Madhav

Madhav meaning

Madhav (माधव) is a Hindu boy's name of Sanskrit origin. By its first sound, मा, it is a Simha rashi name (Magha nakshatra) in the North Indian table.

Of spring; descendant of Madhu, a name of Krishna-Vishnu

Also used to mean: sweet like honey

Madhav (माधव) is Sanskrit mādhava. As an adjective it means vernal, belonging to spring, and Monier-Williams also lists Mādhava as the second month of spring, Vaiśākha. As a family name it marks a descendant of Madhu, the ancestor of the Yādava clan, and so it became above all a name of Krishna-Vishnu. Indian name lists usually explain it as "sweet as honey", since madhu also means honey; MW records the neuter sense "sweetness" only from the old lexicographers, so that reading is a popular gloss rather than the name's main sense. The fourteenth-century Kerala mathematician Madhava of Sangamagrama, who found infinite series for the sine and cosine, is a famous bearer.

In Hindu tradition this is a name of Krishna.

Source: Monier-Williams, Sanskrit–English Dictionary (1899), p. 808 · entry mādhava · See the entry · checked 25 Oct 2026

References: Monier-Williams, mādhava, p. 808 · MacTutor History of Mathematics, Madhava of Sangamagrama

Famous namesakes

• Krishna, called Mādhava as a descendant of Madhu
• Madhava of Sangamagrama, 14th-century Kerala mathematician and astronomer

Fits your syllable

First sound मा

Magha nakshatra, pada 1 · Simha rashi

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

Spellings

Madhav · Madhava · Maadhav

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