Kanya Rashi Names — Baby Boy & Girl Names Starting with To, Pa, Pi, Pu, Sha, Na, Tha, Pe, Po

The nakshatras behind the letters

Kanya takes the last three padas of Uttara Phalguni, all of Hasta and the first half of Chitra. Uttara Phalguni, presided over by Aryaman, the god of contracts and hospitality, and ruled by the Sun, gives To, Pa and Pi. Hasta, the open hand, belongs to Savitar, the Sun as the power that sets the day in motion, and is ruled by the Moon; its padas give Pu, Sha, Na and Tha. Chitra, the bright jewel, is the star of Tvashtar, the divine craftsman, and is ruled by Mars. Its first two padas give Pe and Po, and its second half moves on into Tula.

Because Hasta and Chitra are each crossed in about a day, two babies born a few hours apart can easily have different Kanya letters, or one can be Kanya and the other Tula. The pada has to come from the birth time.

Why P carries the list

Look closely at Hasta's middle letters. Sha here is the retroflex sh, the letter in shashthi. Strictly it is not the palatal sh that begins Shankar or Shalini, although modern Hindi pronounces the two alike, and some families with a Hasta Sha pada choose such a name on that ground; the lists on this site keep to the strict reading. Na is the retroflex n that occurs inside words like Krishna but never at the start of a name, and Tha is the hard retroflex th. To, from Uttara Phalguni, is again the retroflex T. Strictly applied, then, these four letters yield practically no given names, and this site lists none under them rather than borrow names from look-alike sounds.

The P letters more than make up for it. Pa gives Pankaj, Pawan, Parth, Prakash, Pallavi, Parvati and Padma; Pi gives Pitambar, Piyush and Priya; Pu gives Pulkit, Pushkar, Purnima, Pooja and Pushpa; Pe and Po are rarer but still offer a few choices. Conjunct clusters count by their first consonant, so Prakash, Pranav and Prerna sit with the plain P names, and Prithvi, with its vocalic ri, is heard as Pri or Pru and stays in Kanya either way.

When the pada gives a silent letter

A baby born with the Moon in the second, third or fourth pada of Hasta draws Sha, Na or Tha. Families meet this in one of two ways. Many choose from Hasta's first letter, Pu, or from the Pa, Pi, Pe and Po of the neighbouring nakshatras, keeping the name within Kanya. Others record a brief nakshatra name with the strict letter for the horoscope and give the child an everyday name of their choice. The namkaran tradition is concerned with the janma nama spoken in rituals, so both approaches are well within custom.

Since Mercury, the planet of speech, rules Kanya, some parents like to say a shortlisted name aloud with the family surname several times before deciding, a small ritual of their own that suits the sign well.

Kanya rashi is not Virgo by birthday

A child born between late August and September is called a Virgo in sun-sign columns, which follow the tropical Sun. The Kanya rashi of naming follows the Moon in the sidereal zodiac, and the Moon visits Kanya for about two and a quarter days every month. Only the full birth data shows whether the Moon was there, and in which of its nine padas.

What are the Kanya rashi letters for baby names?

To, Pa and Pi from Uttara Phalguni; Pu, Sha, Na and Tha from Hasta; and Pe and Po from the first half of Chitra. The pada the Moon was in at birth decides the baby's letter.

Why are there no Kanya names starting with Sha, Na or Tha?

Kanya's Sha, Na and Tha are retroflex sounds that Indian names almost never begin with. Names such as Shankar start with the palatal sh, a different letter, so the strict list keeps to the P letters, though some families accept a Sha name because Hindi pronounces the two alike.

Is Priya a Kanya rashi name?

Yes. A cluster counts by its first consonant and the vowel after it, so Priya begins with the Pi syllable, a Kanya letter from Uttara Phalguni.

My baby was born in Hasta nakshatra. What should the name start with?

Hasta's padas give Pu, Sha, Na and Tha. If the pada is the first, choose a Pu name; for the other three, families usually pick a P name from the same rashi or keep a short ceremonial name with the strict letter.

Is Kanya rashi the same as Virgo?

Not as a rule. Virgo in sun-sign astrology is the tropical sign of the Sun by date; Kanya rashi in naming is the sidereal sign of the Moon at birth, so the two often differ.