Choosing a name inspired by Lord Shiva is one of the most enduring traditions in Hindu households, but most parents instinctively reach for the same handful of names, Shiv, Mahesh, and Shankar, without realising just how vast Shiva’s actual repertoire of names really is. Hindu scripture describes hundreds of epithets for him, each capturing a different facet of who he is, and a striking number of them speak specifically to his raw power, his fierceness, and his role as the force that both destroys and transforms. For parents wanting something that still carries that same divine weight without sounding like every third child in the neighborhood, here are ten genuinely distinctive names rooted in Shiva’s might.