Lata

Classical Sanskrit origin

लता (latā): a creeper, any creeping or winding plant or twining tendril.

Source: Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899), a public-domain scholarly reference — not every popular name today traces to a classical dictionary entry, so this section only appears where a verified match exists.

In the epics

Lata appears in the Mahābhārata as a other: One of the five apsara friends of Varga who descended to distract the brahmana and were cursed to become crocodiles for a hundred years.

Source: Drimigo Scripture KG (CC BY 4.0). Many characters share a name across the epics — this is one notable figure who bore it, not a claim about the name's only meaning.

Traditional associations

In Hindu tradition, names are sometimes chosen by the baby's rashi (moon sign) or nakshatra (birth star). This is cultural tradition, not a rule.

• Rashi: Kark
• Nakshatra: Punarvasu
• More names starting with L

Names with a similar meaning

Names that share a word with “Creeper vine; slender and graceful”. Meanings are the common reading rather than a ruling — the same name is often glossed differently by different sources.

• Tanvi — Slender, delicate, beautiful
• Lathika — A creeper, slender girl
• Tinni — Graceful, slender; affectionate diminutive form
• Hemlata — Golden creeper, golden vine
• Bratati — A creeper, a vine; one who grows and clings
• Hemalatha — Golden creeper, golden vine

More girls' names of Sanskrit-Bengali origin

• Amrita — Immortal nectar; divine essence of life
• Aishani — Goddess Durga, belonging to the northeast direction
• Ahana — Inner light; one who cannot be destroyed
• Arpita — Dedicated, offered; one who is devoted
• Sweta — White, pure; fair-complexioned
• Dipti — Brightness, radiance, flame of light

Other names under Kark rashi

• Priya — Beloved, dear one, darling
• Divyansh — Divine part, a sacred portion of the supreme divine
• Disha — Direction, path, guiding light
• Ganesh — Lord of all beings, elephant-headed god
• Khushi — Happiness, joy
• Devansh — Part of God, divine fraction and heavenly portion

Traditional association, recorded because families use it when choosing — see all Kark names.

Where this comes from

Lata's etymology is verified against Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899). Its meaning comes from our compiled name corpus, the least-sourced dataset on this site — we say so plainly on Sources & methodology rather than implying an authority we cannot name.