Boy · Sanskrit · Hindu
Ankush
अंकुशSay it UN-koosh
- Meaning today
- Control, discipline, goad
- Original meaning
- "a hook, especially an elephant-driver's goad" Monier-Williams, p. 7
- Say it
- UN-koosh
- Written
- अंकुश
- First sound
- अ · Mesh rashi
Ankush
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Ankush meaning
Ankush (अंकुश) 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.
A hook, especially an elephant-driver's goad
Also used to mean: control, discipline
Ankush (अंकुश) is the Sanskrit aṅkuśa, the hooked goad that a mahout uses to guide an elephant. Monier-Williams gives it as a hook, especially an elephant-driver's hook, and compares it with the Greek word for a fish-hook. Because the goad is how a huge animal is kept in check, aṅkuś in Hindi also means control or restraint, and to put an aṅkuś on something is to rein it in. The goad is one of the objects Gaṇeśa holds in his hands. Name lists give Ankush as "control" or "discipline", the figurative sense of the dictionary word.
Source: Monier-Williams, Sanskrit–English Dictionary (1899), p. 7 · entry aṅkuśa · See the entry · checked 25 Oct 2026
References: Monier-Williams, aṅkuśa, p. 7
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.