Namakaran, the naming ceremony, is the first public event in a child’s life. Relatives gather, the priest or an elder whispers the name into the baby’s ear, and the family announces it. Because a newborn and mother are still recovering, the tradition keeps the timing simple, and this planner starts from that: it gives you the two customary days from the date of birth, and then, if you prefer a later day, the days that meet the classical conditions.
The eleventh or twelfth day
The usual custom is to hold the ceremony on the eleventh or the twelfth day after birth. In that case no muhurat needs to be chosen, and the planner simply names the two dates. It counts the day of birth as day one, so a baby born on the first of the month has its eleventh day on the eleventh. Some families count from the next day instead, which moves both dates a day later, and a few hold the ceremony on the tenth. Ask the elders of the family which count you follow.
If the ceremony is held later
Many families wait for a weekend, for relatives to travel, or for the mother to feel ready. For those families the planner lists the days after the twelfth day that meet the conditions in the Samskara prakarana of the Muhurta Chintamani, the sixteenth century compendium that our muhurat finder uses throughout. You choose how far ahead to look, from thirty to a hundred and twenty days.
The conditions are in plain words under the result, and they cover the nakshatras the text favours, the weekdays, and the tithis to avoid. The favourable nakshatras are the fixed, movable, gentle and quick ones. The weekdays are Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. The tithis left out are the Rikta tithis and the parva days. Each qualifying day is shown with the hours in which the nakshatra and tithi both hold, in your local time, so you can pick the part of the day that suits the family.
How the days are found
The tool works out the Moon’s nakshatra and the tithi, yoga and karana for every hour of each day from the Swiss Ephemeris tables on this site, using the Lahiri ayanamsa, then keeps the stretches when every condition is met at once. Because several conditions must hold together, it is common for only a handful of days in a month to qualify, and for some months to show none. That is a feature of the rules, not a fault in the tool.
What it cannot tell you
A list like this checks the day, not the child. The family astrologer also looks at the baby’s own chart, the Moon’s strength for that child and the lagna of the hour chosen, and the name itself is often chosen from the syllable of the birth nakshatra. If you want help with the name, the baby names by date of birth tool gives the syllable for your baby’s nakshatra and pada. Practice also differs by region and by family, and a family priest has the final say.
For a table of namakaran days for New Delhi across 2026 and 2027, see the namakaran muhurat guide; for the ceremony itself, read about namakarana in the samskaras; and for any date range in any city, use the muhurat finder.
Frequently asked questions
↳ Do I need a muhurat for the eleventh or twelfth day?
By the usual custom, no. Those days are kept as they fall. The muhurat table is for families who choose a later day.
↳ How do you count the eleventh day?
The planner counts the day of birth as day one. If your family counts from the next day, add a day to each date shown.
↳ Why are so few days listed?
The classical conditions on nakshatra, weekday, tithi, yoga and karana must all hold together, so only some days qualify. A longer range shows more.
↳ Can I hold the ceremony in the evening?
Check the hours shown beside each day. The window is when the conditions hold, and it can span the morning, the afternoon or run into the night.
↳ Does this choose the baby's name?
No. It only finds days. The name is for the family, and the syllable from the birth nakshatra can be found with our baby names tool.