Music & Performing Arts Baby Names

The great composers and musicians of the classical tradition have given their names to generations of musically inclined families: Tyagaraja (the composer-saint of Carnatic music, devoted to Rama), Tansen (the legendary court musician of Akbar, said to make rain fall and lamps light with his singing), and the great dancers — Rukmini (Rukmini Devi Arundale, who revived Bharatanatyam), Balasaraswati (the legendary devadasi tradition dancer) — have made performing arts names names of the highest cultural distinction. In India, where music is understood as a form of worship (Nada Brahman — sound as the divine), a music-inspired name carries a sacred as well as aesthetic significance.