How to Write Your Name in Nepali: 40 Names and Surnames With Exact Keys

Your name is probably the first thing you ever typed in Nepali, and it is also where most spelling mistakes happen. English spellings of Nepali names leave out details that Nepali needs: whether a vowel is short or long, which of the three “s” sounds is meant, and whether “t” is the soft त or the hard ट.

This guide shows how to write the most common Nepali first names and surnames in Unicode, with the exact keys to type in our Nepali typing tool. Every example below was checked in the tool, so you can copy the keys and get the same result.

The quick way: search your name

Open the word guide and type your name the way you normally spell it in English, like shrestha or laxmi. The guide shows the Nepali spelling, the keys to type, the Preeti keys and a letter-by-letter breakdown. If your name isn’t there yet, the guide still shows what your spelling types as, so you can adjust it.

Search the word guide

Six rules that fix most name spellings

1. Long vowels need a double letter

i gives the short ि and ii gives the long ी. The same goes for u and uu. Many names use the long vowel even though the English spelling doesn’t show it.

• Gita is गीता, typed giitaa, not गिता
• Dipak is दीपक, typed diipak
• Puja is पूजा, typed puujaa

2. Most names end in a long “aa”

Female names that end in “a” in English usually end in the long ा in Nepali. Sunita is सुनिता (sunitaa), Sita is सीता (siitaa), Kamala is कमला (kamalaa). If you type only sunita, you get सुनित, which is a different (and unfinished) word.

3. Three kinds of “s”

Nepali has श, ष and स. In the typing tool, sh gives श, capital Sh gives ष, and s gives स.

• Ganesh is गणेश (gaNesh)
• Santosh is सन्तोष (santoSh), ending in ष
• Bishnu is विष्णु (wiShNu)

4. Capital letters choose the “hard” sounds

Capital T, Th, D, Dh and N give the retroflex ट, ठ, ड, ढ and ण. This matters in names like Shrestha, which ends in ष्ठ: श्रेष्ठ is typed shreShTha.

5. “v” or “b”?

Many names written with “b” in English use व in Nepali. Bishnu is विष्णु and Bikash is often विकास. In the tool, type w (or v) for व and b for ब. When in doubt, check how the name is written on a citizenship certificate or school record.

6. Joined letters happen on their own

Krishna has a ष and ण joined together: कृष्ण, typed kRShNa. Capital R gives the vowel sign ृ. You don’t need to type anything special for the joined letter; type the letters one after the other.

20 common first names

20 common surnames

Some families spell their surname differently, for example पौडेल or पौड्याल. The spelling on your citizenship certificate is the one to use on official forms.

Names with tricky letters

• क्ष (Kshitij, Chhetri): type ksh or x. Chhetri is written क्षेत्री even though it sounds like “chh”.
• ज्ञ (Pragya, Gyanendra): type capital Gy. प्रज्ञा is praGyaa and ज्ञानेन्द्र is Gyaanendra.
• ञ (Sanjay, Anjali): type capital NY. Many people also write संजय with the dot (ं), typed saMjaya. Both are seen; official documents usually use one consistently.
• ङ at the end (Gurung, Tamang): type capital NG. गुरुङ is guruNG.
• ऋ at the start (Rishi, Ritu): capital R on its own gives ऋ, so ऋषि is RShi.

Keeping an English part in English

To mix English into Nepali text, put the English part in braces: {Dr.} raam shreShTha gives “Dr. राम श्रेष्ठ”. The braces keep that part exactly as typed.

Checking your spelling

Once you have typed your name, paste it into the Nepali letters guide to see every letter and sign it is made of. If something looks off, the breakdown shows which key to change. When you are happy with it, you can turn it into an image in any font from step 3 of the typing tool, which is handy for name plates, invitation cards and profile pictures.