By origin
Names of Tamil origin
123 names
123 names whose origin traces to Tamil. The language a name comes from says nothing about who uses it.
- Names
- 123
- Boy
- 76
- Girl
- 43
- Categories
- 1
Top meaning themes
- Beauty 15
- Faith 14
- Leadership 13
- Protection 9
- Nature 8
- Prosperity 7
- Purity 6
- Light 6
Boy: 76 Girl: 43
Names
- Harini♀Doe, female deer
- Tharani♀Earth, ground
- Subramaniam♂Su (good) + brahman (devout worshipper)
- Saravanan♂A name of Murugan
- Muniandy♂The Tamil deity Muniyandi (muni 'sage')
- Ganesan♂The deity Ganesha
- Kavitha♀Poetry
- Letchumy♀Mark, sign
- Murugan♂Young
- Krishnan♂Dark, black
- Muniamah♀Sage
- Arumugam♂Six-faced
- Kalaivani♀Art and learning
- Sumathi♀Good mind, wise
- Kumaran♂Boy, son
- Punitha♀Purified
- Amutha♀Nectar
- Selvi♀Daughter, maiden
- Sivakumar♂Son of Shiva (Shiva: benign, auspicious
- Sharmila♀Protection, comfort, joy
- Balakrishnan♂Child Krishna
- Ramasamy♂Rama the lord
- Chandran♂Moon
- Kesavan♂An epithet of Vishnu and Krishna
- Rajendran♂Lord of kings
- Nanthini♀Daughter
- Vasanthi♀Spring
- Vikneswaran♂Lord of obstacles
- Ravichandran♂Sun and moon
- Raman♂Pleasing
- Komathi♀Possessing cows
- Mariayee♀A local name of the goddess Mariamman
- Mahendran♂The great Indra
- Logeswaran♂Lord of the world
- Sangeetha♀Music
- Kumaresan♂Lord Kumara
- Yogeswaran♂Lord of yoga
- Nagamah♀The cobra goddess
- Pavithran♂Pure
- Ramachandran♂Rama
- Hariharan♂Hari (Vishnu) and Hara (Shiva)
- Kamalam♀Lotus
- Perumal♂Great person
- Supramaniam♂Su (good) + brahman (devout worshipper)
- Letchimy♀Mark, sign
- Ramayee♀Rama
- Thirumurugan♂Sacred Murugan
- Abirami♀Pleasing
- Alwar♂One deep in meditation on the attributes of the Supreme Being
- Amala♀Clean, pure
- Amara♀Immortal
- Andal♀She who ruled
- Appu♂Father
- Aram♂Virtue
- Arjunan♂White, clear (from Arjuna)
- Arran♂Shiva (from Hara, 'seizer, destroyer')
- Arunachalam♂Reddish mountain
- Bharati♀Female descendant of Bharata
- Bindu♂♀Dot, drop
- Chitra♀Bright
- Divya♂♀Divine
- Eesan♂Lord, master
- Elil♂♀Beauty, charm
- Ezhil♂♀Beauty, charm
- Gangadharan♂Holder of the Ganges
- Gopalan♂Cow protector (a form of Gopala)
- Gopinathan♂Leader of the gopis
- Ilango♂Young prince
- Indumathi♀Full moon
- Kadamban♂Murugan, wearer of the kadambu flower garland
- Kadhirvelan♂Murugan, bearer of the radiant spear
- Kanchana♀Golden
- Kannan♂Krishna
- Karnan♂Ear
- Karthik♂The Pleiades constellation
- Karthika♀The Pleiades constellation
- Kathirvelan♂Ray of light
- Kavin♂Beauty
- Kottravai♀She who brings victory
- Krishna♂Black
- Madhavan♂An epithet of Krishna or Vishnu
- Magesan♂Great lord (a title of Shiva)
- Mala♀Garland, necklace of beads
- Malli♀Jasmine
- Mangai♀Woman
- Mani♂Gem, jewel
- Marri♂Rain
- Meenakshi♀Fish-eyed
- Muralidharan♂Flute bearer
- Muralitharan♂Flute bearer
- Muthu♂A pearl
- Mythili♀Of Mithila
- Narayanan♂A name of Narayana, the Hindu deity
- Neelagandan♂Blue-throated
- Neelakandan♂Blue-throated
- Oviya♀Painting
- Padhmanabhan♂One with a lotus in his navel
- Parthasarathy♂Arjuna's charioteer
- Poongodi♀A flowering creeper
- Raghavan♂Descendant of Raghu
- Raja♂King, ruler
- Ramanujan♂Younger brother of Rama
- Ranjitham♀That which pleases or delights
- Sadayan♂He who has dreadlocks
- Sathya♂True
- Satyanarayana♂Truth
- Sivam♂Auspicious
- Sivan♂Shiva
- Soundarya♀Beauty
- Srinivasan♂Abode of Shri (Lakshmi)
- Sundar♂Beautiful
- Sundaram♂Beautiful, handsome
- Sunder♂Beautiful
- Surendran♂Lord of the gods
- Thenmozhi♀Honey
- Thirulokachandar♂Sacred
- Udaya♂Rising
- Vadivu♀Form
- Valli♀Creeping plant
- Venba♀White, pure + stanza (venba, a Tamil poetic metre)
- Vetri♂Victory
- Viswanathan♂Lord of the world
- Yesu♂Tamil form of Jesus
About this list
This list gathers names whose origin traces to Tamil: a Dravidian language spoken in South India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Singapore, with its own Tamil script. Among the most common in our data: Subramaniam, Saravanan, Muniandy. The origin describes the word behind a name, not the person who bears it; the same names are used across communities, and a name may reach Malaysia through another language. Only names whose meaning and origin are backed by a source are listed here. See all origins, and the guide to name spellings for why spellings differ.
By gender
Frequently asked questions
Are Tamil names used by only one community?
No. The origin does not show anyone’s ethnicity, religion or background. We describe the name and the word behind it, nothing more.
Why do spellings here differ from the original?
Names are written in the Latin alphabet with no single official system, and sounds in the source language do not always match it one to one. Common spellings have their own page, and others are noted on it.