Rashi in English: All 12 Rashi Names and Letters
Every Vedic rashi with its English zodiac name, symbol, ruling planet and 2026 Sun date - plus your own rashi from the chart above.
Rashi in English simply means the English name of your Vedic zodiac sign - Mesha is Aries, Kumbha is Aquarius, and so on through all twelve. The table below lists all 12 rashi names in English alongside their Sanskrit and Hindi forms, symbol, ruling planet and element. Enter your date, time and place of birth in the chart above and it works out your own rashi automatically, from the Moon's position at the moment you were born.
By Astro Ashish · Last verified: September 24, 2026
Reading your rashi in English: Moon sign or Sun sign?
In Vedic astrology, rashi almost always means your Moon sign - the sign the Moon occupied at the moment you were born. This is the single most confused point for anyone coming from Western astrology, where a 'sign' usually means the Sun sign, the one printed in newspaper horoscopes and decided purely by your birth date. The two systems ask different questions. Sun sign astrology fixes one sign to one date range and never changes it, wherever a person was born or at what hour. Vedic rashi is read from the Moon, which moves through the whole zodiac in about 27-28 days, so it changes every two to three days and depends on the exact time and place of birth, not the date alone.
Enter your birth details in the chart above and both are shown: the Moon sign, which is your rashi, and the ascendant, a separate reading fixed to your exact birth time. If you want your rashi in English, read the Moon-sign label first. Most people searching 'rashi name in english' mean this sign, such as Aries, Aquarius or Pisces, rather than the ascendant.
Rashi in English and Western dates: why they differ
All 12 rashi names correspond one-to-one with the familiar English zodiac names: Mesha is Aries, Vrishabha is Taurus, and so through to Meena, which is Pisces. The names match. The calendar dates behind them do not, and that is where most confusion starts. Western tropical astrology fixes Aries to start at the spring equinox every year, around 21 March. Vedic astrology uses the sidereal zodiac, anchored to the actual positions of the fixed stars, corrected by an ayanamsa - this tool uses Lahiri, the standard adopted by the Indian government's calendar. Because of the slow wobble of Earth's axis called precession, the two zodiacs have drifted about 24 degrees apart since ancient times, roughly 24 days' worth of calendar.
That is why sidereal Kumbha begins in mid-February while tropical Aquarius begins on 20 January, and why the exact Sun-entry date shifts by a few hours each year. Translating a rashi in English changes its name, not the calculation behind it. The table below gives the sidereal (Vedic) 2026 dates on the Lahiri ayanamsa.
The twelve rashi names, in zodiac order
The 12 rashi in English, in zodiac order, are Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius and Pisces. This rashi list in English matches the table below, which gives each name next to its Sanskrit and Hindi forms. Every rashi runs for roughly 30 degrees of the zodiac, and the Sun passes through all twelve once a year, though not in equal time, since Earth's orbit is not perfectly circular. The table lists the Sanskrit and Hindi name, the equivalent English zodiac sign, its symbol, ruling planet, element and the date the Sun entered it in 2026 by sidereal (Lahiri) calculation.
Choose a rashi in English from the table, then open its individual guide below for exact 2026 and 2027 Sun-entry times, nakshatra spans and name letters. Those guides explain one sign in detail; this page lets you compare all twelve.
Rashi in English table: all 12 signs
| Sanskrit | Hindi | English sign | Symbol | Lord | Element | 2026 Sun ingress (sidereal) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mesha | मेष | Aries ♈︎ | Ram | Mars | Fire | 14 Apr 2026 |
| Vrishabha | वृषभ | Taurus ♉︎ | Bull | Venus | Earth | 15 May 2026 |
| Mithuna | मिथुन | Gemini ♊︎ | Twins | Mercury | Air | 15 Jun 2026 |
| Karka | कर्क | Cancer ♋︎ | Crab | Moon | Water | 16 Jul 2026 |
| Simha | सिंह | Leo ♌︎ | Lion | Sun | Fire | 17 Aug 2026 |
| Kanya | कन्या | Virgo ♍︎ | Maiden | Mercury | Earth | 17 Sep 2026 |
| Tula | तुला | Libra ♎︎ | Scales | Venus | Air | 17 Oct 2026 |
| Vrischika | वृश्चिक | Scorpio ♏︎ | Scorpion | Mars | Water | 16 Nov 2026 |
| Dhanu | धनु | Sagittarius ♐︎ | Archer | Jupiter | Fire | 16 Dec 2026 |
| Makara | मकर | Capricorn ♑︎ | Sea-creature | Saturn | Earth | 14 Jan 2026 |
| Kumbha | कुंभ | Aquarius ♒︎ | Water-bearer | Saturn | Air | 13 Feb 2026 |
| Meena | मीन | Pisces ♓︎ | Fish (a pair) | Jupiter | Water | 15 Mar 2026 |
A full page for each of the 12 rashis
- Kumbh rashi - Aquarius, in full
- Meen rashi - Pisces, in full
- Makara rasi - Capricorn, in full
- Mesh rashi - Aries, in full
- Vrishabha rashi - Taurus, in full
- Singh rashi - Leo, in full
- Mithun rashi - Gemini, in full
- Vrishchik rashi - Scorpio, in full
- Kark rashi - Cancer, in full
- Kanya rashi - Virgo, in full
- Tula rashi - Libra, in full
- Dhanu rashi - Sagittarius, in full
Rashi name letters (naam akshar) for all 12 rashis
Each rashi has nine traditional name letters, one for each nakshatra pada it covers, since every rashi spans exactly nine padas of 3 degrees 20 minutes. At a naming ceremony, a child's name traditionally begins with the syllable of the pada the Moon occupied at birth. Knowing the rashi in English helps you find its row, but the naming syllable comes from the pada. The table gives all nine letters in Hindi and Roman script. The Hindi column distinguishes sounds that share a Roman spelling: Simha's Ta is ट, Tula's Ta is त.
To find your rashi in English by name, take the first syllable of the name, not just its first letter, and look it up in this table. Finding a rashi by alphabet alone can mislead: an S or N name can belong to different rashis depending on the syllable, as the table shows (Sa is Kumbha but Sha is Kanya; Na appears under both Kanya and Vrischika).
Name letter table for the 12 rashis
| Rashi | English | Name letters (Hindi) | Name letters (Roman) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mesha | Aries | चू, चे, चो, ला, ली, लू, ले, लो, अ | Chu, Che, Cho, La, Li, Lu, Le, Lo, A |
| Vrishabha | Taurus | इ, उ, ए, ओ, वा, वी, वू, वे, वो | I, U, E, O, Va, Vi, Vu, Ve, Vo |
| Mithuna | Gemini | का, की, कू, घ, ङ, छ, के, को, ह | Ka, Ki, Ku, Gha, Nga, Chha, Ke, Ko, Ha |
| Karka | Cancer | ही, हू, हे, हो, डा, डी, डू, डे, डो | Hi, Hu, He, Ho, Da, Di, Du, De, Do |
| Simha | Leo | मा, मी, मू, मे, मो, टा, टी, टू, टे | Ma, Mi, Mu, Me, Mo, Ta, Ti, Tu, Te |
| Kanya | Virgo | टो, पा, पी, पू, ष, ण, ठ, पे, पो | To, Pa, Pi, Pu, Sha, Na, Tha, Pe, Po |
| Tula | Libra | रा, री, रू, रे, रो, ता, ती, तू, ते | Ra, Ri, Ru, Re, Ro, Ta, Ti, Tu, Te |
| Vrischika | Scorpio | तो, ना, नी, नू, ने, नो, या, यी, यू | To, Na, Ni, Nu, Ne, No, Ya, Yi, Yu |
| Dhanu | Sagittarius | ये, यो, भा, भी, भू, धा, फा, ढा, भे | Ye, Yo, Bha, Bhi, Bhu, Dha, Pha, Dha, Bhe |
| Makara | Capricorn | भो, जा, जी, खी, खू, खे, खो, गा, गी | Bho, Ja, Ji, Khi, Khu, Khe, Kho, Ga, Gi |
| Kumbha | Aquarius | गू, गे, गो, सा, सी, सू, से, सो, दा | Gu, Ge, Go, Sa, Si, Su, Se, So, Da |
| Meena | Pisces | दी, दू, थ, झ, ञ, दे, दो, चा, ची | Di, Du, Tha, Jha, Nya, De, Do, Cha, Chi |
Common spellings: rashi, rasi, and the name variants
Rashi and rasi are the same word; rashi follows the more common English transliteration and rasi drops the aspirated 'h'. A rasi name in English is therefore the same as a rashi name in English. Both appear constantly in search and in print, and neither is more correct than the other. The same applies to individual sign names: Kumbh, Kumbha and Kumbham are one word, and so are Meen and Meena, Makar and Makara, Mesh and Mesha. South Indian languages use their own forms of the same twelve names. In Tamil they are Mesham, Rishabam, Mithunam, Kadagam, Simmam, Kanni, Thulam, Viruchigam, Dhanusu, Magaram, Kumbam and Meenam. Malayalam uses Medam, Edavam, Mithunam, Karkidakam, Chingam, Kanni, Thulam, Vrischikam, Dhanu, Makaram, Kumbham and Meenam. Each maps to the same English sign as its Sanskrit original, so Kumbam is Aquarius and Mesham is Aries.
Ko english me kya bolte hain, or angreji mein kya kahate hain, meaning 'what do we call this in English', is one of the most common ways this question is actually typed into a search box. The answer is always the same word from the table above - your rashi's Sanskrit name maps to exactly one English zodiac sign, with no exceptions and no regional variation in the mapping itself.
How do I find my rashi name in English?
To find your rashi in English from birth details, enter your date, time and place in the chart above. The Moon moves roughly one degree every two hours and can cross into the next sign within the same day. The result gives your Moon sign alongside your ascendant, birth nakshatra and its pada, Vimshottari dasha timeline and the chart's dosha checks.
- Enter your date of birth in the chart at the top of this page.
- Enter your birth time, as precisely as your records allow.
- Enter your place of birth.
- Read the Moon sign in the result: that is your rashi, shown with its English name, such as Kumbha (Aquarius).
- Match your rashi to the name-letter table above using the nakshatra pada the chart reports.
Sources
Rashi names, lords, elements and nakshatra spans follow the standard Parashari tables. Sun-entry dates are sidereal, computed with the Swiss Ephemeris on the Lahiri ayanamsa, which stood at 24 degrees 13 minutes on 1 January 2026; that offset is why every rashi starts roughly 24 days after its Western namesake.
Related
Frequently asked
What is rashi in English?
Rashi in English means the English name of your Vedic zodiac sign. There are 12: Mesha is Aries, Vrishabha is Taurus, Mithuna is Gemini, Karka is Cancer, Simha is Leo, Kanya is Virgo, Tula is Libra, Vrischika is Scorpio, Dhanu is Sagittarius, Makara is Capricorn, Kumbha is Aquarius and Meena is Pisces.
What are all 12 rashi names in English?
In order from Mesha: Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius and Pisces. Each covers roughly 30 degrees of the zodiac. The full table above lists each alongside its Hindi name, symbol and ruling planet.
Is rashi the same as rasi?
Yes. Rashi and rasi are two English spellings of the same Sanskrit word for zodiac sign, used interchangeably across books, apps and search results. Neither spelling is more correct; regional and personal preference decides which one a given source uses.
Does my rashi in English mean my Sun sign?
A Sun sign is decided by your birth date alone and never changes. Rashi is your Moon sign in Vedic astrology, decided by the Moon's exact position at your birth time, which can change every two to three days. Two people born on the same date can have different rashis if their birth times differ enough.
What is the rashi meaning in English?
Rashi is the Sanskrit word for a zodiac sign, one of the twelve 30-degree divisions of the sky the Vedic system uses to track the Moon and planets. In English it is usually translated as 'zodiac sign' or 'star sign', or given directly as its equivalent, such as Aquarius for Kumbha.
How do I find my rashi name in English?
Enter your date, time and place of birth in the chart above. It calculates the Moon's position at your birth and gives your rashi in English, alongside the Sanskrit name. You can then check the ascendant and full birth chart; these are separate details, not alternative names for your Moon sign.
What are the name letters of each rashi?
Every rashi has nine name letters, one per nakshatra pada. Mesha: Chu, Che, Cho, La, Li, Lu, Le, Lo, A. Kumbha: Gu, Ge, Go, Sa, Si, Su, Se, So, Da. Meena: Di, Du, Tha, Jha, Nya, De, Do, Cha, Chi. Makara: Bho, Ja, Ji, Khi, Khu, Khe, Kho, Ga, Gi. The table above lists all twelve in Hindi and Roman script.
Why do rashi names not line up with Western zodiac dates?
Vedic astrology uses the sidereal zodiac, anchored to the fixed stars, while Western astrology uses the tropical zodiac, anchored to the equinox. The two have drifted about 24 degrees apart due to precession, so a rashi's start date runs about three to four weeks later than the same-named Western sign's date range.