Baby name letters by nakshatra

How the letter is chosen

The sky is divided into 27 nakshatras of 13°20′ each, and each nakshatra into four padas of 3°20′. That gives 108 padas, nine to each rashi.

The Hoḍā (also called Avakahaḍā) chakra gives one sound to each pada. The sound for the pada the Moon held at birth is the traditional first sound of the name.

If the family already knows the nakshatra and pada, the table below gives the sound directly.

Name letters for all 27 nakshatras and 108 padas

From the Hoḍā chakra printed in the Bālabodha Jyotiṣa Sāra Saṅgraha (1914), page 14. The rashi of each pada is in brackets.

The 28-nakshatra form of the chakra also gives Abhijit the sounds “Ju”, “Je”, “Jo”, “Kha”. Abhijit covers the last pada of Uttara Ashadha and the first fifteenth of Shravana. When the Moon is there, the tool shows these sounds as a second reading. Many modern lists print them under Shravana. (जू, जे, जो, खा)

Where the sources differ

Two printings from before 1931 and three modern lists agree on 92 of the 108 padas. Where they differ, the page prints the 1914 table’s reading:

• Ardra pada 2: “Gha” (घ). The 1907 printing has “Kha” (ख), which differs by one stroke; every other source has “Gha”.
• Purva Phalguni pada 1: “Mo” (मो). One modern list prints “No”.
• Purva Ashadha pada 3: “Pha” (फ), as in both printings. Two modern lists print “Bha”.
• Shravana: “Khi”, “Khu”, “Khe”, “Kho”. Lists that leave out Abhijit put its sounds “Ju”, “Je”, “Jo” here instead.
• Uttara Bhadrapada pada 4: “Nya” (ञ). Modern lists write it “Na”, “Da”, “Tra” or “Jña”; neither printing supports those.

Birth time, time zones and close calls

The clock offset for the birth date comes from the international time-zone database, so old dates use the clock rules of their time (for example, India used +6:30 from 1942 to 1945). The result shows the offset used. If the family clock followed local time, such as Bombay Time before 1955, enter that offset yourself.

The Moon moves through one pada in about six hours. When the birth time is within about five minutes of a boundary, the result says so and shows the reading on the other side as well, because recorded birth times are often a few minutes off.

If the birth time is not known, the tool lists every pada the Moon held that day, with the local times, and chooses none. A family priest can help decide.

The Moon’s position is computed for the birth instant, with the Lahiri ayanamsa the site uses for every panchang date. It agrees with NASA JPL’s DE440 ephemeris to within about 4 seconds of arc for any date from 1900 to 2100, which moves a pada boundary by under 10 seconds.

Sources

Both printings are public domain and can be read page by page on archive.org. The modern lists were used only to find differences.

• Bālabodha Jyotiṣa Sāra Saṅgraha (बालबोधज्योतिषसारसंग्रहः), with the Hindi commentary of Pt. Nārāyaṇa Prasāda Miśra; Lakṣmī Veṅkaṭeśvara Press, Kalyāṇ–Mumbaī, Saṃvat 1970 / Śaka 1835 (1913–14), p. 14, Hoḍā chakra (leaf n25). archive.org
• Bālabodha Jyotiṣa Sāra Saṅgraha (बालबोधज्योतिषसारसंग्रहः), with the Hindi commentary of Pt. Nārāyaṇa Prasāda Miśra; Lakṣmī Veṅkaṭeśvara Press, Kalyāṇ–Mumbaī, Saṃvat 1970 / Śaka 1835 (1913–14), p. 13, verses 45–51 (leaf n24). archive.org
• Muhūrtacintāmaṇi of Rāma Daivajña, with Govinda's Pīyūṣadhārā commentary, ed. Vāsudeva Śarmā Paṇaśīkara; Nirṇaya Sāgara Press, Mumbaī, Śaka 1829 (1907), p. 173, commentary on Saṃskāra-prakaraṇa 5.11 (leaf n186), quoting the Jyotiṣārka. archive.org

Families follow these sounds in different ways, and many consult their own priest or astrologer before choosing a name.

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