Srinivasa (

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominalization, nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cul ...

) is a Hindu name. The term Srinivasa is

Vaishnava Vaishnavism ( sa, वैष्णवसम्प्रदायः, Vaiṣṇavasampradāyaḥ) is one of the major Hindu denominations along with Shaivism, Shaktism, and Smartism. It is also called Vishnuism since it considers Vishnu as ...

in origin, the combination of two

words, ''

Shri Shri (; , ) is a Sanskrit term denoting resplendence, wealth and prosperity, primarily used as an honorific. The word is widely used in South and Southeast Asian languages such as Marathi, Malay (including Indonesian and Malaysian), Javanes ...

'' (श्री) and ''nivasa'' (निवास). It is a name for males in India as well as a family surname. Shrinivasan (श्रीनिवासन्) is the singular nominative form, and along with its variants Srinivasan, Srinivas, and others, is used as a

forename A given name (also known as a forename or first name) is the part of a personal name quoted in that identifies a person, potentially with a middle name as well, and differentiates that person from the other members of a group (typically a fa ...

or surname.

Etymology

''Shri'' means "radiance" or "diffusing light"; ''nivasa'' means "place of residence", which is considered to be the source of light (as a metaphor for life) in Hindu scriptures. ''Shri'' is also an epithet of

Lakshmi Lakshmi (; , sometimes spelled Laxmi, ), also known as Shri (, ), is one of the principal goddesses in Hinduism. She is the goddess of wealth, fortune, power, beauty, fertility and prosperity, and associated with ''Maya'' ("Illusion"). Alo ...

who is the consort associated with Venkateshvara, and often described to be embodied within him. Hence, the alternative meaning of this name is: "one within whom Lakshmi (prosperity) lives".

Variants

Srinivas is the northern Indian variant of the original Sanskrit name Srinivasa, employed after the schwa-deletion in the Indo-Aryan languages. The use of the name Srinivasan (also rendered Sreenivasan) is common in

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a state in southern India. It is the tenth largest Indian state by area and the sixth largest by population. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu is the home of the Tamil people, whose Tamil languag ...

and

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South C ...

. Similarly, the dialectical word, Srinivasulu, is commonly used in

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to t ...

and

Telangana Telangana (; , ) is a state in India situated on the south-central stretch of the Indian peninsula on the high Deccan Plateau. It is the eleventh-largest state and the twelfth-most populated state in India with a geographical area of and ...

. The name is also very much prevalent in

Odisha Odisha (English: , ), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is an Indian state located in Eastern India. It is the 8th largest state by area, and the 11th largest by population. The state has the third largest population of Sc ...

Maharastra Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a states and union territories of India, state in the western India, western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the List of states and union te ...

and

Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Kar ...

, among other parts of India. The other variants in English spelling include Sreenivas, Shrinivas, Shreenivas, Srinibas, Shrinibas.

Notable people

As first name

Srinivasa Ramanujan Srinivasa Ramanujan (; born Srinivasa Ramanujan Aiyangar, ; 22 December 188726 April 1920) was an Indian mathematician. Though he had almost no formal training in pure mathematics, he made substantial contributions to mathematical analysis, ...

, Indian mathematician * Srinivas, 1990s Tamil Nadu playback singer, also known as Srinivasan Doraiswamy * Srinivasan, also known as "Powerstar", Tamil comedian *

Sreenivasan Sreenivasan (born 6 April 1956) is an Indian actor, screenwriter, director, dubbing artist and producer who predominantly works in Malayalam cinema. Sreenivasan has starred in over 225 films. Sreenivasan wrote the screenplays of films such as ...

, Malayalam script writer and actor *

Srinivas Avasarala Srinivasa Saambasiva Avasarala (born 19 March 1984) is an Indian actor, film director, screenwriter, and television presenter known for his works in Telugu cinema. He received two Nandi Awards and a SIIMA Award. Early life Srinivasa Saambasiva ...

, actor * Srinivasan Keshav, scientist *

Srinivas Kumar Sinha Lieutenant General Srinivas Kumar Sinha, PVSM, ADC (January 7, 1926 – November 17, 2016) was an Indian Army General who served as the Vice Chief of Army Staff. After his retirement, he served as Governor of the states of Jammu and Kashmir, ...

, Indian soldier *

Srinivasaraghavan Venkataraghavan Srinivasaraghavan Venkataraghavan ( (informally Venkat, born 21 April 1945) is an Indian former cricketer. He captained the Indian cricket team at the first two ICC Cricket World Cups, and later became an umpire on the elite International Cr ...

, Indian cricketer

As middle name

Ullal Srinivas Mallya Ullal Srinivasa Mallya (11 November 1902 – 19 December 1965) was an Indian politician. He served an 18-year tenure as a member of Parliament, from 1946–1965. He played a key role in development of undivided Dakshina Kannada. Early years M ...

, Indian politician * Vaman Srinivas Kudva, Indian businessman

As last name

* Adithya Srinivasan, Ghazal singer and global business development leader * Akhila Srinivasan, Indian businesswoman * Dharmapuri Srinivas (born 27 September 1948), Indian politician * G. Srinivasan (1958–2007), Indian film producer * Grandhi Srinivas, Indian politician *

Hari Sreenivasan Hariharan "Hari" Sreenivasan, born in 1974, is an American broadcast journalist. Biography Sreenivasan was born in Mumbai, India, around 1974.Kamineni Srinivas Kamineni Srinivas is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party from Andhra Pradesh. He has won the 2014 Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly election from Kaikalur. He won with 88,092 votes in Assembly Election in Krishna district by a margin of ...

, Indian politician * Krishnan Srinivasan, Indian diplomat * M. B. Sreenivasan (Manamadurai Balakrishnan known as MBS, 1925–1988), Indian music director * M. N. Srinivas (Mysore Narasimhachar, 1916–1999), Indian sociologist * Madapuji Rajagopalan Srinivasan (born 31 May 1967), usually cited as M.R. Srinivasan, head of Agricultural Entomology at the Agricultural College and Research Institute of

Tamil Nadu Agricultural University Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU) is the state agricultural university of Tamil Nadu located in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India. History The Tamil Nadu Agricultural University had its genesis from establishment of an agricultural sc ...

. He has published works on both ''

Apis cerana ''Apis cerana'', the eastern honey bee, Asiatic honey bee or Asian honey bee, is a species of honey bee native to South, Southeast and East Asia. This species is the sister species of '' Apis koschevnikovi'' and both are in the same subgenus as t ...

'' and ''

Apis mellifera The western honey bee or European honey bee (''Apis mellifera'') is the most common of the 7–12 species of honey bees worldwide. The genus name ''Apis'' is Latin for "bee", and ''mellifera'' is the Latin for "honey-bearing" or "honey carrying", ...

'' (western honey bee). *

Madapusi Srinivasaprasad Madapusi Raghavan Srinivasaprasad, usually known as M. R. Srinivasaprasad (born in 1959 in Salem, Tamil Nadu) is a right-handed batsman and a right-arm off-spin bowler who played cricket for Karnataka Ranji in the Wills Trophy (1983/84 � ...

, Indian cricketer *

Mandyam Veerambudi Srinivasan Mandyam Veerambudi Srinivasan AM FRS, also known as "Srini", (born 1948) is an Australian bioengineer and neuroscientist who studies visual systems, particularly those of bees and birds. A faculty member at the University of Queensland, he ...

("Srini"), usually cited as M.V. Srinivasan (born 15 September 1948), bioengineer and

neuroscientist A neuroscientist (or neurobiologist) is a scientist who has specialised knowledge in neuroscience, a branch of biology that deals with the physiology, biochemistry, psychology, anatomy and molecular biology of neurons, Biological neural network, n ...

, who studies

visual system The visual system comprises the sensory organ (the eye) and parts of the central nervous system (the retina containing photoreceptor cells, the optic nerve, the optic tract and the visual cortex) which gives organisms the sense of sight ...

s, particularly those of Western honey bees (''

'') and birds; faculty member Queensland Brain Institute at the

University of Queensland , mottoeng = By means of knowledge and hard work , established = , endowment = A$224.3 million , budget = A$2.1 billion , type = Public research university , chancellor = Peter Varghese , vice_chancellor = Deborah Terry , city = ...

. * N. Srinivasan (Narayanaswami, born 1945), Indian industrialist and chemical engineer *

P. Seenivasan P. Seenivasan was an Indian politician of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and Member of the Legislative Assembly Tamil Nadu. He served as the Deputy Speaker of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly from 1971 to 1972. He was elected to the Tamil Nadu ...

, Indian politician, Deputy Speaker of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly from 1971 to 1972 * P. B. Sreenivas (Prathivadi Bhayankara, 1930–2013), Indian playback singer * R. Srinivasan, Indian politician, member of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly * Rangaswamy Srinivasan, scientist *

Rettamalai Srinivasan Diwan Bahadur Rettamalai Srinivasan (7 July 1860 - 18 September 1945), commonly known as R. Srinivasan, was a Scheduled Caste activist and politician from then Madras Presidency of British India (now the Indian state of Tamil Nadu). He is a Para ...

, Indian politician * Sri Srinivasan, American judge * Subramaniam Srinivasan, Indian filmmaker *

T. E. Srinivasan Tirumalai Echambadi Srinivasan (26 October 1950 – 6 December 2010) was a former Indian cricketer who played in one Test match and two One Day Internationals (ODIs) from 1980 to 1981. Srinivasan was born in Chennai. His father was famous T ...

(Tirumalai Echambadi, 1950–2010), Indian cricketer * T. N. Srinivasan (Thirukodikaval Nilakanta, 1933–2018), economist who worked in the US *

Thengai Srinivasan Thengai Srinivasan (21 October 1937 – 9 November 1987) was an Indian actor who appeared in Tamil-language films and plays from the 1960s to the 1980s. He was given the prefix ''Thengai'' (coconut) after his role as a coconut-seller in t ...

(1937–1987), Indian actor *

U. Srinivas Uppalapu Srinivas (28 February 1969 – 19 September 2014) was an Indian mandolin player in Carnatic classical music and composer. Because he was a child prodigy, he was sometimes called the Mozart of classical Indian music. He was awarded th ...

(Uppalapu, 1969–2014), Indian mandolin player *

Vandemataram Srinivas Kanneboina Srinavasa Rao Yadav, known professionally as Vandemataram Srinivas, is an Indian music director and playback singer who works predominantly in Telugu cinema. He has won two Filmfare Awards and six Nandi Awards. He got the prefix "Vand ...

, Indian music director, playback singer, actor and film director *

Vineeth Sreenivasan Vineeth Sreenivasan (born 1 October 1984) is an Indian playback singer, actor, film director, screenwriter, producer, lyricist, creative director and dubbing artist. He predominantly works in the Malayalam cinema. He is the son of actor an ...

(born 1 October 1985), Indian playback singer, actor, film director, screenwriter, producer, lyricist, etc., working in Malayalam cinema, son of actor-screenwriter

. * Yogi Srinivasan, Indian actor, son of

References

{{given name, type=both Indian masculine given names