Gautam

Gautam is the Sanskrit name Siddhartha took on as a young ascetic and kept after enlightenment, the family name of the Buddha himself. That association has carried it across two and a half millennia without ever tipping into unusable solemnity; it remains a common, everyday boy's name in India. Rendered गौतम, it moves in two round syllables, GOW-tam, the opening diphthong giving it heft. Parents choose it for reasons that range from gentle reverence to plain aesthetic preference. Gautam is a grounded name with an unhurried rhythm, simple on the page and quietly weighted.