Giving the Name

Namakarana is the naming of a child, one of the Hindu life-cycle rites, performed in most accounts on the eleventh or twelfth day after birth. The chosen name is formally given, often whispered in the child's ear, with prayers for long life and well-being, and the selection may be guided by the family deity, the birth star (nakshatra) under which the child was born, or the traditions of the lineage, so that the name situates the child within both a family and a cosmological order.

The rite is described among the samskaras in the classical ritual manuals, which specify its timing and the considerations that should govern the choice of name. In practice it ranges from a simple domestic observance to a fuller ceremony with a priest, and it is frequently combined with other early rites; across its variations it marks the point at which the newborn is given the name by which it will be known within the community.