Nandita

Nandita comes from the Sanskrit nandita, meaning one who delights or is joyful, a past participle turned into a proper name. It has the feel of an adjective offered as a blessing, a parent naming a daughter after the mood she arrives in. Rendered नन्दिता, it moves in three clear syllables, nan-DEE-ta, the middle vowel carrying the tune. The filmmaker and actor Nandita Das has kept the name in cultural circulation across India and the diaspora. Uncommon outside Indian communities and gently distinctive when heard, Nandita is a name for the unreservedly cheerful.