Where do Thai first names come from? Pali, Sanskrit and Tāksā
Updated 2026-08-11
Most Thai given names have roots in Pali and Sanskrit, though some also come from Thai, Chinese, Malay and English. This is why Thai names tend to be longer than names in many countries — and why nearly every one of them can be translated.
Variety is the other sharp contrast with the West. Registered given names in Thailand run into the tens of thousands — a far wider pool than Western countries draw on — and in one sampled population roughly 35% of names belonged to a single person and nobody else.
Meaning comes before sound
Thai names are chosen for what they mean, not merely how they sound. They generally convey positive attributes — wisdom, wealth, beauty, honour, light. Parents effectively choose a blessing that stays with the child for life.
Thai names are also mostly gender-specific. Genuinely unisex names number only perhaps two or three hundred — a very small share of the total.
Namtaksapakorn and King Mongkut
The tradition of naming by Thai astrology traces to an ancient scripture called the Namtaksapakorn. Interest in it was stimulated by King Mongkut (Rama IV, 1804–1868), who encouraged naming babies in accordance with the astrological principles it sets out.
This is the root of the Thaksa-Pakorn system still in use today — sorting the Thai consonants into eight groups per birth day, then avoiding that day's kalakini letters. The practice is neither new nor invented for marketing; it rests on a documented scriptural tradition.
The eight-house Tāksā wheel
Pick your baby's birth day and watch which letter group lands in each house — the birth day 'rotates' the letters into place. The กาลกิณี house (red) is the group to avoid in a name.
- Boriwanhousehold & followersะ า ิ ี ุ ู เ แ โ ใ ไ ฤ ฦ
- Ayulife & healthก ข ค ฆ ง
- Dechapower & honorจ ฉ ช ซ ฌ ญ
- Siglory & wealthฎ ฏ ฐ ฑ ฒ ณ
- Mulafoundation & assetsด ต ถ ท ธ น
- Utsahadiligence & effortบ ป ผ ฝ พ ฟ ภ ม
- Montrimentors & supportย ร ล ว
- Kalakinimisfortune (AVOID)ศ ษ ส ห ฬ ฮ
Why Thais change their names so often
Plenty of Thais change their name at some point in life — something you rarely see anywhere else in the world. The main reason is the belief that a new name sheds bad luck, rooted in the idea that a name change confuses the malicious ghosts and spirits following a person.
In practice, people who change their name pick the new one by the Tāksā of their own birth day — because Tāksā is computed from the name-holder's birth day, not the day the name is given. The same system used for newborns therefore applies to adults unchanged.
Real Thai names and what they mean
Real names in use, with their meanings — tap any name for its full Tāksā reading:
Frequently asked questions
- Why are Thai first names so long?
- Because most derive from Pali and Sanskrit, whose words are longer than native Thai ones, and are often compounded from several elements to produce the intended meaning.
- How many Thai given names are there?
- At least tens of thousands — many times more than in Western countries — and about 35% of names in a sampled population were unique to one person.
- Who chooses a child's formal name?
- Usually the parents or a senior family member. Many families also seek guidance from a monk or an astrologer, working from the child's birth day under Thaksa-Pakorn.
- Are there unisex Thai names?
- Yes, but relatively few — perhaps two or three hundred, against tens of thousands of names overall.