Agastya

Agastya meaning

Agastya (अगस्त्य) is a Hindu boy's name of Sanskrit origin. By its first sound, अ, it is a Mesh rashi name (Krittika nakshatra) in the North Indian table.

Name of a celebrated sage; the star Canopus

Also used to mean: mover of mountains

Agastya (अगस्त्य), also called Agasti, is one of the great sages of Hindu tradition and a seer of hymns in the Rigveda. Monier-Williams records a traditional explanation of the name as "mountain-thrower", from the story that he humbled the Vindhya mountains: when the range would not stop growing, he crossed to the south and told it to wait until he returned, and he never came back. He is also credited with bringing Sanskrit learning to South India and with swallowing the ocean. In Tamil tradition he is Agattiyar, to whom a lost early grammar, the Agattiyam, is attributed. His name is also the Indian name for Canopus, the bright southern star. Name lists today give Agastya as "mover of mountains", close to the traditional derivation.

Source: Monier-Williams, Sanskrit–English Dictionary (1899), p. 4 · entry agasti, agastya · See the entry · checked 25 Oct 2026

References: Monier-Williams, agasti, agastya, p. 4 · Britannica, Agastya · Wikipedia, Akattiyam

Famous namesakes

• Agastya, the Vedic sage of the Rigveda and the epics

Popularity abroad

• #929 United States, boys 2025 (new in the top 1,000 since 2024)
  US Social Security Administration
• #728 England and Wales, boys 2025
  Office for National Statistics

Official birth registrations. India publishes no national name statistics.

Fits your syllable

First sound अ

Krittika nakshatra, pada 1 · Mesh rashi

North Indian table. Tables vary by region and family tradition, so confirm with your priest.

Spellings

Agastya · Agasthya

Related names

Also meaning star

More Sanskrit names

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