Leelavati

Leelavati meaning

Leelavati (लीलावती) is a Hindu girl's name of Sanskrit origin. By its first sound, ली, it is a Mesh rashi name (Bharani nakshatra) in the North Indian table.

A charming woman; graceful, full of beauty

Also used to mean: playful

Leelavati (लीलावती) is Sanskrit līlāvatī, the feminine of līlāvat, "possessed of grace or beauty", built on līlā (play, grace, charm). Monier-Williams gives it as a charming woman, graceful or full of beauty. Name lists often shorten this to "playful", which follows the līlā part of the word. The name is best known from the Līlāvatī, the arithmetic section of the twelfth-century mathematician Bhāskara II's Siddhānta-śiromaṇi. Britannica reports a legend, first written down in a sixteenth-century Persian translation, that he named the book after his daughter; there is no earlier evidence for it. In the twentieth century the name was borne by the Kannada film actress Leelavathi.

Source: Monier-Williams, Sanskrit–English Dictionary (1899), p. 903 · entry līlāvatī · See the entry · checked 25 Oct 2026

References: Monier-Williams, līlāvatī, p. 903 · Britannica, Lilavati (work by Bhaskara II) · Wikipedia, Leelavathi (actress)

Famous namesakes

• Leelavathi, veteran Kannada film actress

Fits your syllable

First sound ली

Bharani nakshatra, pada 1 · Mesh rashi

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

Spellings

Leelavati · Lilavati · Leelawati

Related names

Also meaning grace

More Sanskrit names

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