Indian Baby Names Starting with R

About this collection

R names carry a lot of royalty and sunlight. Raj is rule or kingship, Rani is a queen, Rukmini is Krishna's chief queen, and Raghav is Rama as the descendant of Raghu. Ravi is the sun, Rohit is the red of sunrise, and Rohan means rising. Rudra is the fierce form of Shiva, and Ranveer means brave in battle.

Rahul, Raj and Rani are among the most filmy names in the catalog, familiar from decades of Hindi cinema. Riya is one of the most popular girl names of the last twenty years and one of the least documented; its guide explains the competing derivations. Reyansh and Riaan are modern names in the same position.

Rithvik is the odd one out in spelling. It begins with the Sanskrit vowel ऋ, which is transliterated ṛ and pronounced ri in most of North India and ru in parts of the South, so Ritvik, Rithvik and Hrithvik all appear in use. The rashi tables assign र to Tula, corresponding to Libra.