Prakash is a common
given name
A given name (also known as a forename or first name) is the part of a personal name quoted in that identifies a person, potentially with a middle name as well, and differentiates that person from the other members of a group (typically a fa ...
in
Asia
Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...
n,
Hindu
Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
,
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
name
A name is a term used for identification by an external observer. They can identify a class or category of things, or a single thing, either uniquely, or within a given context. The entity identified by a name is called its referent. A personal ...
s and widely used in
Nepal
Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne,
सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mai ...
,
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
and
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...
. Prakash is generally used as a masculine name. The word prakash is derived from the Sanskrit word "prakāśa", meaning "bright light" or "sun light" or "moon light" or "light". Metaphorically, it designates the person as a source of enlightenment or wisdom.
From the Sanskrit 'pra' meaning "forth" and 'kāśa' meaning "shining." Hence the meaning "luminous; shining forth".
Film
*
''Prakash'' (film), 2022 Nepali film
Notable people
Notable persons with this given name include:
*
Prakash (film director)
Prakash (film director) is a Kannada film director who made commercially successful movies like '' Milana'', '' Vamshi'', '' Khushi'', and more.
Career
He entered Kannada film industry renouncing Investment banker job in United Kingdom. He debu ...
, Kannada film director
*
Prakash Yashwant Ambedkar
Prakash Yashwant Ambedkar (born 10 May 1954), popularly known as Balasaheb Ambedkar, is an Indian politician, writer and lawyer. He is the president of political party called Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh. He is a three-time Member of Parliament ...
(born 1954), Indian politician from Maharashtra
*
Prakash Amritraj
Prakash Amritraj (born October 2, 1983) is an American former professional tennis player, who represented India in international tournaments. He is the son of former Indian tennis player Vijay Amritraj.
Background
Prakash Amritraj is the son o ...
(born 1983), Indian tennis player
*
Prakash Amte
Prakash Baba Amte is a social worker from Maharashtra, India. Amte and his wife, Mandakini Amte, were awarded the Magsaysay Award for 'Community Leadership'[Prakash Bare
Prakash Bare is an Indian theater and film actor focusing on Malayalam, English and other south Indian language productions. Starting with the 2010 Malayalam film Sufi Paranja Katha, Prakash has acted in more than 30 films directed by some of ...]
, Indian Malayalam actor
*
Prakash Bhandari
Prakash Bhandari (born 27 November 1935 in Delhi ) is a former cricketer who represented India in Test cricket.
Career
Bhandari was an attacking right-handed batsman and an off-break bowler. He appeared for Delhi Schools and Delhi Universit ...
(born 1935), Indian cricketer
*
Prakash Dahake
Prakash Uttamrao Dahake was a member of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly, representing Karanja. He belongs to the Nationalist Congress Party
The Nationalist Congress Party ( NCP) is one of the nine national parties in India. The party ...
, Indian politician from Maharashtra
*
Prakash Javadekar
Prakash Keshav Javadekar (born 30 January 1951) is an Indian politician. He is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and served as the Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change from 30 May 2019 till 7 July 2021.
Javadekar was ...
(born 1951), Indian politician from Madhya Pradesh
*
Prakash Jha
Prakash Jha (born 27 February 1952) is an Indian film producer, actor, director and screenwriter, mostly known for his political and socio-political films such as “Hip Hip Hurray” (1984), ''Damul'' (1984), ''Mrityudand'' (1997), ''Gangaaja ...
(born 1952), Indian film producer-director-screenwriter
*
Prakash John
Prakash is a common given name in Asian, Hindu, Sanskrit names and widely used in Nepal, India and Sri Lanka. Prakash is generally used as a masculine name. The word prakash is derived from the Sanskrit word "prakāśa", meaning "bright light" or " ...
(born 1947), Canadian rock bassist
*
Prakash Karat
Prakash Karat (born 7 February 1948) is an Indian Communist politician. He was the General Secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) from 2005 to 2015.
Education and early career
Prakash Karat was born in Letpadan, Burma on 7 Februar ...
(born 1948), Indian communist politician
*
Prakash Mehra
Prakash Mehra (13 July 1939 – 17 May 2009) was a legendary Indian film director and producer known for his work in Hindi films. He was one of the pioneers of masala films, along with Nasir Hussain, and Manmohan Desai. His collaborations with ...
(1939–2009), Indian Hindi film producer and director
*
Prakash Munda
Prakash Rameshwar Munda (born 7 November 1991, Ranchi, Jharkhand) is an Indian first-class cricketer who played for Jharkhand cricket team. He was a right-handed wicket-keeper batsman. He is a first tribal to play in Jharkhand cricket team
T ...
, Indian cricketer
*
Prakash Padukone
Prakash Padukone (born 10 June 1955) is a former Indian badminton player. He was ranked World No. 1 in 1980; the same year he became the first Indian to win the All England Open Badminton Championships. He was awarded the Arjuna award in 1972 ...
(born 1955), Indian badminton player
*
Prakash Raj
Prakash Raj (born Prakash Rai; 26 March 1965) is an Indian actor, film director, producer, television presenter, and politician. Known for his works in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Hindi, and Malayalam-language films, he is the recipient of several ...
(born 1965), Indian film actor, director, producer and television presenter
*
Prakash Vir Shastri
Prakash Vir Shastri (30 December 1923 – 23 November 1977) was a Member of the Parliament of India (Sansad) and was also a leader in the Arya Samaj movement.
Career
Shastri was born to Dalipsingh Tyagi on 30 December 1923 in the Rehra v ...
(1923–1977), Indian politician from Uttar Pradesh
*
Prakash Kumar Singh
Prakash Kumar Singh, is the Chairman of Steel Authority of India Limited, SAIL, one of the largest state-owned steel making company based in India and one of the major steel makers in world.
Career
P K Singh obtained his degree in Metallurgy fr ...
chairman of
Steel Authority of India Limited
Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) is a central public sector undertaking based in New Delhi, India. It is under the ownership of Ministry of Steel, Government of India with an annual turnover of INR 1,03,480 Crore (US$13 billion) for fisc ...
Surname
*
Aditya Prakash (architect)
Aditya Prakash (;10 March 1924, Muzaffarnagar – 12 August 2008 in Ratlam), was an architect, painter, academic and published author. He belonged to the first generation of Indian Modernists closely associated with Chandigarh and the developme ...
(1924–2008), Indian architect, painter, and author
*
Aditya Prakash (badminton)
Aditya Prakash (born 7 September 1990) is an Indian badminton player who currently plays singles. He was part of the national team that won the gold medal at the 2010 South Asian Games
The 2010 South Asian Games, officially the XI South Asi ...
(born 1990), Indian badminton player
*
Amrita Prakash
Amrita Prakash is an Indian actress and model. She began her acting career when she was four years old, and has acted in both Bollywood and Malayalam films. She has since, been seen in a myriad of Bollywood Films, TVCs and television reality ...
(born 1987), Indian actress in Hindi cinema
*
Balaji Prakash
Balaji Prakash (born 1968) is an Indian structural biologist, biochemist and the Associate Dean of Sciences & Professor, Biological and Life Sciences, at the School of Arts and Sciences, Ahmedabad University, since July 2020. Prior to this he se ...
(born 1968), Indian structural biologist and biochemist
*
Cedric Prakash (born 1951), Indian Catholic priest and human rights activist
*
Jose Prakash
Jose Prakash (14 April 1925 – 24 March 2012) was an Indian actor and singer who worked in Malayalam cinema. He was a singer turned actor who had appeared in more than 300 films mostly in antagonist roles. He was awarded with the J. C. Daniel ...
(1925–2012), Indian actor and singer in Malayalam cinema
*
Khemchand Prakash
Khemchand Prakash (12 December 1907 – 10 August 1949) was a music composer in the Hindi film industry. He had few peers in 1940s, the decade for Indian film music which started with Saigal very active on the scene and ended with Lata Mangeshkar ...
(1907–1950), Indian musical composer for the Hindi film industry
*
Madappa Prakash
Madappa Prakash (born December 28, 1953, in Mysore) is an Indian-American nuclear physicist and astrophysicist, known for his research on the physics of neutron stars and heavy-ion collisions.
Education and career
Prakash grew up in Mysore. At th ...
(born 1953), Indian-American physicist
*
Neil Prakash
Neil Christopher Prakash (born 7 May 1991), known as Abu Khaled al-Cambodi ( ar, أبو خالد الكمبودي), is a former member of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, Islamic State group, whose Australian citizenship was revoked in Dec ...
, also known as Abu Khaled al-Cambodi (Arabic: أبو خالد الكمبودي), an Australian-born member of the Islamic State group
*
Satya Prakash
Satya Prakash (born 1929) is an Indian plasma physicist and a former senior professor at the Physical Research Laboratory. He is known for his studies on Langmuir probes and other contributions in space and plasma sciences. A protégé of Vikra ...
(born 1929), Indian physicist
*
Tejasswi Prakash
Tejasswi Prakash Wayangankar (born 10 June 1993) is an Indian actress who appears in Hindi television and Marathi cinema. She made her acting debut with ''2612'' and later on appeared in '' Sanskaar Dharohar Apnon Ki'' (2013). Prakash is best k ...
(born 1993), Indian actress in Hindi television
*
Uday Prakash
Uday Prakash (born 1 January 1952) is a Hindi poet, scholar, journalist, translator and short story writer from India.
He has worked as administrator, editor, researcher, and TV director. He writes for major dailies and periodicals as a freelance ...
(born 1952), Indian author, scholar, and journalist
*
Varshini Prakash
Varshini Prakash (born 1992/1993) is an American climate activist and executive director of the Sunrise Movement, a 501(c)(4) organization which she co-founded in 2017. She was named on the 2019 Time 100 Next list, and was a corecipient of the ...
, American climate activist
See also
*
Prakasam district
Prakasam district is one of the thirteen districts in the coastal Andhra region of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It was formed in 1970 and reorganised in 2022 on April 4. The headquarters of the district is Ongole. It is located on the weste ...
, a district in Andhra Pradesh, India
{{given name, type=both
Indian masculine given names
Nepalese masculine given names