Baby Names › By letter

69 names for boys beginning with K, each with the meaning our corpus records and the Devanagari spelling where we hold one.
K carries Krishna, Kali, kamal and kiran, and it is the single most fertile consonant in Indian naming after A.
There are 69 here, each printed with its meaning and its Devanagari spelling where we hold one. Families usually arrive at a letter for one of three reasons: the birth nakshatra's pada suggests a syllable, a grandparent's name begins with it, or the family simply likes how it sounds with the surname.
Every name comes from our verified name corpus — the editorial workbooks our team maintains, cross-checked against United States birth-registration data. Names we hold no meaning for are left out rather than padded in, which is why this list is shorter than the ones that scrape a dictionary.
69 names, each with the meaning our corpus records for it.
| Name | Meaning | In Devanagari |
|---|---|---|
| Kabir | Great; inspired by Saint Kabir's wisdom | कबीर |
| Krishiv | Lord Krishna and Lord Shiva | कृषिव |
| Kiran | Derived from Sanskrit किरण (kiraṇa ), which can mean "dust" or "thread" or "sunbeam" | किरण |
| Krish | Another name of Lord Krishna | क्रिश |
| Keshav | Another name of Lord Vishnu | केशव |
| Krishna | Derived from Sanskrit कृष्ण (kṛṣṇa) meaning "black, dark" | कृष्ण |
| Kairav | White lotus; born of pure waters | कैरव |
| Kiyaan | A royal prince | कियान |
| Kavish | King of Poets, Lord Ganesh | कविश |
| Karthik | Another name of Lord Murugan | कार्तिक |
| Kailash | Lord Shiva | कैलास |
| Kartikeya | Lord Murugan | कार्तिकेय |
| Karan | Companion | करण |
| Kartik | Name of Lord Murugan | कार्तिक |
| Kishan | Lord Krishna | किशन |
| Kedar | Powerful | केदार |
| Kailas | Abode of Lord Shiva | कैलास |
| Kalyan | Prosperous | कल्याण |
| Kunal | Lotus | कुणाल |
| Kanishk | An Ancient King | कनिष्क |
| Kirtan | Worship | कीर्तन |
| Kadamb | Name of a particular tree | कदंब |
| Kaival | Absolute | कैवल्य |
| Kaivalya | Perfect Isolation, Salvation | कैवल्य |
| Kalidas | Devotee of Goddess Kali, A Poet | कालिदास |
| Kalpak | Creator | कल्पक |
| Kalpesh | Lord of Imagination | कल्पेश |
| Kalyaneswar | Lord of Welfare | कल्याणेश्वर |
| Kamalakar | Abode of Lotus | कमलाकर |
| Kamlesh | Lord of Lotus | कमलेश |
| Kanak | Gold | कनक |
| Kanha | Lord Krishna in his boyhood; mischievous and lovable | कान्हा |
| Kanhaiya | Lord Krishna | कन्हैया |
| Karmendra | Lord of Actions | कर्मेन्द्र |
| Kartavya | Duty | कर्तव्य |
| Kartikey | Courage and joy | कार्तिकेय |
| Kartikram | Fulfiller of Duty | कार्तिकराम |
| Karuna | From Sanskrit करुणा (karuṇā ) meaning "compassion, mercy" | करुणा |
| Kashinath | Lord of Kashi, Lord Shiva | काशीनाथ |
| Kashyap | A Saint, Name of a Sage | कश्यप |
| Kaushal | Clever | कौशल |
| Kaustubh | Precious Stone | कौस्तुभ |
| Kautuk | Praise | कौतुक |
| Kavindra | Poet, Lord of Poets | कविंद्र |
| Kavit | Poetic | कवित |
| Kesar | Saffron | केसर |
| Kesav | Lord Vishnu | केशव |
| Keshan | One with beautiful hair | केशन |
| Keshavananda | Bliss of Lord Krishna | केशवनंद |
| Keshavrao | Lord Krishna; one with beautiful hair; royal and divine | केशवराव |
| Keshin | One with Long Hair | केशिन |
| Keshwa | Lord Krishna | केशव |
| Ketan | Home | केतन |
| Kintan | Crowned | किंतन |
| Kirtiraj | King of Fame | कीर्तीराज |
| Kishor | Derived from Sanskrit किशोर (kiśora ) meaning "colt" | किशोर |
| Kishore | Victory | किशोर |
| Krupal | Merciful, Kind | कृपाल |
| Krupesh | Lord of Mercy | कृपेश |
| Krushant | Lord Krishna | कृषांत |
| Name | Meaning | In Devanagari |
|---|---|---|
| Krutarth | Obliged | कृतार्थ |
| Krutika | One of the Nakshatras | कृतिका |
| Krutvik | Always Joyful | कृतविक |
| Kshama | Forgiveness | क्षमा |
| Kshitij | From Sanskrit क्षितिज (kṣitija ) meaning "born of the earth" or "horizon" | क्षितिज |
| Kshitin | Earth, King | क्षितिन |
| Kuber | God of Wealth | कुबेर |
| Kuldev | A deity worshipped by family | कुलदेव |
| Kundan | Beautiful | कुंदन |
These are the names on this page that show up in United States birth registrations for 2025 — a real signal of which spellings Indian families abroad are registering now. India has no comparable public register, so anyone ranking names within India is estimating.
| Name | Meaning | US births, 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Kabir | Great; inspired by Saint Kabir's wisdom | 227 |
| Krishiv | Lord Krishna and Lord Shiva | 209 |
| Kiran | Derived from Sanskrit किरण (kiraṇa ), which can mean "dust" or "thread" or "sunbeam" | 155 |
| Krish | Another name of Lord Krishna | 154 |
| Keshav | Another name of Lord Vishnu | 69 |
| Krishna | Derived from Sanskrit कृष्ण (kṛṣṇa) meaning "black, dark" | 69 |
| Kairav | White lotus; born of pure waters | 65 |
| Kiyaan | A royal prince | 34 |
| Kavish | King of Poets, Lord Ganesh | 27 |
| Karthik | Another name of Lord Murugan | 20 |
| Kailash | Lord Shiva | 15 |
| Kartikeya | Lord Murugan | 13 |
| Karan | Companion | 12 |
| Kartik | Name of Lord Murugan | 10 |
| Kishan | Lord Krishna | 10 |
| Kedar | Powerful | 9 |
| Kailas | Abode of Lord Shiva | 8 |
| Kalyan | Prosperous | 7 |
| Kunal | Lotus | 6 |
| Kanishk | An Ancient King | 5 |
Say the shortlist with the surname, out loud, several times. A name that is lovely alone can be unsayable in full, and the full version is what a teacher will read from a register.
Fix the spelling before you register the birth. Romanised Indian names have several accepted spellings — the one on the birth certificate has to match the school record, the passport and the Aadhaar that follow it, and correcting them later is genuinely painful.
If your family follows the panchang, the birth nakshatra's pada decides the traditional syllable. Our birth star calculator gives the star, the pada and its syllable from the date and time of birth — start there, then look for a name on this page that fits.
And check the short form and the initials, because those are what the child will actually be called.
Q: How many boys' names starting with K are on this page? — 69, each with a recorded meaning. Names whose meaning we cannot verify are not listed.
Q: Which is the most used? — Of the names here, Kabir (great; inspired by saint kabir's wisdom) has the highest 2025 US birth count. Within India, popularity varies a great deal by state and community.
Q: Is my baby's nakshatra syllable the same as this letter? — Not necessarily. The panchang syllables are written in Devanagari and do not map one-to-one onto English letters — "Ch", "Sh" and "Th" are single sounds, for instance. Use the birth star calculator for the syllable, then match it to the Devanagari spellings in the table.
Q: Do you have girls' names for this letter? — Yes, on its own page, along with lists for the other letters and for names grouped by meaning.
Published by: theAsianparent editorial team
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