// Workers AI · dad joke modeWhat did Prakash say to his date? You're a bright spark.

Prakash is a common masculine given name and surname in South Asia, widely used in Nepal, India and Sri Lanka. The word prakash is derived from the Sanskrit word prakāśa, meaning "bright light" or "sun light" or "moon light" or "light", from a combination of pra meaning "forth" and kāśa meaning "shining." Hence the meaning "luminous; shining forth". Metaphorically, it designates the person as a source of enlightenment or wisdom.

Given name

Notable persons with this given name include:

Prakash (film director), Indian Kannada film director
Prakash Yashwant Ambedkar (born 1954), Indian politician from Maharashtra
Prakash Amritraj (born 1983), Indian tennis player
Prakash Amte, Indian medical doctor and social worker
Prakash Bare, Indian Malayalam actor
Prakash Bhandari (born 1935), Indian cricketer
Prakash Dahake, Indian politician from Maharashtra
Prakash Javadekar (born 1951), Indian politician from Madhya Pradesh
Prakash Jha (born 1952), Indian film producer-director-screenwriter
Prakash John (born 1947), Canadian rock bassist
Prakash Karat (born 1948), Indian communist politician
Prakash Mallavarapu (1949–2026), Indian Roman Catholic archbishop
Prakash Mehra (1939–2009), Indian Hindi film producer and director
Prakash Munda, Indian cricketer
Prakash Padukone (born 1955), Indian badminton player
Prakash Persad, Trinidad and Tobago politician
Prakash Raj (born 1965), Indian film actor, director, producer and television presenter
Prakash Vir Shastri (1923–1977), Indian politician from Uttar Pradesh
Prakash Kumar Singh chairman of Steel Authority of India Limited

Surname

Aditya Prakash (architect) (1924–2008), Indian architect, painter, and author
Aditya Prakash (badminton) (born 1990), Indian badminton player
Amrita Prakash (born 1987), Indian actress in Hindi cinema
Balaji Prakash (born 1968), Indian structural biologist and biochemist
Cedric Prakash (born 1951), Indian Catholic priest and human rights activist
Jose Prakash (1925–2012), Indian actor and singer in Malayalam cinema
Khemchand Prakash (1907–1950), Indian musical composer for the Hindi film industry
Madappa Prakash (born 1953), Indian-American physicist
Neil Prakash, also known as Abu Khaled al-Cambodi (Arabic: أبو خالد الكمبودي), an Australian-born member of the Islamic State group
Satya Prakash (physicist) (born 1929), Indian physicist
Tejasswi Prakash (born 1993), Indian actress in Hindi television
Uday Prakash (born 1952), Indian author, scholar, and journalist
Varshini Prakash, American climate activist

Given name

Surname

See also