What does the name Phani mean?

Phani means "Serpent, cobra". It is a boy's name of Telugu origin.

What is the classical Sanskrit origin of Phani?

फणि (phaṇi): a serpent (only gen. pl. ), per the Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary (1899).

Phani

Phani means Serpent, cobra.

Gender	boy
Origin	Telugu
Language	Telugu
Starts with	P

Classical Sanskrit origin

फणि (phaṇi): a serpent (only gen. pl. ).

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.

Names with a similar meaning

Names that share a word with “Serpent, cobra”. Meanings are the common reading rather than a ruling — the same name is often glossed differently by different sources.

Vasuki — Sacred serpent of Shiva, king of snakes
Naga — Serpent, divine serpent
Nagalakshmi — Goddess Lakshmi with serpent
Ulupi — Naga (serpent) princess, daughter of King Kauravya
Nagaiah — One with serpent, Shiva
Nagaveni — Hair like a serpent, dark braids

More boys' names of Telugu origin

Venkatesh — Lord of the Venkata hill
Srinivas — Abode of Lakshmi, Venkateswara
Venkata — Name of a hill, Venkateswara
Balaji — Lord Venkateswara, the young lord
Teja — Brilliance, radiance, strength
Vamsi — Flute, descendant

Where this comes from

Phani'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.