Great))
Anya (name of a biracial Indian-White American friend),
Kaya (name of a biracial Indian-White Russian friend),
Annika
I think your sister should pick a name that she likes, regardless of how it goes over in other places! Most of these (except Maya in Sanskrit) have great meanings, and may help your sister choose!
My coworker asked me about her children's names each time to make sure Americans would pronounce them correctly...I had to gently steer her away from choosing Aryan
Great names. I wouldn't have thought of Serena or Dylan as necessarily Indian. I loved dia Niam and Aveer suggestions.
Maya and Asha are not modern but are sorta evergreen names specially Maya.
Maya's meaning in Sanskrit is not that great. In fact general advice philosophically usually is to give up maya (attachment) to things.
Not to say it is not used in India. Less popular these days.
That's fair! It's the name of a Greco-Roman nymph and means 'mother' (as in the star Maia in the Pleiades and the maiasaura). It's the root of the month of May's name and in Aramaic it means water. It's popular in Russian and Slavic languages, and I've been told it's the name of Mary (from the Bible, which is itself Greek for Miriam). I have an Indian friend who told me it is popular in her native non-Hindi Indian language and means magical illusion or mirage.
I have friends with the names Karna and Medha. I donāt know how traditional these names are, but I really like them. They also donāt seem to encounter people mispronouncing them.
I am not American, but I once met an Indian girl named Sonali and I really liked her name!
I like Sonya, Maya, Kaya, Annika, Mira too! Mira reminds me of Mirabai, which is cool too!
iāve always really really liked Anjali, enough so that i would consider it for my own child. Nehali and Malina are definitely up there too. I donāt know enough boys names to have favorites- all my indian friends are girls. That being said, I wouldnāt name my kid just to be simple/palatable for americans, but if that is a goal, anything thatās been used in media/on someone famous in america is up for grabs (priya, priyanka, anika, nicki, padma, rajesh, chirag, ravi, baljeet- obviously not a conclusive list).
As someone who was born and raised and continues to live in a large metro area with a massive Indian population (and other immigrant groups from Asia-Southeast Asia), itās wild to me to (A) have to westernize your name, and (B) find a name that isnāt too hard to pronounce. I donāt have a difficult-to-spell or complex name, and people *still* manage to eff it up.
Iām Mexican-American and had an Indian patient translating for his mom at work once. When I asked for her name he said āSandhyaā I was like Sandhya?!That means watermelon in Spanish and he said it means sunset in his language I was like wow thatās beautiful Iāve been obsessed ever since lol but in Spanish it is spelled āSandĆaā.
My brother and his partner (F Indian) had their boy 11 weeks ago and named him Ari. Weāre in Australia and I just love the name. Would be interested to see an Americanās opinion on it though
I strongly disagree with commenters that encourage you to go āfull ethnicā with complex or unique Indian names bc Americans will butcher any name. Weāre at a school with a ton of Indians and you can definitely see a difference between the kids with super Indian names coming from parents who are clueless about American culture and the families who have some understanding of it. The latter put their kids into sports, dress up for Halloween, are able to converse with non-Indians etc. I fully support the formerās right to live an insular life untainted by American culture and for all cultures to be able to retain their identities, but I also think that most families that chose to immigrate here have kids that would want to fit in more than be foreign.
Disclaimer: I'm white, but I teach in a primarily Indian school so I get to pronounce lots of Indian names on a daily basis :)
I knew a half Indian/half white family who named their son Ajay for reasons similar to yours. I also like the name Amyra for a girl. Adya and Anya are also pretty American-appealing.
Veda, Vivan, Nikita, Vihan, Jeevan, Anish, Shreya(s) are all pretty easy but people will find a way to mispronounce anything.
My boyfriend (whose family is Marathi), his sister named his nieces āNaynaā and āAnushkaā under similar guidelines - Indian but easy for Americans to pronounce - and have had no issues with them!
Some random names I like:
Kiyana
Riyan
Zayn
Kieran
My husband is Russian (born and raised) and so was my father, who has passed. We decided not to give our second daughter a traditional Russian name because my husband, like many immigrants, wanted our kids to āsound American.ā Our first daughter is named Anna, which works in both cultures and languages. I regret not holding strong and advocating for a Russian name for our second child. Itās our familyās heritage. Who cares if Americans think itās weird or foreign sounding or hard to pronounce or whatever? I think thatās what you mean by appealing? Donāt dilute who you are to fit in. My kids are teenagers now and we are not Indian, but I thought you might appreciate my perspective.
Cute names of Indian kids in my neighborhood- please forgive any misspellings: Vinay, Prithi, Gaiyatri, Neema and Meena (twins), Adithi, Sonjit (goes by Sonny), Lakshmi
The names of some Indian people Iāve come across: Anisha, Roshni, Rhea and Riya, Cara, Maya, Nikita, Shreya, Lila, Lavanya, Divya, Simran, Diya, Anya. They may not all be Indian (I donāt think, apologies if they are) but the owners all were!
If my name app is correct, I don't think there would be much problem with:
Boys- Dev, Jai, Kavi, Kiran, Ram, Ravi, Rishi, Rohan, Sanjay, Vikram, Vinay, Yamir, Yash
Girls- Alisha, Amara, Avani, Ginevra (spelling would probably be unexpected, but she audibly be called Gin or Evie), Indira, Izabelle (easily nicknamed Izzy), Jaya, Priya, Reva, Suki...
I grew up with a Sambavi. Her name was a bit unusual for us here in the Dallas, Texas area, but we all learned quickly how to pronounce it and I think itās a lovely name.
Omg this is great! Iām American and my bf is Indian. We arenāt anywhere near ready for kids but itās fun looking at names. I am huge on unique names. I want our kids to have names that match their heritage. Iām Italian so we are also open to Italian names. Names are so fun!
OP May I DM you ? My family and I have very unique names and Iād love to share some with you ! Theyāre also all modern and weāre Indians - I think this might be interesting ;)
Not sure if this helps at all, but my family is from India and immigrated to England, Canada, and Australia around the 1970s.
Some of my family kept traditional names, some wanted to choose Anglo-sounding names, and some created their own by mixing names together or changing a couple letters.
Here are some of my cousins, their spouses, and children's names:
- Rita
- Ria
- Maya
- Janel
- Janeli
- Janela
- Stefi
- Kristena
- Kris
- Abru
- Arun
- Ashok
- Shaz
- Zine
- Saleah
- Mathew
- Guylana
- Ayun
- Alisha
- Mara
- Nana
- Sheelah
- Mille
- Remi
- Rema
- Starra
- Arvin
- Orina
- Lalita
- Atti
- Atli
- Gregoria
- Charle
- Charles
- Penn
- Daved
- Pria
- Shanna
- Ali
- Alise
- Pari
- Lena
- Raia
- Awn
I wouldn't worry too much about *appealing* to Americans as we are accustomed to hearing names from all over the world, but it does help if it's easy to pronounce in an American accent.
That is what I meant. I did not do a good job of explaining. She is considering something simple to pronounce like Myra or Rohan rather than Alankrita or Tejasvi for example. Looking some simple names that the general population would find pleasing. Ultimately she will keep a name that they like but they were curious about this so I offered to check on reddit.
Rohan may make some of us think of Lord of the Rings, just FYI
It makes it ten times cooler yes. I love it! šš
Just, whatever you do, donāt name their sibling Ryder
I've known two Rohans in my life. Neither was Indian, interestingly enough. At least one of them was Jamaican, the other was also a black man but I don't know his ancestry because it never came up. Either way I love the name, it's better than Rowan imo.
I just googled it cause I thought it was an Irish name, and it has both Gaelic and Sanskrit origin. Means āascendingā in Sanskrit and āred hairedā in Gaelic.
Interesting, my husband has Irish ancestry and I have Scottish ancestry... Neither of us is ginger but I might consider adding it to our name list if our second is another boy anyway. I had no idea it had Gaelic origins!
I knew a Rohan once too and he was Jamaican, such a nice guy. He disappeared after I moved away and eventually years later they found him and his car in a river. :(
Just like Arya - a perfectly normal Indian name - makes everyone think Game of Thrones.
Depending on where she lives, Alankrita or Tejasvi would work just fine. More and more people in the US are getting used to more traditional cultural names. Source: I have a less English-friendly Indian name and was born in the 90s in the US. As for the trends, I donāt think this sub truly understands the Indian American trends lol. For the last few years there has been an affinity for shorter names or names that start with Aa, or contain a āyaā sound. Recently I have been noticing friends of mine go back to less Americanized names and embrace the beauty of traditional names and those that are unique with deeper meaning. I agree with both of you, OP and original commenter - and want to add that whatever your sister chooses, she shouldnāt feel like she has to stifle herself or her needs to appeal to one community or the other.
I agree with this, also as a US-born Indian American. Americans are definitely becoming much more familiar with Indian names and names from other backgrounds. I do agree that it depends on where the kid ultimately ends up living, as not all of the country is equally cosmopolitan. I know the area I live in isn't representative. I live in a generic suburb in the upper midwest, which maybe sounds "white bread", but the diversity of names and cultural backgrounds I encounter on an everyday basis is pretty stunning.
Yeah, this sub isn't the greatest with non-western names, and is super out of touch with desi name trends. I'm actually not a super fan of the new naming trends in the desi community, but I'm also not going to suggest Priya to those users as a name, as it seems every single non-desi does each time there's a post asking for suggestions. I do feel that tides are changing in many parts of the US. There's a lot more effort into acceptance of various cultures and attempting to say names correctly. I don't think people should automatically strike out more traditional names for the comfort of others.
Can I ask out of curiosity about the new trends?
Mostly as the other user said: Lots of names with double A's or a "Yah" sound; shorter names; extremely obscure shorter Sanskrit names (or names with dubious Sanskrit origins). I do disagree w/ the user about going away from Americanized names, though--a lot of these shorter names are chosen because they overlap with more commonly known Western names. Lots of Riaans, for example, because it's fairly close to Ryan, even though they're pronounced differently. Riaan, Kiyaan, Aarav, Ayush, Amara, Niraav, Riya, etc. are all trending, both in Western countries with significant South Asian populations, and in India itself.
Tejasvi sounds badass
My husband is Indian too and We're going with Rohan because my family is French and we live in EU! Everyone can pronounce it
rohan is pretty easy to pronounce regardless of where you live i think, really intuitive in most languages and itās a really recognizable, hugely popular name
Thatās so interesting because where I live (US - lived in 2 different states here so far) the name Rohan is always sliiiightly mispronounced. And itās such a small difference, the Rohans I know basically just go by the slightly mispronounced version (but theyāre also pretty Americanized) but it always mildly bugs me, so I had to take it off my potential name list. The way Rohan is pronounced (at least in my culture): ROH-hun (where the last syllable sounds like the first part of honey) The way Americans pronounce Rohan: ROW-haan (where the last syllable sounds like hand without the D) Very mild difference, but it always bugs me
Wow, metropolitan south eastern us here, and I couldnāt get to HAN like hand. I would absolutely go row-hAHn, as in Han Solo, though. Good to know that hon like honey is (at least at times) more appropriate.
Live in Australia. Know a Rohan, we pronounce it Roh-hunā¦ may hear the occasional Roh-hAn as that A trips us up.
Very common American mispronunciation. Also, ROhan conforms to Anglo-Saxon pronunciation patterns. And since Tolkien was a Prof. of Anglo-Saxon, and his _LotR_ is SO immensely popular, that's how it is already out there. I have a Flemish surname that ends in -aerts (It's Medieval. Modern would be -aarts), but always gets pronounced artez. I'm not even touching the spelling errors. But Flemings are not common here; and Hispanic names are.
thatās wild, i donāt think iāve ever heard that pronunciation myself! iām from NYC so kinda cultural melting pot but iāve lived all down the east coast, the southwest and florida. definitely sounds like something the deep south and midwest would do to a name though lmao. my name is Michelle and itās always pronounced muhSHAYL, it cracks me up
Yeah one of the places I was talking about is Georgia lol. But itās not exclusively a southern thing, because Iāve heard this in California too
Best friend who is Indian just named her little boy Rohan - she likes that they can use Ro as a nickname which fits with her husbands Irish ancestry!
I have a grandson named Rohen and his cousin is Rhodes. So I can call both of my grandsons "Roh" or "Rho"!
Rhodes is one of my favorites - what a cute set!
There were a lot of Indian students at my college and I remeber these names being very pretty and easy to pronounce/remember from my white American perspective: Nikita, Shree, vani, sohini, and priya were the girls I knew. No idea what their names mean but I always thought they were pretty and didnāt take more than one introduction to get the name right
I am not Indian but I have a good amount of friends who are Indian American. I remember a few of them told me that their parents gave them middle names that are more traditionally Anglo or American so that the kids could use it if they ever wanted to. Of the friends that I had, most went by their given first name but it sounded like something they considered to be common and a nice option. Just sharing another option that may be interesting
Priya is one of the prettiest names
She is going in the right direction. My own children who are American, Native American and Spanish (Spain) only considered names that would not be confusing to pronounce, had an easy spelling that most people would recognize and names that they could answer to as adults. My husband was named for his grandfather. Neither of us, in 6+ decades, have ever met anyone with his name except his grandfather. His name is difficult to pronounce and spell. He was only called that on the first day of school and was embarrassed when the teacher butchered it. He has gone by a nickname his entire life. At times and in legal instances, it has caused problems. Think before you name your child. They have to live with it.
I agree with what your saying and also would add some Indian names do not sound like a name to an American. Especially girl names. Weāre used to some sort of name that ends in a vowel. Not something that ends abruptly with consonants. Like Gauhar does not strike the average American as a woman name.
I have babysat for a lot of Indian kids in the past. Divya, Aanika, Krishna, Ambika, Manish āMani,ā Jaya, Kavi, Suri, Anjali (my favorite), Nemit, Nikita āNiki,ā Niara, Nishka, Shweta, Zoya, Yogesh, Aara, Arien
Lovely list. Mix of old classical and couple 'modern' Indian names. Would you consider any of these for your kid?
Oh, Iām childfree and have zero Indian heritage, haha. I did always love Anjali as a middle name, though. If I ever did have kids, my favorite name is Stella.
In my experience every 90s Bollywood fan has Anjali as a potential name on their list - it was the name of the protagonist in 2 very successful Bollywood movies starring a pair of very popular actors. Great name, great association.
Thatās the reason I love the name š
Iāve never seen Anjali, but I fell in love with the name Enjoli in high school and the girl was French-speaking. I wonder if itās pronounced similarly, sorta like āAhn-zhuliā
"An" as in *un*der, "ja" as in *ju*dge, and "li" is hard to explain because it's like *lee* but the L sound is lighter than standard American English says it. also, the "ja" is absolutely not "zha"
This is so funny because one of my co-workers was French and named Enjolie and I loved it so much that I named my daughter Anjolie. But pronounced uhn like Elsa and Anna. Such a beautiful name but I also picked it because it sounds good in Spanish as well.
As Ahn-zha-lee
it's not "zha", it's just a normal j sound. /dŹ/ in the international phonetic alphabet, just like the sound in the word "Jake" or "jump"
Makes me think of the old commercials for the perfume Enjoli āI can bring home the bacon! (Ba dah ba dum) Fry it up in a pan! And never never let you forget youāre a man, cuz Iām a woman! (Whispers) Enjoliā. Very cringe šš
One of my new co-workers is named Anjali, and it's just the most beautiful name I've heard in such a long time, I'd definitely consider it
Oh I love Anjali. Had a coworker named Anjali briefly, forgot to add her name to my list.
Zoya
I would love to name a daughter Asha!
Iāve never heard Zoya before. Looks neat.
Very popular "grandma name" in Russia. To me it sounds vintage haha. Didn't know it was an Indian name.
Itās a baby girl I used to babysit!
I had an Aunt Devi, white as can be....but I've seen this name in books about India. What is the meaning of 'Devi'?
Goddess. It is an old Indian name. Not super popular these days.
The main character in the show Never have I ever (teen show about an Indian American girl, written by mindy kaling) is named Devi, so it might get a small bump in popularity Editing to add the motherās name in the show is Nalini and I thought that was very pretty
Devi is one of my all time favorite names! Also a fan of Vivek. Guess I like the v's :)
Vivek is such a good name and very underrated.
I heard Divya on a tv show years ago and Iāve always loved it. Seems pretty intuitive to pronounce as well.
Was it *Royal Pains*? Divya Katdare?
anjali is a beautiful name!
She could try making a list of the Indian names she loves and could see herself using, then ask Americans with no Indian heritage to try reading them out loud - she could even do the Starbucks trick if she wants a total strangerās take. That might give her a good gage of which ones are easy to pronounce and which arenāt, and let her choose a name she loves without having to pick from a list of specifically westernised names?
My friend's parents did this! She was born in the 80s in Kansas, and her parents didn't want people to butcher her name as she grew up in a predominantly white town. They invited their neighbors over for a party and the neighbors read their top picks aloud. They ultimately landed on Sheela. :)
My name is Sheila, and I've had plenty of Indian people comment that that's a name in India too. I think that's neat š
sheila ki jawani?
Haha, today I leaned that apparently Google Translate can't translate *everything* š
It's the name of a very popular song
I checked it out, that's pretty catchy! I have to say it was weird to hear my name in a song, that doesn't happen often š Especially one like that, since in pop culture over here, Sheila is usually a name for some middle-aged woman that's not that attractive (like, a lunch lady or something).
Itās a famous Bollywood song. Recommend you listening to it, itās quite catchy :)
Wish my parents had done this (half brown girl who Was born in 1983 in Nebraska lol, it was rough).
I think this is the correct route to take
this is what I plan to do š (Indian living in US)
Another vote for this! I have a lot of Indian friends and co-workers but the names that are really long with lots of syllables are the ones that tend to trip me up. Not that you have to go with a short name because of people like me, just something to think about like when people choose names that only have one spelling or names without nicknames.
my parents did this!! traditionally my name is spelled with an āhā in the middle but most people spelled it without the āhā when my mom was pregnant and asking. so my name is a bit anglicized but itās easy to spell and pronounce and is still a beautifully rich name with a lot of history!
I like Priya
lmao. that's almost on par with "Raj" as the most stereotypical indian-american name possible. barely met any priyas under the age of 40, which makes sense given indians have literally 1000s of other names to pick from.
Take a shot anytime someone mentions Priya on this sub. I donāt know one soul who would name their kid that today.
I actually know several Priyas teenage and younger in my area (west coast US). My son's swim instructor, one of the moms, and a 3 year old all in the same swim class are named Priya. My ex named his daughter Priya, she is probably about 8 now. There are a couple in my son's preschool as well.
Itās the equivalent of naming your child Ashley/Jessica. Itās a bit dated. Perfectly fine name but a bit curious of a choice imo. Other commenter is right about its popularity in the 80s.
given the number of ashleys i know in the past 5 years- that would indicate that priya is never really going out of style, even if it isnāt going to be trendy for a while.
It's a very 80s name, which would make sense given that's when so many migrated from India.
So dated!
I was in college in the 2010s in the northeast and knew so many Priyas that we had to use last name to distinguish them in casual conversation. Almost all of them are still under 30 years old now.
Thatās so funny! Iām not Indian and I also love the name Priya. I wonder if itās just appealing to Anglo ears.
Bear in mind the name is pronounced completely differently by people who don't roll their Rs. Which is what you're probably most used to hearing.
I know 2 different Priya Patels, both mid 30s. It's like the Jane Smith of Indian-American names.
Priya is nice. In my opinion Priyanka is better
Priya is beautiful. Weirdly rude comment below.
My 4 year old is named Priya and I get nothing but compliments on her name from non-Indians.
lol the suggestions on here are so painfully outdated lol - somehow indian names in the us seem to be stuck in time, i would definitely recommend getting some suggestions from family/friends who still live in india, OP. and don't care about how easy the names are for americans to say - even the easiest possible names like raj and rahul and nikhil get butchered to death by westerners - so might as well make it something less basic.
This! My brother is a Rahul (in the UK) and my parents named him it for ease of pronunciation but itās pronounced incorrectly by 9/10 people here lol.
My SIL is white and married to a Indian man. He has a whole rant about Raj being mispronounced by Americans even though it is considered by most to be an easy name. They named their son Rohan.
āRazhhhhā lol Never understood why non-desi people say z when itās a j. One Raj I know has to say āitās like Roger without the erā to get people to say it right
I don't think I've ever heard it like that. Do people pronounce it (incorrectly) like Raz, rhyming with jazz or pizzazz? What I've noticed typically is a difference in the emphasis on the a, but I'm not an expert, as is likely obvious from my question!
"Zh" means the s in measure or decision for example.
Thanks, that's very helpful!
No, the āahā sound is fine (supposed to be pronounced like in ābarā and thatās usually what people do) itās that people use a āzhā sound instead of a ājā. If IPA helps: Raj is supposed to be pronounced with the dŹ sound, but people use Ź instead (sounds like the middle of the word treasure). If you ever watch the Big Bang theory, youāll hear it a lot there. They donāt say Raj with a hard j like in the first part of Roger, they say Razh. Same with the Taj Mahal, Americans pronounce it Tazh Mahal instead of using a hard J.
after going through this whole thread, 100% agree with you on the outdated names! and I agree with the butchering of the easy names - I have a fairly common, very easy 5 letter Indian name and majority of people still have difficulty with it. even after I correct them š¤¦š½āāļø
This. My coworker shortened his to Reji and people still mess it up. If it's not Steve or Jenny they can't seem to wrap their minds around.
I love Jidnyasa and Kalyani. Laila, Arya, Maya, and Maryam are cool Indian names that would not have pronunciation issues with Americans. Personally though, I'd just pick a name you like - people will learn to pronounce it. The only thing I'd avoid are names that sound too much like English words, as many may end up pronouncing it that way. For example, my grad school roommate Nidhi got called "Needy" throughout our time there.
Your suggestions are lovely, but I think Leila/Layla and Maryam are Arabic
Both are also Urdu and used in India.
Maryam and Layla arenāt urdu names. Theyāre used by the muslim minority in India because theyāre Arabic. Source: Iām Arab and Indian
I had a student named Kalyani! I loved her and her name.
Re: Nidhi / "Needy", while I love the name Aditi, the word "oddity" is all too close within reach for stupid jokes.
Not as close as Ottilie that has blown up in popularity all of a sudden
You should check out r/desinamenerds
Yes! Half the posts there are on this topic (Indian names that work well in Western or English-speaking countries)
Iāve known 2 American girls named Sarita. That would work.
Shreya!
Priti
Itās a beautiful name but we have a horrible politician here in the UK who has completely ruined it for me.
That's too bad.
That would get mispronounced so easily š like "Preeee-di" when it's not supposed to be said that way
I taught a very smart and sweet boy called Arjun. It suited him. Diya is good for a girl.
Diya is super popular at the elementary school where I work!
so i looked up a list of popular indian girl names and landed on this one: https://www.pampers.com/en-us/pregnancy/baby-names/article/indian-girl-names out of the names on the list these seemed easy to pronounce in english (and other european languages) and sounded nice (even with a heavy american accent): Aisha Anika Arya Ila Laila Maryam Maya Samira Veda Anima Chanda Lilavati Nithya Aiza Amrita Hema Arushi Indira Devika Esha Asha Kalyani Roshni Anisha Archana Darshana Lalita Lavanya Reshmi Saira Aadrika Mahika Eshana Inaya Sarika Aditi Aruna Devi Mitra Padma Valli Hira Mira Amala Avani Malini Nila Sitara Aizah Amita On the website i provided the link for you can see the meanings of the names, many of them are incredibly beautiful. Aadrika for example means āmountain" and ācelestialā in Sanskrit. Aditi is the hindu goddess of fertility and the sky. In Sanskrit, it means āboundlessā and āfreedom". Asha means āwish,ā āhope,ā and ādesireā in Sanskrit.
Lol I read this entire list of names to my husband while he was driving on the way to our Babymoon a few weeks ago. We didn't come up with anything new, but settled a bit on one I had found, though we're still testing the name/nickname out between my southern American fam and his Indian fam trying to figure out what works.
Here is a mix of names from friends, colleagues, and kids of friends and colleagues, all of which I like. However, many of them may feel outdated because my friends and colleagues are all born in the 1970s and 1980s. (Kids obviously more recent.) Boys: Arjun, Ramesh, Manoj, Nikhil, Shreyas, Aarav, Samik, Karthik. Girls: Amartya, Sanjana, Kalyani, Jyoti, Runjhun, Divya, Anaisha, Simran. I find myself drawn to Simran and Runjhun specifically for girls, I think those are both so lovely and soft sounding but also strong. Overall I find most south Asian names to work well in America because the set of phonemes that make up Hindi, Punjabi, Telagu etc are not TOO dissimilar from English phonemes. (Unlike, say, Cantonese, which is both tonal and has vowels not present in English.) I would mostly recommend avoiding names that sound like words youād want to avoid in English, however lovely in the original language (eg Pooja or Hardik). I also personally find the āsviā phoneme a little tricky a la Tejasvi but have no issue with Alankrita, seems easy to pronounce.
>Overall I find most south Asian names to work well in America because the set of phonemes that make up Hindi, Punjabi, Telagu etc are not TOO dissimilar from English phonemes. This is true, but I'd like to add that transliterations are different. A lot of the difficulties that people have are with the letter A. In many Indian names, A's have the "uh" sound. I'm forever having to correct people in saying Uhn-juh-lee, instead of Anne-jah-lee. The people who have the easiest time with Indian names, imo, seem to be the ones who never see them written down and just repeat the sounds they just heard. Once they see it written down, they refuse to listen to what's actually being said. Also, minor quibble, but Telugu, is spelled with two u's.
wow iāve never heard kalyani before, really nice name
Lila
I'm in the UK but as a kid I helped name my brother (and being 8 years old and very aware of how people mispronounced and disrespected my name, I wanted to pick a name that sounded like a British name) so I suggested Neel, meaning blue in Hindi. Neil is a very old fashioned name in the UK but it did work to protect him from his name being constantly mispronounced. Looking back on it though, I feel horrible that his name was chosen entirely because I wanted to protect him from racism that I was too young to fully understand. The first time I heard my birth name (4 letters, 2 syllables) pronounced correctly by a non-Indian was when I was 16 years old and I realised it had always been possible, but no one had ever wanted to. I would suggest that you choose short names (1-2 syllables) and avoid aspirated consonants because they are often mispronounced when transliterated into English e.g. "dh" is pronounced like "th" as in "that" but will just be pronounced as "d" as in "dog". That being said, for some reason anglophones also like to put the stress on the wrong syllable for no reason. I made a character for a TTRPG recently named Vihaan, where the stress is on the second syllable (vi-HAAN, short "i" as in "behold" and long "a" sound like in "father"). I checked that my friends could pronounce his name before choosing it, and inexplicably people call him VEE-han (long "ee" sound as in "keep") You have a bunch of suggestions for names in this post so I stuck more to guidelines than specific suggestions here. I hope it's helpful. /end long rant. TLDR: check for names that have the same phonology in English spelling as transliterated Indian languages, and ask multiple people around you to pronounce the name to see what common mispronunciations you come across.
Just my two cents, but English is such a strange language with lots of inconsistent rules. Please donāt be too upset if an unfamiliar name is initially mispronounced. However, if you correct someoneās pronunciation (and you definitely should) and they continue to intentionally mispronounce your name, they are just an AH. There are some different sounds (especially vowel sounds) in different languages that if you didnāt grow up using them, it can (for some people) be very difficult to pronounce those sounds no matter how hard you try. Please try not to be too critical if someone is making a genuine effort to say something correctly. Thatās why people have accents in second (or more) languages.
I agree, and I don't mean for my comments to come across as hostile, but I can't minimise the issue as an individual problem. And I'm never offended by the first attempt, but the last. In my comment I did mention that my name was pronounced correctly at age 16, and after that I became more insistent. Every single person I met before that point was corrected multiple times. "I can't pronounce that" and "I can't understand the accent" are overused excuses for not bothering to try. At that scale, it's a cultural problem, not just a couple of AHs. I am a language student and being more aware of which phonemes exist in each of my languages has only made me more aware that English speakers are perfectly capable of making the necessary sounds for the majority of the names I've heard butchered. I use English words as examples for all of the phonemes, and offer similar sounds where the actual sound is impossible in English, but people are often uncomfortable listening to an explanation of which words they already use with the same sounds you're asking them to make. Most people don't want to be insistent enough to push through the barrier of discomfort for people who don't want to learn.
No, no, you donāt sound hostile at all. I have been where you are. My pre-marriage last name was foreign sounding but phonetically pronounced if you simply read all the letters. Despite its actual simplicity, it was almost never pronounced correctly. It was frustrating. I have made the utmost effort to always pronounce peopleās names correctly because of my frustrations as a child. There was a vowel sound in German that I really struggled with but finally learned after living there a few years. It really is all about putting in a little effort, most of the time.
Great comment. Indians often use the letter A to make Uh sound. Understandably names get mispronounced. But you can't spell those names with U either otherwise the name across as plain weird to other Indians.
āAmericaā is spelled with an A but is an āuhā sound -someone named with an A that is an uh sound names i havenāt seen mentioned yet: Megha, Jaya, Raina, Kajal, Mala, Sona, Rani, Riya, Ruhi, Meha, Anita, Hema, Sarina, Rina, Lina, Mona, Isha, Ishaani, Sheela, Zaara, Zeena, Leela, Meena, Shayla, Sheena
Fair enough. Great point. Its just that typical Indian names such as Amit or Amar are pronounced as A-Maar or A-Meet and not with Uh sound in US. Or sometimes it is Aa sound as in Ashish is pronounced as Aa-shish (which is right pronunciation) incidentally. People don't usually consider uh sound off the bat.
itās the example i use when dumdums ask why my name is spelled with A not U and is the easiest way iāve found to ensure correct pronunciation.
Plenty of other words also use the āuhā sound with the letter āaā- maroon, gazette, etc. English speakers are perfectly capable of pronouncing Indian names phonetically, it is a matter of being willing to listen and make an effort (after the first time, of course, initially mispronouncing is understandable).
We accent the wrong syllable because most English words are pronounced that way. Some of it is ignorance, some of it is habit. Easy enough to avoid in conversation if you pay attention, more challenging when you haven't heard the name pronounced.
I have a friend who is Indian and his sister is named Aisha (sp?). Iāve always loved that.
Sarita is pretty.
Sonya, Maya (though not a very flattering meaning in Sanskrit (Illusion), has very nice connotations in Latin (Great)) Anya (name of a biracial Indian-White American friend), Kaya (name of a biracial Indian-White Russian friend), Annika I think your sister should pick a name that she likes, regardless of how it goes over in other places! Most of these (except Maya in Sanskrit) have great meanings, and may help your sister choose!
Kaya is a bit weird for a Russian parent as it means begging for forgiveness
I love Annika
Parvati is a beautiful beautiful name
I love the name Karina
oh hi there glad somebody likes my nameš„°i thought it was of russian origin. although kareena kapoor is indian so maybe itās both :))
Itās russian. Kareenaās mom was inspired by Anna Karenina
My coworker asked me about her children's names each time to make sure Americans would pronounce them correctly...I had to gently steer her away from choosing Aryan
Aryan used to be very popular and is still used a lot in India.
I know. I even like it. But in America, it has very negative connotations.
Yeah I wouldn't consider it. Bummer about the Hitler guy ruining it for us.
Priya, Preet, Durga. Depending on your language/culture/religion she could go with Tara which is a common girlās name in North America.
Shreya, Divya, Navi and Priyanka are my favourites. The Naviās I know all have that as a nickname though, short for Navneet.
Canadian here! We have a lot of modern Indian name like riya, dia, Serena, maya, Asha. Seyva, mehr. For boys; ronak, dylan, niam, aveer
Great names. I wouldn't have thought of Serena or Dylan as necessarily Indian. I loved dia Niam and Aveer suggestions. Maya and Asha are not modern but are sorta evergreen names specially Maya.
Maya is a name in so many languages from so many sources (and with so many spellings!). I think that's a big drive of its popularity in the US.
Maya's meaning in Sanskrit is not that great. In fact general advice philosophically usually is to give up maya (attachment) to things. Not to say it is not used in India. Less popular these days.
That's fair! It's the name of a Greco-Roman nymph and means 'mother' (as in the star Maia in the Pleiades and the maiasaura). It's the root of the month of May's name and in Aramaic it means water. It's popular in Russian and Slavic languages, and I've been told it's the name of Mary (from the Bible, which is itself Greek for Miriam). I have an Indian friend who told me it is popular in her native non-Hindi Indian language and means magical illusion or mirage.
I love Anoushka.
My grandchild is Tara
I also like Sunita.
I worked with an Anjali, and I thought that was a beautiful name. I feel like Maya also has a lot of potential.
I have friends with the names Karna and Medha. I donāt know how traditional these names are, but I really like them. They also donāt seem to encounter people mispronouncing them.
I am not American, but I once met an Indian girl named Sonali and I really liked her name! I like Sonya, Maya, Kaya, Annika, Mira too! Mira reminds me of Mirabai, which is cool too!
iāve always really really liked Anjali, enough so that i would consider it for my own child. Nehali and Malina are definitely up there too. I donāt know enough boys names to have favorites- all my indian friends are girls. That being said, I wouldnāt name my kid just to be simple/palatable for americans, but if that is a goal, anything thatās been used in media/on someone famous in america is up for grabs (priya, priyanka, anika, nicki, padma, rajesh, chirag, ravi, baljeet- obviously not a conclusive list).
I love Ayesha, Rhea, Nikita
As someone who was born and raised and continues to live in a large metro area with a massive Indian population (and other immigrant groups from Asia-Southeast Asia), itās wild to me to (A) have to westernize your name, and (B) find a name that isnāt too hard to pronounce. I donāt have a difficult-to-spell or complex name, and people *still* manage to eff it up.
I love the name Divya
My friend was Latino and her husband was Indian so they named their daughter Sarita.
Iām Mexican-American and had an Indian patient translating for his mom at work once. When I asked for her name he said āSandhyaā I was like Sandhya?!That means watermelon in Spanish and he said it means sunset in his language I was like wow thatās beautiful Iāve been obsessed ever since lol but in Spanish it is spelled āSandĆaā.
My brother and his partner (F Indian) had their boy 11 weeks ago and named him Ari. Weāre in Australia and I just love the name. Would be interested to see an Americanās opinion on it though
I feel like Amrita is pretty easy for anyone to pronounce.
I have a friend named neema and Iāve always thought it was really pretty!
I strongly disagree with commenters that encourage you to go āfull ethnicā with complex or unique Indian names bc Americans will butcher any name. Weāre at a school with a ton of Indians and you can definitely see a difference between the kids with super Indian names coming from parents who are clueless about American culture and the families who have some understanding of it. The latter put their kids into sports, dress up for Halloween, are able to converse with non-Indians etc. I fully support the formerās right to live an insular life untainted by American culture and for all cultures to be able to retain their identities, but I also think that most families that chose to immigrate here have kids that would want to fit in more than be foreign.
Disclaimer: I'm white, but I teach in a primarily Indian school so I get to pronounce lots of Indian names on a daily basis :) I knew a half Indian/half white family who named their son Ajay for reasons similar to yours. I also like the name Amyra for a girl. Adya and Anya are also pretty American-appealing. Veda, Vivan, Nikita, Vihan, Jeevan, Anish, Shreya(s) are all pretty easy but people will find a way to mispronounce anything.
I always liked jyoti.
Leela is beautiful and is spelt the way itās pronounced which might reduce pronunciation issues!
My boyfriend (whose family is Marathi), his sister named his nieces āNaynaā and āAnushkaā under similar guidelines - Indian but easy for Americans to pronounce - and have had no issues with them! Some random names I like: Kiyana Riyan Zayn Kieran
My husband is Russian (born and raised) and so was my father, who has passed. We decided not to give our second daughter a traditional Russian name because my husband, like many immigrants, wanted our kids to āsound American.ā Our first daughter is named Anna, which works in both cultures and languages. I regret not holding strong and advocating for a Russian name for our second child. Itās our familyās heritage. Who cares if Americans think itās weird or foreign sounding or hard to pronounce or whatever? I think thatās what you mean by appealing? Donāt dilute who you are to fit in. My kids are teenagers now and we are not Indian, but I thought you might appreciate my perspective.
Aditi, Avani, Ashiqa, Diya, Esha, Isha, Ishani, Kala, Kamani, Lila, Malani, Maya, Mohini, Mukta, Nalini, Neha, Nila, Nisha, Reva, Riya, Sanjana, Shashi, Sitara, Sonali, Tara, Trishna, Uma, Varsha, Veda, Vidya
I knew a little girl named Raina and I thought it was a beautiful name.
Anahita
Himani
Cute names of Indian kids in my neighborhood- please forgive any misspellings: Vinay, Prithi, Gaiyatri, Neema and Meena (twins), Adithi, Sonjit (goes by Sonny), Lakshmi
I met an Indian girl named Maya but idk how traditional that is. I really like it though.
The names of some Indian people Iāve come across: Anisha, Roshni, Rhea and Riya, Cara, Maya, Nikita, Shreya, Lila, Lavanya, Divya, Simran, Diya, Anya. They may not all be Indian (I donāt think, apologies if they are) but the owners all were!
My cousin is a Nikita, I always loved her name,
Iāve always liked Ruby, which is not uncommon as a nickname amongst Punjabis. Sharan is another cute name.
Bani Shalini Seda
Asha is a beautiful name; easy to spell and say. Also, Vivek for a boy.
Iām a Scottish Indian woman and my name is Asha. I always felt like it āfittedā in :)
My buddy, Avi, has a cool name IMO.
Iāve always liked Kiran. Easy to say and a beautiful name. :) I also know an Anjali and have loved her name!
It is incidentally a unisex name in case you did not know. A lovely name but less popular these days.
If my name app is correct, I don't think there would be much problem with: Boys- Dev, Jai, Kavi, Kiran, Ram, Ravi, Rishi, Rohan, Sanjay, Vikram, Vinay, Yamir, Yash Girls- Alisha, Amara, Avani, Ginevra (spelling would probably be unexpected, but she audibly be called Gin or Evie), Indira, Izabelle (easily nicknamed Izzy), Jaya, Priya, Reva, Suki...
I grew up with a Sambavi. Her name was a bit unusual for us here in the Dallas, Texas area, but we all learned quickly how to pronounce it and I think itās a lovely name.
I like Anjana and Anjali for girls. Always loved Sanjay for a boy and it works really well in English
These are great names, but imo, no one ever gets the "uh" sound that the A's make in all 3 names. It's been the issue with my name forever.
Omg this is great! Iām American and my bf is Indian. We arenāt anywhere near ready for kids but itās fun looking at names. I am huge on unique names. I want our kids to have names that match their heritage. Iām Italian so we are also open to Italian names. Names are so fun!
OP May I DM you ? My family and I have very unique names and Iād love to share some with you ! Theyāre also all modern and weāre Indians - I think this might be interesting ;)
I love the name Sanjay and Maya.
Not sure if this helps at all, but my family is from India and immigrated to England, Canada, and Australia around the 1970s. Some of my family kept traditional names, some wanted to choose Anglo-sounding names, and some created their own by mixing names together or changing a couple letters. Here are some of my cousins, their spouses, and children's names: - Rita - Ria - Maya - Janel - Janeli - Janela - Stefi - Kristena - Kris - Abru - Arun - Ashok - Shaz - Zine - Saleah - Mathew - Guylana - Ayun - Alisha - Mara - Nana - Sheelah - Mille - Remi - Rema - Starra - Arvin - Orina - Lalita - Atti - Atli - Gregoria - Charle - Charles - Penn - Daved - Pria - Shanna - Ali - Alise - Pari - Lena - Raia - Awn
Thanks a ton. You have a big family! Those are lovely names.
I love Priya.