Find Your Rashi by Name (Nama Rashi)

Your Nama Rashi (name sign) is the rashi traditionally linked to the first syllable of your name. The link comes from the Avakahada Chakra, a table found in Panchangs and Jyotish manuals.

The zodiac holds 27 nakshatras, and each nakshatra has four quarters, or padas: 108 in all. Each pada is given a syllable. The four padas of Ashwini, for example, are Chu, Che, Cho and La. Every rashi spans nine padas, so every rashi has nine syllables.

Mesha, for example, holds the nine syllables Chu, Che, Cho, La (Ashwini), Li, Lu, Le, Lo (Bharani) and A (the first pada of Krittika).

To find a Nama Rashi, you take the sound your name begins with, find that syllable in the chakra, and read the nakshatra pada and rashi it belongs to. If you have more than one name, the one you are commonly called by is traditionally used.

Worked examples

• Amit begins with "A" (अ): the first pada of Krittika, which falls in Mesha (Aries).
• Rahul begins with "Ra" (रा): the third pada of Chitra, which falls in Tula (Libra).

Matching goes by sound, not by English spelling. "Ta" and "Tha", or "Da" and "Dha", are different syllables in Devanagari and can point to different nakshatras, so go by how your name is spoken. Tables in different Panchangs also vary slightly for some syllables.

Nama Rashi is a traditional convenience, often used when a person's birth time is not known. The idea also runs the other way: a child's name is often chosen to begin with the syllable of the Moon's nakshatra pada at birth, so that the name and the birth rashi agree.

For most astrological work, though, the rashi that matters is your Janma Rashi: the sign the Moon occupied at your birth, taken from your birth chart. If your name was not chosen from your birth nakshatra, your Nama Rashi and Janma Rashi may well differ, and that is normal. Chart analysis, matching and planetary periods all work from the Janma Rashi and the full chart.

Read your Nama Rashi as a traditional indication, not a reading. It is not a basis for choosing a gemstone either; two people with the same rashi can have very different charts.

To understand your actual chart, see kundli analysis. For marriage, see kundli matching.