An Indian name and word meaning 'service,' especially selfless or devotional service.
Seva carries one of the most spiritually freighted meanings of any name in global use: in Sanskrit and derived Indian languages, "seva" (सेवा) means selfless service, devotion, or the act of caring for others without expectation of reward. In Sikhism, seva is a foundational spiritual practice — the Sikh scripture, the Guru Granth Sahib, treats selfless service as one of the highest expressions of devotion to the divine. In Hinduism and Buddhism, seva similarly denotes acts of worship expressed through service to community and to the sacred.
The name is thus not merely a label but a vocation, bestowing on its bearer a lifelong reminder of what the highest human impulse looks like. In South Asian communities, Seva has been used as a given name primarily in Punjabi Sikh families, where it functions as both a spiritual aspiration and a connection to communal identity. The tradition of langar — the free community kitchen maintained at every Gurdwara — is one of the most visible expressions of seva in daily life, making the name immediately legible to anyone raised within that tradition as something lived and practiced, not merely spoken.
Seva is also a Russian diminutive of the Slavic name Vsevolod, meaning "ruler of all," a usage entirely unrelated etymologically but giving the name an interesting dual life across two very different cultural traditions. In contemporary global use, Seva has attracted parents outside South Asian communities who are drawn to its meaning — in an era when intentional, values-laden names are prized, a name that literally means "service to others" carries a quiet moral weight that few names can match.