Trying to steer my partner away from Mahesh, hate the sound of it (especially the ‘hAEsh’ bit).
So I am looking for names, Sanskrit preferably, that will play well in the [name]West[/name].
For cultural reasons (not mine) no Muslim names (pity, there are some great ones)…
Those which refer to [name]Shiva[/name] in their meaning are an added bonus I guess, like father like (future possible) son 
At the moment we’re discussing (read ‘negotiating’) names for a hypothetical baby so no real rush, but if you want to break a habit there’s no time like the present. 
Next habit to break is his calling all AngloCeltTeutonic etc names ‘slave names’ (when used for people who aren’t white), I get that he’s not a fan of cultural imperialism but not everyone understands his ‘humour’…one step at a time…
Okay, how about these?
[name]Amar[/name]
Anand
Aravind
[name]Dev[/name]*
Dinesh
[name]Hari[/name]*
[name]Jai[/name]*
[name]Karan[/name]
Kavi
Lochan
[name]Mani[/name]
[name]Navin[/name]
Pranay
[name]Rishi[/name]*
[name]Rohan[/name]
Sandip
Saral
Sunil
I googled a list of names of [name]Shiva[/name] and looked for ones that seemed (at least to me) to have a straight forward sound. However, I have no idea what makes a “good sounding” name for this culture or if these are even correct forms of [name]Shiva[/name]. Some sites tell me that there are 108 names and others 1008. That’s quite a difference, so I apologize now if there is anything incorrect now.
Kapali
Patu
Karmand
Suniti
Sukhi
Kavi
Adri
[name]Aja[/name]
Siddhi
[name]Hari[/name]
[name]Aditya[/name]
Ruchi
Dhava
Dhvani
[name]Deva[/name]
Govind / Govinda
Kailas - This one sounds like it would fit in well in the US, and had a rather nice meaning.
[name]Ishaan[/name] or [name]Ishan[/name] was a name recommended on a different website. I rather like the sound of it, but don’t know the connotations
Thanks for that list sunshine kid, I am trying these on him gradually, it’s hard to replace a long cherished name, but we’ll see how it goes.
Any further suggestions appreciated 
Thanks also teacherma, sorry, I was writing this reply as you posted so I hadn’t seen it, the feedback from your list was ‘too South Indian’…I don’t even know what that means >.>
I know that different subcultures use different names, but I don’t know what names qualify for what. I will certainly keep looking.
Maybe these? I tried looking up Northern [name]Indian[/name] names.
Kunal
Akash
Rakesh
Prajval
Ajay
[name]Varun[/name]
Kalidas
Ashwin
Thanks for those teacherma, I will run them past him tomorrow when he is more awake 
it’s bedtime in Australia.
No problem! I actually want to learn the difference between a Northern and Southern [name]Indian[/name] name now, so I will have my own investigative research.
Wow. What a spectacular list!
*We may have been too effective, he’s got such a bee in his bonnet about Anand that he’s starting to insist that these should be first names not middle names :-/ yet another tricky discussion.