In my contemporary YA story set in the outskirts of Vancouver, I’m trying to diversify characters in the story, including minor ones. One of these is a 20-something male whose first and last name reflects ancestry in [name_f]India[/name_f], so he’s Canadian-[name_f]Indian[/name_f] (NOT the aboriginal, native-type [name_f]Indian[/name_f]). My protagonist will meet him when getting good [name_f]Indian[/name_f] food like samosas and tikka masala, but his role will be minor.
[name_m]Sanjay[/name_m]
Dhruv
[name_m]Rahul[/name_m]
[name_m]Raj[/name_m]
Chander
I’ll rule out Dhruv because I have no idea how to pronounce it (and think most readers will be the same) and I have to rule out [name_m]Sanjay[/name_m] because I can’t picture anyone else but Dr. [name_m]Sanjay[/name_m] Gupta who reports on new programs (just like the name “[name_f]Oprah[/name_f]” brings up the mega-star [name_f]Oprah[/name_f]). I will mull these other names over, but right now I’m leaning on Chander–it’s a great guy name. Plus I have no other “Ch” names in my cast, while I have a couple of “R” names (nothing close to [name_m]Raj[/name_m] or [name_m]Rahul[/name_m], though).
Some names of [name_f]Indian[/name_f] guys I know:
Pranjal
[name_u]Rohan[/name_u]
Vijeth
Ajay
Gautam
[name_m]Arjun[/name_m]
Rajender
[name_m]Deepak[/name_m]
Kowshik (but probably not recommended?)
[name_f]Sharan[/name_f]
Archit
You could try this list too: Browse Names - Behind the Name