Meenakshisundaram

Syllable breakdown

Name meaning and origin

Origin

Tamil (South India / Sri Lanka)

Meaning

a compound theophoric masculine name combining Meenakshi — the fish-eyed goddess who is the presiding deity of the great Meenakshi Amman Temple at Madurai and one of the most important goddesses in the Tamil Saiva tradition — and Sundaram, meaning the beautiful one or the handsome one; the full name means the beautiful one of Meenakshi, or the handsome devotee of the fish-eyed goddess; Meenakshi herself is depicted with eyes shaped like fish — meena meaning fish and akshi meaning eye — evoking the elongated, graceful eyes that are considered the ideal of feminine beauty in classical Tamil aesthetics; the Meenakshi Amman Temple at Madurai is one of the largest and most visited temple complexes in the world, and Meenakshi is revered as an avatar of Parvati; the name is characteristic of Tamil devotional naming practice in which children are named as living acknowledgements of divine favour and familial devotion to a particular deity

Gender

male