Narayana (also rendered Narayane, Narayanan, Narain, Narayankar or Narine) (from

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

नारायण, ''nārāyaṇá'', literally "eternal man") is an Indian name. It is identical in form to the name of the deity

Narayana Narayana (, ) is one of the forms and epithets of Vishnu. In this form, the deity is depicted in yogic slumber under the celestial waters, symbolising the masculine principle and associated with his role of creation. He is also known as Pu ...

, another name for

Vishnu Vishnu (; , , ), also known as Narayana and Hari, is one of the Hindu deities, principal deities of Hinduism. He is the supreme being within Vaishnavism, one of the major traditions within contemporary Hinduism, and the god of preservation ( ...

. The name Narayana is predominantly used in

South India South India, also known as Southern India or Peninsular India, is the southern part of the Deccan Peninsula in India encompassing the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana as well as the union territories of ...

especially among

Kannada Kannada () is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly in the state of Karnataka in southwestern India, and spoken by a minority of the population in all neighbouring states. It has 44 million native speakers, and is additionally a ...

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of ...

and

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of South India ** Telugu literature, is the body of works written in the Telugu language. * Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Tel ...

speakers.

Notable persons

Narayana

Narayana Pandit Nārāyaṇa Paṇḍita () (1340–1400) was an Indian mathematician. Plofker writes that his texts were the most significant Sanskrit mathematics treatises after those of Bhaskara II, other than the Kerala school. He wrote the '' Ganita Kaum ...

, mathematician *

Narayana Pillai (disambiguation) Narayana Pillai may refer to: * M. P. Narayana Pillai, Indian writer * Naraina Pillai, Singaporean businessman * Paravur T. K. Narayana Pillai, Indian politician {{Hndis, Pillai, Narayana ...

Narayana Rao (disambiguation) Narayana Rao or Narayanarao may refer to: *Dasari Narayana Rao (1942–2017), Telugu film director and Parliamentarian *G. V. Narayana Rao (born 1953), Telugu film/TV actor, producer *C. H. Narayana Rao Indian film actor (1937–1984), producer *Ch ...

Narayana Reddy (disambiguation) Narayana Reddy or Narayana Reddi may refer to: * C. Narayana Reddy (1931–2017), Indian poet and writer * G. Narayan Reddy (1926–1998), Indian politician and Member of Parliament of India * Ravi Narayana Reddy (1908–1991), Indian communist ...

Suryanarayana (disambiguation) Suryanarayan, Suryanarayana or Surya Narayana is the name of Hindu Sun God Surya. It is also a common Indian name. * Bayya Suryanarayana Murthy, Parliamentarian and leader of the Dalit movement * Kommareddi Suryanarayana, Indian Parliamentarian. * ...

Tadepalli Venkata Narayana T. V. Narayana (Tadepalli Venkata Narayana) (23 April 1930 – 6 February 1987) was an Indo-Canadian mathematical statistician and mathematician known for his contributions to combinatorics, lattice theory and mathematical statistics. A certain seq ...

(1930-1987), Indo-Canadian mathematician

Narayan

Narayan (actor) Narayan Lucky is an Indian actor who has worked in the Tamil film industry. He debuted in the lead role in the campus film '' Inidhu Inidhu'' (2010). Career Narayan's elder brother was selected to portray Madhavan's friend in Mani Ratnam's ro ...

, Indian film actor * Narayan (writer) (1940-2022), Indian writer *

Aditya Narayan Aditya Narayan Jha (born 6 August 1987) is an Indian singer, host and actor. He is the son of singer Udit Narayan. He is known for hosting Indian Idol and participating in Fear Factor: Khatron Ke Khiladi 9. Personal life Narayan was born t ...

, Indian television show host * Alison R.H. Narayan, American chemistry professor *

Anand Narayan Anand Narayan (born October 4, 1985) is a yoga trainer, television personality, and playback singer from Kerala, India. He hosted the first season of ''Indian Voice,'' a music reality show that aired on Mazhavil Manorama. Career Narayan gai ...

, Indian television personality * Badri Narayan (1929-2013), Indian artist *

Brij Narayan Brij Narayan (; IAST: ) (born 25 April 1952) is an Indian classical musician who plays the string instrument ''sarod''. Narayan was born in the Indian state Rajasthan and began to study ''sarod'' from a young age under his father Ram Narayan an ...

, Indian sarod player *

Irene Jai Narayan Irene Jai Narayan (23 February 1932 – 29 July 2011) was an Indian-born teacher and politician, who had a significant influence on politics in Fiji. She came to Fiji in 1959 after marrying Jai Narayan, a well known school Principal in Suva, an ...

(1932-2011), Fiji Indian politician *

Jagaddipendra Narayan Sir Jagaddipendra Narayan Bhup Bahadur, (15 December 1915 – 11 April 1970) was Maharaja of Cooch Behar, in India. He served in British forces during World War II and ceded full ruling powers to the Government of India in 1949. Early li ...

(1915-1970), Maharaja of Cooch Behar *

Jayaprakash Narayan Jayaprakash Narayan Srivastava (; 11 October 1902 – 8 October 1979), also known as JP and ''Lok Nayak'' (Hindi for "People's leader"), was an Indian politician, theorist and Indian independence activist, independence activist. He is mai ...

(1902-1979), Indian independence activist and politician *

Jayaprakash Narayan (Lok Satta) Jaya Prakash Narayana (born 14 January 1956) is an Indian liberal politician, activist and a former public administrator. He is the founder and president of Lok Satta Party. He served as a member of the Legislative Assembly from Kukatpally con ...

, Indian politician *

Justin Narayan Justin Narayan is an Australian youth pastor and television cook of Fijian-Indian heritage. He was declared as the winner of '' MasterChef Australia 2021''. Early life and family Narayan was born in Sydney to a family with Fijian and Indian ...

, Australian youth pastor and chef *

Kalanidhi Narayanan Kalanidhi Narayanan (7 December 1928 – 21 February 2016) was an Indian dancer and teacher of Indian classical dance form of Bharatnatyam, who was the early non-devadasi girl to learn the dance form and perform it on stage in the 1930s and 1940 ...

(1928 – 2016), Indian dancer and dance teacher *

Kirin Narayan Kirin Narayan (born November 1959) is an Indian-born American anthropologist, folklorist and writer. Early life, education, and career Narayan is the daughter of Narayan Ramji Contractor, a civil engineer from Nashik, and Didi Kinzinger, a Germ ...

, Indian-born American author and folklorist *

Kunwar Narayan Kunwar Narayan (19 September 1927 – 15 November 2017) was a poet in Indian literature in Hindi.

(1927-2017), Indian poet *

Manu Narayan Manu Narayan (born August 16, 1973) is an American actor, film producer, singer, songwriter, composer and saxophonist. He currently guest stars as Hari Sahni on the hit Apple TV series Your Friends & Neighbors (TV series), Your Friends and Neighb ...

, American actor *

Nara Narayan Naranarayan ( 1554–1587) was the last ruler of the undivided Koch dynasty of the Kamata Kingdom. He succeeded his father, Biswa Singha. Under him the Koch kingdom reached its cultural and political zenith. Under his rule, and under the mi ...

(1554-1587), ruler of Koch kingdom *

Narayan Pandit Narayan Pandit (Hindi: नारायण पण्डित), or Narayana (died 10th century), was the Brāhmaṇa author of the ''Sanskrit'' treatise called ''Hitopadesha'' — a work based primarily on the ''Panchatantra'', one of the oldest ...

(died 10th century), Brāhmaṇa author * Opendra Narayan (1936-2007), Indian-American AIDS researcher *

Paresh Narayan Paresh Kumar Narayan (born 18 February 1977), is a Fijian-Australian academic of Fiji Indian origin. He was Australia's youngest Professor of Finance, and is now at Monash University Monash University () is a public university, public resear ...

, Fiji Indian academic *

Prema Narayan Prema Narayan (born 4 April 1955) is an Indian former actress, model, dancer and beauty pageant titleholder. She has acted in Hindi and Bengali cinema. She was the Femina Miss India World 1971, and represented India at Miss World 1971. Early l ...

, Indian actress and dancer *

R. K. Narayan Rasipuram Krishnaswami Narayanaswami (10 October 1906 – 13 May 2001), better known as R. K. Narayan, was an Indian writer and novelist known for his work set in the fictional South Indian town of Malgudi. He was a leading author of early ...

(1906-2001), Indian novelist * Rajee Narayan (1931-2020), Indian dancer and musician *

Ram Narayan Ram Narayan (; 25 December 1927 – 9 November 2024), often referred to with the title Pandit, was an Indian musician who popularised the bowed instrument ''sarangi'' as a solo concert instrument in Hindustani classical music and became the f ...

(1927-2024), Indian ''sarangi'' player *

, Indian politician *

Ramesh Narayan Ramesh Narayan (born 3 November 1959) is an Indian Hindustani classical music, classical vocalist, composer and music producer who works predominantly in Malayalam cinema. Ramesh began his initial training in Carnatic music and later mastered t ...

, Indian classical singer *

Rudy Narayan Rahasya Rudra Narayan (11 May 1938 – 28 June 1998), commonly known as Rudy Narayan, was a barrister and civil rights activist in Britain. He migrated to Britain in the 1950s from Guyana. Narayan was a compelling, rigorous, and eloquent advoca ...

(1938-1998), British barrister *

Samarendra Narayan Dev Samarendra Narayan Dev (13 October 1940 – 26 January 2025) was an Indian filmmaker. His film career, spanning four decades, has also brought laurels and recognition to Assam. His first independent celluloid depiction, ''Aranya'' (1971), was bas ...

(1940–2025), Indian filmmaker *

Shoba Narayan Shoba Narayan is an Indian author, journalist and columnist. She wrote the award-winning ''Monsoon Diary: A Memoir with Recipes'' (2003). She is the author of four books. Biography She received her Bachelor of Science in Psychology from Wome ...

, Indian journalist *

Shoba Narayan (actress) Shoba Narayan is an Indian author, journalist and columnist. She wrote the award-winning ''Monsoon Diary: A Memoir with Recipes'' (2003). She is the author of four books. Biography She received her Bachelor of Science in Psychology from Wome ...

, Indian-American actress and singer * Shovana Narayan, Indian Kathak dancer *

Siddharth Narayan Siddharth Suryanarayan (born 17 April 1979), known mononymously as Siddharth, is an Indian actor who primarily works in Tamil, Telugu, and Hindi language films. Apart from acting, he has also been involved in films as a screenwriter, produ ...

, Indian actor and singer *

Udit Narayan Udit Narayan Jha (born 1 December 1955) is an Nepali and Indian playback singer whose songs have been featured mainly in Hindi cinema, Hindi films. He has also sung in various other languages including Telugu language, Telugu, Kannada, Tamil ...

, Indian Playback singer * Uma Narayan, Indian feminist scholar

Narain

Narain (actor) Sunil Kumar, known by his stage name Narain, is an Indian actor, who works in Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu films. He debuted as an actor in Adoor Gopalakrishnan's '' Nizhalkuthu'' (2002), followed by the Malayalam films '' 4 the People'' (2004) ...

, Indian actor * A.K. Narain (1925-2013), Indian historian *

Govind Narain Govind Narain, ICS (5 May 1916 – 3 April 2012) was an Indian civil servant who was member of the Indian Civil Service and served as the 8th Governor of Karnataka. He formerly served as Defence Secretary of India (1973 to 1975), Home Secr ...

(1916-2012), a leading civil servant *

Narain Karthikeyan Kumar Ram Narain Karthikeyan (; born 14 January 1977) is an Indian former racing driver, who competed in Formula One between and . Early life and family background Karthikeyan was born on 14 January 1977 in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu to Sheela ...

, Indian former Formula One and A1GP driver *

Nicole Narain Nicole Narain (born July 28, 1974) is an American model, actress and Playboy Playmate. Career She was chosen as ''Playboy''s Playmate of the Month in January 2002 and has appeared in numerous ''Playboy'' videos. She has appeared in multiple mu ...

, American model and actress *

Raj Narain Raj Narain (23 November 1917 – 31 December 1986) was an Indian freedom fighter and politician. He won in a famous electoral malpractice case against the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, which led to her disqualification and, eventually, im ...

(1917-1986), Indian politician * Ruchi Narain, Indian film director and screenwriter * Sase Narain (1925–2020), Guyanese politician and lawyer * Sathi Narain (1919-1989), Fiji Indian businessman *

Sunita Narain Sunita Narain (born 1961) is an Indian environmentalist and political activist as well as a major proponent of the Green concept of sustainable development. Narain is director general of the India-based research institute for the Centre for Scie ...

, Indian environmentalist and political activist *

Vineet Narain Vineet Narain (born 1956) is an Indian journalist, anti-corruption activist and conservator of heritage. His exposure of the 1990s Jain Hawala scandal led him to use a public interest petition to apply pressure on the Central Bureau of Investiga ...

, Indian journalist and activist *

Yogendra Narain Yogendra Narain (born 26 June 1942) is a 1965 batch retired Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre. He is a former Secretary General of the Rajya Sabha. He also served as the Defence Secretary of India, Chief Secr ...

, IAS officer * Late Maharaj Kumar

Basant Narain Singh Maharaj Kumar Dr. Basant Narain Singh (b. at Padma Lakshmi Nivas Palace, Hazaribagh District, April 9, 1918) was an Indian politician and a member of the 7th Lok Sabha representing Hazaribagh (Lok Sabha constituency) of Bihar State. Education ...

, Member of the 7th loksabha of India and of the ruling family of

Ramgarh Raj Ramgarh Raj was the major ''Zamindari'' estate in the era of the British Raj in the former Indian province of Jharkahnd. Territories which comprised the Ramgarh Raj presently constitute districts of Ramgarh, Hazaribagh, Chatra, Giridih, ...

Narayanan

K. R. Narayanan Kocheril Raman "K. R." Narayanan (27 October 1920 – 9 November 2005) was an Indian statesman, diplomat, academic, and politician who served as the vice president of India from 1992 to 1997 and president of India from 1997 to 2002. Naray ...

(1920-2005), the tenth President of the Republic of India *

Lata Narayanan Lata Narayanan (born 1966) is an Indian-Canadian computer scientist whose research concerns distributed algorithms and wireless ad hoc networks. She is a professor and chair of the Department of Computer Science and Software Engineering at Concor ...

(born 1966), Indian-Canadian computer scientist *

Narayanankutty Narayanan Kutty or Kalabhavan Narayanankutty is a Malayalam film actor. He has acted in more than 300 films. He handles mainly comedy roles. Background Narayanan Kutty was born Ernakulam. He started his career as a mimicry artist in Kalabhavan ...

, Indian film actor in Malayalam movies * Mayankote Kelath Narayanan, National Security Advisor (NSA) to the Prime Minister of India *

V. Narayanan (disambiguation) V. Narayanan may refer to: *V. Narayanan (engineer) (born 1964), Indian aerospace cryogenic engineer and aerospace official * V. Narayanan (politician), Indian (Tamil Nandu) politician elected to office in 2019 * V. G. Narayanan, American economis ...

, multiple persons {{given name, type=both Surnames of Indian origin Indian masculine given names Masculine given names