Inspiring ideas to name a kid with pure Tamil name

I wanted to share the criteria that we used and the strategy we refined and ideas & inspirations that led us to name our kids.

Some learning during our search process

When I searched online and read the list of names, almost none of the names sounded interesting and I would hardly shortlist any names. After sometime I realized this is not working and when I discussed with a friend, his recommendation was to “sink in with a name for a longer time rather than just reading and skimming through the list”. So I started to spend time with a name by finding the meaning, it’s association, facts and history if any. After that, the same names felt more meaningful and engaging. Also he suggested to look for root of the word and build from it. These two suggestions helped but there is one another idea that clicked and inspired me the most.

Idea that inspired me the most

Same friend named his son from a root word found in Thirukkural. I didn’t realize that until he explained at a later point of time. He explained how he used root words like அன்பு, அறம் from Thirukkural and built it up based on his personal inspiration to name his kid. After his explanation the same name felt very impressive. Another friend recollected the Thirukkural that had அன்பு and அறம் word it in.

அன்பும் அறனும் உடைத்தாயின் இல்வாழ்க்கை
பண்பும் பயனும் அது.

Until this point I was struggling to find simple root words but this idea did wonders. After this I was able to find the root word from Thirukkural and it made sense and I was convinced. On top of this mapping Tamil names to English meanings made a huge difference as well.

Ideas that worked

I tried to find names using these four ideas

• Sink in with the name
• Use Thirukkural to find the root word
• Take the root of the word and build up
• Map the English meaning to Tamil names (explained in “Meaning for the names” section below)

I got lot of names that felt good and convincing.
• Iniyan (இனிய -> இனியன்)

இனிய உளவாக இன்னாத கூறல்
கனிஇருப்பக் காய்கவர்ந் தற்று.

• Agan (அகம் -> அகன்)

அகன்அமர்ந்து ஈதலின் நன்றே முகனமர்ந்து
இன்சொலன் ஆகப் பெறின்.

• Pughal (புகழ்) – Thirukkural has a அதிகாரம் named புகழ்

• Anbu (அன்பு)

அன்பிற்கும் உண்டோ அடைக்குந்தாழ் ஆர்வலர்
புன்கணீர் பூசல் தரும்.

I can go on like this but this is the idea.

Meaning for the names

I usually use this dictionary tool (tamilcube) to find “Tamil to English meanings” and vice versa. I drafted the meaning using this. If I didn’t find proper meaning for the name, I will use the root words and it would give good results. Like for e.g. இனியன் would only return one meaning “a friend” but “இனிய” would return lot of meanings.

• இனியன் – a friend, melody, delectable
• அகன் – mind, earth
• புகழ் – fame, glory, ambition
• அன்பு – love, generous (beneficent), fondness, grace, benevolence

Mapping Tamil names to English meaning (primary or secondary meaning) really made a huge difference.

I hope this ideas help you find a good Tamil names. Wish you all the best!

My wife’s list

Not all names matched our criteria and not all are Tamil names but sharing the list

My List

Not all names matched both our criteria and not all are Tamil names but sharing the list