Matching by name
Gun Milan is the traditional comparison of two people for marriage, scored out of 36 points on eight factors. It normally starts from the Moon’s nakshatra and sign at birth. Where the birth details are not known, many families use the naam rashi, the rashi of the name, and the naam nakshatra, the nakshatra whose syllable the name begins with. This calculator does exactly that. You type two names, and it works out a rashi and a nakshatra pada for each from the first syllable, then scores the two with the eight kutas of Ashtakoota.
The method for the first step is the one used by the name rashi calculator. Each of the 27 nakshatras has four traditional naming syllables, one for each pada, 108 in all, and each pada belongs to a rashi, nine padas to a sign. Find the syllable that begins the name and you have a nakshatra, a pada and a rashi.
How the result is worked out
The tool reads the first sound of each name. In Hindi or Gujarati script the first akshar is read exactly, with its vowel. In English letters it makes the best reading it can, and since English cannot tell a hard “t” from a soft “t” or a hard “d” from a soft “d”, a name can fit two syllables. When that happens the tool uses the first reading and shows a selector so that you can choose the one your family uses. For Shravana, which has two traditional sets of syllables, both sets are accepted.
With a nakshatra, pada and rashi for each name the tool applies the same eight kutas as the nakshatra compatibility calculator: Varna, Vashya, Tara, Yoni, Graha Maitri, Gana, Bhakoot and Nadi, which add up to 36. The first name is treated as the bride and the second as the groom, as in the traditional method, because a few kutas are not the same in both directions.
What a name match can and cannot say
A name is chosen after birth, usually from the baby’s own birth nakshatra, so for most people the naam nakshatra is the real birth nakshatra and the two methods agree. For many others the name was chosen for other reasons, and then the name match describes the names and not the people. That is why traditional practice prefers the birth nakshatra when it is known, and why this tool points you to the birth-star version.
Nothing here predicts how a marriage will go. The score is a traditional lens on temperament and ease, 18 is the usual minimum, and a priest or astrologer reads it beside the rest of the charts.
Where traditions differ
Some families in Gujarat and elsewhere use a first-letter chart in which a letter can fall in a different rashi from the nakshatra syllables. The name rashi calculator shows both, and this tool uses the classical syllable table. If no classical syllable begins the name, the tool says so rather than guessing. As with the other tool, the tables for Vashya vary between published sources, and the tool uses one widely published table.
For the full picture of how matching works, read the guide to kundali matching, and for the birth chart itself use the free kundali.
Frequently asked questions
↳ Can two people be matched by name alone?
Traditionally yes, as a fallback when birth details are unknown. It uses the naam rashi and naam nakshatra, which are the rashi and nakshatra of the first syllable of each name.
↳ Which name should I type, the full name or the first name?
The first name is enough, since only its first syllable is used. Use the name the person is called by in the family, as it was given at the naming ceremony.
↳ Why does the tool offer more than one reading of a name?
English letters can stand for more than one Hindi or Gujarati syllable. Choose the reading that matches how the name is written in your script.
↳ Is a name match as good as a birth star match?
No. The birth star comes from the Moon at birth. If you know the birth nakshatras, use the nakshatra compatibility calculator instead.
↳ What if the name is not a classical syllable?
Some sounds, such as those starting with a foreign letter, have no classical syllable. The tool then says so and does not guess.