Sanskrit name meaning 'one who leaps' or 'attacker,' borne by the Hindu war god Kartikeya, son of Shiva.
Skanda (स्कन्द) is one of the oldest and most venerated names in the Hindu tradition, derived from the Sanskrit root skand, meaning "to leap," "to attack," or "to flow forth." It is the name of Kartikeya, the six-headed god of war and victory, son of Shiva and Parvati, and commander of the divine army (Devasena) in their eternal battle against the forces of chaos. His birth story is among the most dramatic in the Puranas: conceived from Shiva's third-eye fire, his embryo was so incandescently powerful that it had to be carried by the Pleiades (the Krittikas), giving him his alternate name Kartikeya — "son of the Krittikas."
Skanda's cult is particularly intense in South India and Sri Lanka, where he is worshipped as Murugan — a deity of youth, beauty, martial valor, and divine wisdom. The great Tamil devotional poetry of the Sangam age sings of him as a young god who embodies both the ferocity of war and the tenderness of love. His festival, Thaipusam, draws millions of devotees annually in a spectacular display of faith.
In North India he appears frequently in the Mahabharata and is celebrated as the patron deity of armies. As a given name, Skanda has been borne by kings and scholars across South and Southeast Asia for two millennia. It carries an aristocratic, almost electric quality — a name of leaping energy and celestial fire — and has found renewed interest among Hindu families worldwide who want a name of mythological depth that requires no shortening or anglicizing.