Sannyas Names

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Full List all names (PDF)
First Names only (PDF)

Note: Before searching for a name, please read the introductory page in full. And remember it is better to search for meaning rather than from name, because the Sanskrit spelling is different from Western languages, The long, A, as in Ānanda does not show on computer keyboards.

These lists of names were put together by Samudro who has, like a scholar, painstakingly researched and put them together. It took him over 8 years. When we first heard about this project we asked him a few questions:

How did it all start?

Back in 2004, as a travelling group leader, people started asking me to give them sannyas names. I had already been giving sannyas celebrations for several years to people who got their names by post from Pune. But sometimes the letters got lost or they received two different names, and so I got involved in choosing sannyas names. Then people started to ask their new name directly from me. They had more trust in me, because I knew them. It was different than getting a name from someone whom they had never met and who was sitting in an office in a faraway country. At that time this was still controversial as the Academy of Initiation in Pune was officially the only place which was giving out names, and it looked as if I was playing ‘guru’…

When I eventually saw the official list of sannyas names I was surprised that many names did not have a meaning in the appropriate column and that some names clearly had the wrong meaning. Some pages of the names list had an error most probably due to a mistake made using an Excel sheet. (I suspect that someone had deleted a ‘cell’ instead of a ‘row’ thus many names were one place out of order.) And when I drew the attention to this fact, there was no cooperative response.

As an ‘old’ sannyasin I had absorbed, over the years, the meaning of many sannyas names. I loved Osho’s Darshan Diaries and to read the meaning Osho gave to each new sannyasin. So sannyas names had a particular importance for me.

Then came the time when it was decided that people could choose their own sannyas names. I was invited along to a meeting with Amrito for Osho Centers and Institutes, in which he explained this change. Two Indian Commune Guests, Pratap and Tyohar, were assigned the task of revising the sannyas list for it to be published on a website (www.neosannyas.org), as part of the process of giving the responsibility back to people to choose their own names.

I talked with Tyohar and Pratap to offer support and help, but they had been given only one month to do the task, on top of their other daily jobs! They did the best they could, but the result is still full of multiple mistakes, both in spelling and in meaning.

However, I wanted to do it more thoroughly. Initially I began researching all the Darshan Diaries on the Oshobooks CD-ROM, to check which names Osho had given and with which meaning. Soon it became obvious that there were numerous editing errors. Possible because, Maneesha (or rather Big Prem) was given just one day to transcribe the tape of the darshan. To keep the nature of the darshans as an intimate meeting between master and disciple, Osho had given the instruction that the tapes be erased immediately after the transcription. So there is no way now to double-check on audio tapes.

Also the book editors were overwhelmed with work, and as there was no internet in those days, it would have been difficult to get all Sanskrit names transliterated correctly. It was also not an easy task to decipher Osho’s pronunciation on some words even with the tape recordings of regular discourses. Add to that the flimsy quality of audio cassette tapes in India in 1974-1981!

Urged to find the correct spelling of Sanskrit names I found a couple of Sanskrit dictionaries. The main one I use to check the sannyas names is the Monier-Williams Sanskrit Dictionary from the late 1890′s. Leafing through the 1333 pages of this tome, I came across many other Sanskrit words that could have also made very interesting names. And thus I started to compile a new list of sannyas names and also corrected the gender of the names.

I have also double-checked all the other names given by Osho which are in other languages, like Hindi, Urdu or Arabic, i.e. not of Sanskrit origin and all those names which the Academy staff have added over the years. Thus I have expanded the 1550 names I found from Osho’s published books to approx 24,000 names in what will be the final list. As I only have extra time for it on occasions, it has taken me about 7 years for a compilation in the form of an Excel file. I am also making it available as a downloadable pdf file. It is preferable to search within the file for the meanings, rather than the name spelling.

This will be the fullest list of sannyas names and will help people choose from a greater variety of names. Also it can help those asked to give names to new sannyasins – such as group leaders – so that they can come away from the most common names which they tend to give out usually. I am now in the process of triple checking the names plus adding the Devanagari Sanskrit script as well as Hindi and Arabic. That will enable people to add the script similar to how Osho would handwrite the names on the certificates when he gave sannyas.

Is it better for people to choose their own names?

I have found that it is more beneficial for the new sannyasins to choose their own name. I usually suggest the person to find, in their meditation, which meaning they need or want for their sannyas name. Then from the meaning we can make a short list of names from which they choose the one which has a sound they like best. We also need to consider that a name in Sanskrit might sound like a word with a not very flattering meaning in the person’s native language, e.g. Sukha is Sanskrit for ‘Joy’, however in Russian it means ‘Bitch’…

Although some people find it difficult to choose a name for themselves, they still have the choice to ask others to choose for them.

Hopefully a developer will come forward and put his own hours of ‘labour of love’ into making a searchable website to make Samudro’s list as easy to use as possible. So watch this space in a year’s time or less, to hear more about the his finished list.

Punya for Osho News

Samudroprem (aka Sarovara, Swami Phil) took sannyas from Osho in 1980. He worked in Mariam Canteen until the ashram closed, he returned to England to join the Medina Commune and later Hanover and Hamburg Communes. In 1985 he was given a free scholarship to join the Counsellor Training in Rajneeshpuram. At the start of Pune 2 he joined the Multiversity and has been working as an Osho Therapist since then, specialising in Religion, Childhood and Past Lives and the Chakra Series. He is Director of Osho Energy Transformation Institute and mostly works in Eastern Europe and Asia. He has diplomas in Psychology and Counselling. Instagram: samudro_imap – taplink.cc

Article updated 10.5.2023