Daya
/D-AH-Y-AA/
Compassion, tender mercy, the gentle impulse to ease another's suffering — Daya is one of the highest virtues in Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain ethics, the quality that transforms strength into kindness and power into service
Get Daya's full report — nakshatra, rashi & a portrait — freeQuick — what every Hindu parent asks about Daya:
How well does Daya fit your family?
This page tells you what Daya means. The app tells you whether it's right for your baby — scored against your family & your heritage, and your baby's birth details.
Unlock Daya's score — free
Six signals — scored for your family & heritage, not in the abstract:
Meaning & origin
Yes — Daya is a Hindu unisex name of Sanskrit origin, meaning “Compassion, tender mercy, the gentle impulse to ease another's suffering — Daya is one of the highest virtues in Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain ethics, the quality that transforms strength into kindness and power into service”. It also appears in Buddhist, Jain traditions.
Daya is a unisex's name of Sanskrit origin, traditionally used in Hindu families. The name means "Compassion, tender mercy, the gentle impulse to ease another's suffering — Daya is one of the highest virtues in Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain ethics, the quality that transforms strength into kindness and power into service" and belongs to the Love cluster — names for children loved deeply before they arrive.
Beyond its Hindu heritage, Daya is also used in Buddhist, Jain traditions, reflecting how this name has traveled across cultures.
Common among Indian, Marathi, Bengali, Gujarati, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayali families, Daya carries cultural weight that goes beyond its dictionary definition — it's a name with a story and a community.
Daya's nakshatra & rashi
In Hindu tradition, a baby's name is chosen to harmonise with their nakshatra (birth star) and rashi (moon sign) — most often through an auspicious first syllable. Daya opens with “Da”. Whether that's auspicious for your baby depends on their exact date, time and place of birth.
NameRoot works it out for you. Enter your baby's birth details and see exactly which nakshatra and rashi Daya aligns with — and how strongly it scores.
See Daya's nakshatra reading →What does Daya's numerology say?
Numerology assigns each name a single-digit destiny number by summing its letter values. Different schools use different mappings — NameRoot computes both so you can see how Daya resonates in either tradition.
Daya's destiny number is 4 — but a number only matters in context. The app matches it to your family's own numbers for a real compatibility read. See Daya's full reading →
Does Daya go with your family's names?
Daya breaks into 4 sounds: /D-AH-Y-AA/. The real test isn't how it sounds alone — it's how it sounds beside the names already in your family: yours, your partner's, and any brothers or sisters. NameRoot scores that harmony, so Daya sits naturally next to a Mum and Dad like Michael & Anna, or a big sister named Gianna — no awkward clashes, no two names that blur together. Hear Daya beside your family's names →
Names similar to Daya
If Daya resonates with you, these names live in the same world — drawn from the same tradition, sharing the same meaning, or echoing a similar sound.
From the same tradition
Other Hindu unisex names, common in Indian families
Sharing the same meaning
Other Hindu unisex names from the Love cluster
Names that sound similar
Hindu unisex names that open with the same syllables as Daya
Explore more names
Keep exploring names like Daya — by tradition, by meaning, or by first letter.
Common questions about Daya
What does the name Daya mean?
Daya means "Compassion, tender mercy, the gentle impulse to ease another's suffering — Daya is one of the highest virtues in Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain ethics, the quality that transforms strength into kindness and power into service." It is a unisex name of Sanskrit origin, traditionally used in Hindu families.
Is Daya a boy or girl name?
Daya is a unisex name, used for any gender.
What is the origin of the name Daya?
Daya is of Sanskrit origin, used in Hindu, Buddhist, Jain traditions, commonly among Indian, Marathi, Bengali families.
Is Daya a Hindu name?
Yes. Daya is a unisex name traditionally used in Hindu families, of Sanskrit origin. It also appears in Buddhist, Jain traditions.
What does Daya mean in Sanskrit?
Daya originates from Sanskrit, where it means "Compassion, tender mercy, the gentle impulse to ease another's suffering — Daya is one of the highest virtues in Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain ethics, the quality that transforms strength into kindness and power into service."
What is the numerology of Daya?
Daya has a Pythagorean destiny number of 4 — stability and disciplined work.
What is Daya's rashi and nakshatra?
By its first syllable "Da", Daya falls under the Pushya nakshatra and Karka (Cancer) rashi — its naam-rashi, or name-based moon sign. (A baby's birth nakshatra comes from their date and time of birth; NameRoot matches the two.)
See how Daya scores for your family
NameRoot is the only baby-name app that scores every name across 6 signals against your specific family context. Download free — Daya is waiting.
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