Nine padas of the Avakahada chakra fall in Mesha, the moon sign the Western zodiac calls Aries. They come from Ashwini, Bharani and Krittika, and between them they give 9 sounds a name may begin with.
Below: every one of those syllables with the nakshatra and pada it belongs to, and the 77 names in our corpus that begin with them — each written in Devanagari and reduced to its Chaldean root number.
One per pada. A pandit reads the pada from the birth chart and hands the family the sound — this is the whole set for the rashi.
A rashi spans 30° and a nakshatra 13°20′, so the two never divide evenly: every rashi is exactly two and a quarter nakshatras.
| Nakshatra | Pada | Syllable | Names in our corpus |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐎 Ashwini | 1 | Chu | 0 |
| 🐎 Ashwini | 2 | Che | 1 |
| 🐎 Ashwini | 3 | Cho | 0 |
| 🐎 Ashwini | 4 | La | 8 |
| 🌺 Bharani | 1 | Li | 1 |
| 🌺 Bharani | 2 | Lu | 0 |
| 🌺 Bharani | 3 | Le | 0 |
| 🌺 Bharani | 4 | Lo | 1 |
| 🔥 Krittika | 1 | A | 66 |
Traditionally this table runs the other way: the janam kundli gives the birth star, the birth star gives the syllable, and the syllable gives the name. The birth chart is the authority, not the name. We show the reverse lookup for reference.
Devanagari from our transliteration engine; the root number is the Chaldean reduction of the spelling shown.
| Name | Devanagari | Syllable | Chaldean root | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aadhya | आध्या | A | 4 ♅ | the first power; a name of Devi |
| Aakash | आकाश | A | 4 ♅ | sky |
| Aaradhya | आरध्या | A | 7 ♆ | worshipped; one who is adored |
| Aarav | आरव | A | 2 ☽ | peaceful; a calm sound |
| Aarti | आरती | A | 9 ♂ | aarti (a type of worship ritual involving candles) |
| Aasha | आशा | A | 2 ☽ | hope |
| Abdul | अब्दुल | A | 7 ♆ | |
| Abhishek | अभिषेक | A | 6 ♀ | sprinkling, anointing |
| Aditi | अदिति | A | 2 ☽ | freedom, safety |
| Aditya | अदित्या | A | 3 ♃ | the sun; son of Aditi |
| Advik | अद्विक | A | 5 ☿ | unique, one of a kind |
| Afsana | अफ़साना | A | 1 ☉ | tale, story |
| Aisha | ऐशा | A | 2 ☽ | alive; prosperous |
| Ajay | अजय | A | 4 ♅ | unconquerable, invincible, unvanquishable |
| Ajeet | अजीत | A | 7 ♆ | |
| Ajit | अजीत | A | 7 ♆ | unconquered |
| Akash | आकाश | A | 3 ♃ | sky |
| Akhilesh | अखिलेश | A | 7 ♆ | God |
| Akram | अक्रम | A | 1 ☉ | |
| Akshay | अक्षय | A | 4 ♅ | exempt from decay, undecaying |
| Ali | अलि | A | 5 ☿ | |
| Alka | अल्का | A | 7 ♆ | |
| Aman | अमन | A | 2 ☽ | peace, tranquility |
| Amar | अमर | A | 8 ♄ | immortal, eternal, deathless, undying |
| Amarjeet | अमर्जीत | A | 5 ☿ | |
| Amir | अमीर | A | 8 ♄ | rich, wealthy |
| Amit | अमित | A | 1 ☉ | limitless, unlimited, boundless |
| Amrita | अम्रिता | A | 4 ♅ | |
| Anand | आनंद | A | 7 ♆ | bliss, pleasure, happiness, joy |
| Ananya | अनन्या | A | 5 ☿ | unique; without equal |
| Anika | अनिका | A | 1 ☉ | grace; a name of Durga |
| Anil | अनिल | A | 1 ☉ | air, wind |
| Anish | अनिश | A | 6 ♀ | |
| Anita | अनिता | A | 3 ♃ | |
| Anjali | अंजलि | A | 3 ♃ | the gesture in which the hands are placed together in greeting |
| Anjli | अंजलि | A | 2 ☽ | the gesture in which the hands are placed together in greeting |
| Anju | अंजु | A | 4 ♅ | |
| Anjum | अंजुम | A | 8 ♄ | |
| Ankit | अंकित | A | 4 ♅ | marked, noted |
| Ankita | अंकिता | A | 5 ☿ | |
| Ankur | अंकुर | A | 7 ♆ | shoot, bud, sprout |
| Annu | अन्नु | A | 8 ♄ | |
| Ansh | अंश | A | 5 ☿ | a portion; part of something greater |
| Anshu | अंशु | A | 2 ☽ | ray, beam, sunbeam |
| Anu | अनु | A | 3 ♃ | |
| Anuj | अनुज | A | 4 ♅ | |
| Anuradha | अनुरधा | A | 7 ♆ | |
| Anurag | अनुराग | A | 9 ♂ | higher love |
Showing the first 48 of 77, alphabetically. The full name index carries the rest.
A blank meaning is a meaning we have not verified. We would rather leave the cell empty than fill it with a plausible guess.
Every name above reduced by the Chaldean method — how Mesha actually distributes, counted rather than asserted.
| Root | Ruling planet | Names | Fields traditionally favoured |
|---|---|---|---|
| Root 4 | ♅ Uranus | 13 | Construction, Engineering, Manufacturing |
| Root 7 | ♆ Neptune | 11 | Research, Spirituality, Independent consulting |
| Root 1 | ☉ Sun | 10 | Leadership, Politics, Entrepreneurship |
| Root 5 | ☿ Mercury | 10 | Media, SaaS / Tech, Communication |
| Root 8 | ♄ Saturn | 8 | Banking, Insurance, Real estate |
| Root 2 | ☽ Moon | 7 | Hospitality, Diplomacy, Wellness |
| Root 3 | ♃ Jupiter | 7 | Education, Publishing, Wisdom-focused brands |
| Root 9 | ♂ Mars | 7 | Defence, Sports, Surgery |
| Root 6 | ♀ Venus | 4 | Luxury, Fashion, Beauty |
Ashwini (all four padas), Bharani (all four padas) and Krittika (pada 1). A rashi spans 30° and a nakshatra 13°20′, so every rashi works out to two and a quarter nakshatras — nine padas in all.
By the Avakahada chakra: Chu, Che, Cho, La, Li, Lu, Le, Lo and A. All 9 belong to the rashi; the pada the child was actually born in narrows it to a single sound, and that comes from the birth chart, not from this list.
They name the same 30° of the zodiac, and Mesha is normally translated as Aries. They are not interchangeable in practice. Rashi in the Indian tradition is the Moon's sign measured against the fixed stars (Lahiri ayanamsa); a Western sun sign is the Sun's position measured against the equinox. The two zodiacs currently sit about 24.2° apart, so a baby who is Aries by the newspaper column is very often not Mesha rashi at all.
No — the birth chart does. The chakra runs the other way: a pandit reads the Moon's nakshatra and pada from the janam kundli and hands the family a syllable to start the name with. Read in reverse, as this page reads it, a syllable tells you which star the sound belongs to and nothing about your child.
It is a tradition, not a rule. Plenty of families take the syllable as a shortlist and plenty choose the name they love regardless; both are ordinary. Where it does matter is the namkaran ceremony, which is why the sound usually comes from the pandit before the shortlist is drawn up.
Enter the date of birth and we compute the Moon's actual nakshatra and pada, instead of reading it backwards from the name.
Check a nameThe 3 nakshatras that fall in Mesha
The other rashis — Meena before it, Vrishabha after it in the zodiac
The root numbers these names carry