Indian name from Sanskrit meaning endless, infinite, or eternal.
Anant comes from Sanskrit ananta, meaning "infinite," "without end," or "eternal" — a compound of the privative prefix an- and anta, meaning "end" or "boundary." In Hindu cosmology, Ananta is one of the names of Shesha, the primordial serpent upon whose thousand-hooded body Lord Vishnu reclines in the cosmic ocean between cycles of creation. Shesha's name is also Ananta because he is without limit, coiling around the cosmos as both support and symbol of eternity.
The name thus carries the full weight of Hindu metaphysics: to call a child Anant is to align them with the infinite, the unbound, the permanent amid the transient. Beyond mythology, the name appears throughout Sanskrit literature and philosophy. Anantacharya was a thirteenth-century Vaishnava theologian in the Sri Vaishnava tradition.
The mathematician Ananta Kumar Ghosh contributed to Bengali intellectual life in the nineteenth century. More recently, the name has been borne by artists, scholars, and public figures across South Asia, giving it a strong association with learning and contemplative depth. In the Indian diaspora, Anant has traveled with remarkable grace — short enough to be manageable in English-speaking contexts, phonetically clear across languages, and carrying a philosophical resonance that transcends any single cultural moment.
The name does not age because eternity does not age. In a world of names that trend and fade, Anant quietly suggests permanence, which is exactly what it means.