Rahul.

Meaning and Etymology

Rahul is a modern form of the Sanskrit name Rahula. The name appears in Buddhist texts as the name of the Buddha’s son. Reported meanings differ among sources: Wikipedia records the meaning “conqueror of all miseries, bondage, traveler” [3]; Nameberry and several naming sites give the meaning “able, efficient” [5], [6], [7]. All sources agree that the name originates from Sanskrit and is linked to the historical figure Rahula.

Origin and Language Usage

The etymological origin of Rahul is Sanskrit, as noted by Wiktionary’s entry that classifies it as a borrowing from Sanskrit [2]. The name is widely used across the Indian subcontinent. Scripts and languages documented to use Rahul include Hindi, Marathi, Bengali, Assamese, Odia, Gujarati, Punjabi, Malayalam, Tamil, Kannada and Telugu [1]. Each of these languages records the name in its native script, for example राहुल in Hindi and ராகுல் in Tamil.

Pronunciation

In Standard Hindi the name is pronounced with the IPA transcription /ɾɑː.ɦʊl/ [2]. A phonetic guide for English speakers describes it as “RAH‑hool” [7].

Spellings and Variants

The standard Latin spelling is Rahul. A documented alternative spelling is Raahul, which appears in name‑grouping data [4]. Native‑script forms include राहुल (Hindi, Marathi), রাহুল (Bengali), ରାହୁଲ (Odia), રાહુલ (Gujarati), ਰਾਹੁਲ (Punjabi), രാഹുൽ (Malayalam), ராகுல் (Tamil), ರಾಹುಲ್ (Kannada), రాహుల్ (Telugu) among others [2].

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