: Re: How can I find Indian names that will be accessible to my readers? My novel is set in India, and I'm having trouble finding good but pronounceable Indian names. Many characters are royal, so

@Pierce369

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Indian culture is very complex. The names and characteristics of Indian royalty varies from state to state. To create a royal name you will need to answer several questions.

What is the period your character is set in? This is important because names have evolved over the years. TL;DR.

I will restrict my name choices to a particular part of North India. If you want a simple North Indian royal name near the state of Rajasthan, simply add the surname "Singh" to the end of the name and Raja or Maharaja in the beginning. I am skipping the "h" in the end (i.e don't use Maharajah). Furthermore you will need names of an entire family and not just a person. Indian royals take pride in the family history. For example you could say there existed "Maharaja Rudrapratap Bhavani Singh Rathore". He had a son "Maharaja Umed Bhavani Singh Rathore" and four daughters. The eldest child, his son, "Kunwar Ratan Singh Rathore" too the reigns thereafter. The erstwhile king "Kunwar Ratan Singh Rathore" had a son "Kunwar Veer Singh" and one daughter. Veer Singh now goes by the nickname Vicky. Other answers have given possible names for Vicky but they are common names. Old kings had multiple middle names. The current generation has shorter name - a first name and a last name.

You will need some family history too. For example, you can imagine that the fore-fathers of "Maharaja Rudrapratap Bhavani Singh Rathore" were filthy powerful rich royals who fought wars against the Mughals and thrived. But "Maharaja Rudrapratap Bhavani Singh Rathore" lost most of his wealth to the British. Whatever was left, "Maharaja Umed Bhavani Singh Rathore" lost in 1947 due to independence when the elected government took over. Finally, "Kunwar Ratan Singh Rathore" is into politics, maintains some servants, a long line of family portraits hangs on walls of his mansion. He has a collection of guns and the big mansion needs repair. He lived on government pension and mostly pride. Finally Vicky goes to college, runs after chicks, drinks and is mostly ignored by people except for his friends who want a free drink. Finally, I must reiterate that I made up the names. Also for the Indian royals, it is not unusual to have a large joint family that includes uncles, aunts and so forth who may or may not not be faithful to this guy. You could add that "Maharaja Umed Bhavani Singh Rathore" was killed by a greedy uncle and his children were brought up by his mother/aunt/servant etc..

This structure does not answer your question completely but explains to you a short history of the decline of typical royalty in the past few hundred years. But any story about Indian royals needs some historical background and culture as they take pride in it.

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