Baby Names › By letter

104 names for boys beginning with P, each with the meaning our corpus records and the Devanagari spelling where we hold one.
P is the letter of prem, prakash and padma — love, light and the lotus — and one of the most-used opening letters for girls in India.
There are 104 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.
104 names, each with the meaning our corpus records for it.
| Name | Meaning | In Devanagari |
|---|---|---|
| Pranav | Sacred syllable OM | प्रणव |
| Parth | Arjuna | पार्थ |
| Priyansh | Lovable part | प्रियांश |
| Prithvi | Earth | पृथ्वी |
| Prem | Love | प्रेम |
| Pratham | First | प्रथम |
| Paarth | Arjun; Son of the Earth King | पार्थ |
| Pranay | Lovely | प्रणय |
| Pavan | Wind, Holy | पवन |
| Pradyumna | Cupid | प्रद्युम्न |
| Parthiv | Earthly | पार्थिव |
| Pranith | Calm | प्रणीत |
| Paal | King; Guardian; Moment | पाल |
| Paaraj | Gold | पारज |
| Paarthiv | Earthly | पार्थिव |
| Paawan | Pure | पावन |
| Pachaimuthu | Youthful; Resourceful | पचैमुथु |
| Padam | Lotus | पदम |
| Padmabandhu | A friend of Lotus; The Sun | पद्मबंधु |
| Padmadhar | One who holds a lotus | पद्मधर |
| Padmakar | Jewel; Lord Vishnu | पद्माकर |
| Padmanabh | Lord Vishnu | पद्मनाभ |
| Padmesh | Lord of Lotuses | पद्मेश |
| Pagalavan | Sun; Radiant | पागलावन |
| Pahal | Facet; Beginning; An initiative | पहल |
| Pakshil | Name of sage; Bird; Practical | पक्षिल |
| Palaksh | White | पलकश |
| Palash | Flowering tree | पलाश |
| Panchal | Lord Shiva | पांचाल |
| Pancham | The th note of classical music; one who is smart | पंचम |
| Pandhari | Lord Vithobha | पांढरी |
| Pandurang | A deity, Lord Vishnu | पांडुरंग |
| Pankaj | Lotus | पंकज |
| Pappu | Daddy's boy; beloved son; innocent and sweet | पप्पू |
| Parag | Fame | पराग |
| Paramanand | Supreme bliss | परमानंद |
| Paramesh | Lord Shiva; Lord Vishnu | परमेश |
| Paran | Beauty; Glory; Ornament | परान |
| Parantap | Conqueror; Name of Arjun | परंतप |
| Pardeep | Good | प्रदीप |
| Paresh | Supreme being | परेश |
| Parimal | Fragrance, Scent | परिमल |
| Paritosh | Satisfaction, Contentment | परीतोष |
| Parmeshwar | Supreme God, Almighty | परमेश्वर |
| Pathik | A traveller | पथिक |
| Patrik | Nobleman | पॅट्रिक |
| Pawan | Wind | पवन |
| Peeyush | Milk; Nectar | पीयूष |
| Pinakin | Lord Shiva | पिनाकिन |
| Pitambar | Lord Vishnu; Yellow robed | पीतांबर |
| Piyush | Nectar | पीयूष |
| Ponmala | Sabari hill | पोन्माला |
| Poorvaj | Elder; Ancestors | पूर्वज |
| Praakrit | Nature; One who looks handsome | प्राकृत |
| Prabas | Lustrous; Rebel Star | प्रभास |
| Prabhu | God | प्रभू |
| Prabhunath | Lord of lords; master of the divine | प्रभुनाथ |
| Prabodh | Walking | प्रबोध |
| Prachet | Lord Varun; Wise; Intelligent; Enlightenment | प्रचेत |
| Pradeep | Lamp | प्रदीप |
| Name | Meaning | In Devanagari |
|---|---|---|
| Pradhi | One who is intelligent | प्रधी |
| Pradhyumna | Lord Krishna's son | प्रध्युम्न |
| Pradip | Derived from Sanskrit प्रदीप (pradīpa ) meaning "light, lantern" | प्रदीप |
| Prafull | Blooming | प्रफुल्ल |
| Prahar | Attack | प्रहार |
| Prakam | Joy; Desire; Achievement | प्राकाम |
| Prakash | Bright; Light | प्रकाश |
| Pralay | Dissolution, Apocalypse | प्रलय |
| Pramod | Delight; Lord of all abodes; Pleasure | प्रमोद |
| Pranesh | Lord of Life | प्राणेश |
| Pranil | Lord Shiva; Life | प्रनील |
| Pranit | Modest | प्रणित |
| Pranjal | Honest, Soft | प्रांजल |
| Prasad | Devotional offering; Purity | प्रसाद |
| Prasanna | Cheerful, Happy | प्रसन्न |
| Prashant | Calm | प्रशांत |
| Pratap | From Sanskrit प्रताप (pratāpa ) meaning "heat, splendour, glory" | प्रताप |
| Prathamesh | Another name of Lord Ganesh | प्रथमेश |
| Prathit | Celebrated, Renowned | प्रथित |
| Pratik | Symbol | प्रतीक |
| Praval | Coral; Fierce; Strong | प्रवाल |
| Pravar | Chief, Excellent | प्रवर |
| Praveen | A person who is an expert in many fields | प्रवीण |
| Praveer | A warrior; Hero | प्रवीर |
| Pravin | Skilled | प्रविण |
| Prayas | To try | प्रयास |
| Preetham | Lover; Lovable | प्रीतम |
| Pritam | Beloved | प्रीतम |
| Pritesh | Lord of Love | प्रीतेश |
| Prithiv | The Sun | पृथिव |
| Priyanush | Famous | प्रियनुष |
| Pruthviraj | King of Earth | पृथ्वीराज |
| Pukhraj | Topaz | पुखराज |
| Punarvasu | A twin born again | पुनर्वसु |
| Puneet | Alternate transcription of Hindi/Marathi पुनीत (see Punit ) | पुनीत |
| Punit | Pure or holy | पुनित |
| Punyesh | Lord of virtue | पुण्येश |
| Puru | Abundant, Lord Vishnu | पुरू |
| Purushottam | Supreme soul | पुरुषोत्तम |
| Puruva | Elder, East | पुरुव |
| Purvik | The Sun | पूर्विक |
| Pushkar | A gem | पुष्कर |
| Pushpesh | Lord of flowers | पुष्पेश |
| Puskal | Lord Shiva | पुष्कळ |
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Pranav | Sacred syllable OM | 56 |
| Parth | Arjuna | 51 |
| Priyansh | Lovable part | 17 |
| Prithvi | Earth | 14 |
| Prem | Love | 12 |
| Pratham | First | 11 |
| Paarth | Arjun; Son of the Earth King | 10 |
| Pranay | Lovely | 10 |
| Pavan | Wind, Holy | 7 |
| Pradyumna | Cupid | 6 |
| Parthiv | Earthly | 5 |
| Pranith | Calm | 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 P are on this page? — 104, each with a recorded meaning. Names whose meaning we cannot verify are not listed.
Q: Which is the most used? — Of the names here, Pranav (sacred syllable om) 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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