Note: the Hindi and Sanskrit paths disagree here — the Hindi dictionary reading is negative (“disease”) while the Sanskrit reading is not. Both are shown below; read them together before choosing.
As a deity name
Name 982 of the Shiva Sahasranāma — Mahabharata (Anushasana Parva), as taught by Sage Tandi to Sage Upamanyu
Name 116 of the Vishnu Sahasranāma — Mahabharata (Anushasana Parva), as taught by Bhishma to Yudhishthira on his deathbed
As a Hindi name
Note: the Hindi and Sanskrit paths disagree here — the Hindi dictionary reading is negative (“disease”) while the Sanskrit reading is not. Both are shown below; read them together before choosing.
बभ्रु · adj
लालिमायुक्त भूरे रंग का । गहरे पिंगल वर्ण का · गंजा । खल्वाट — Śabdasāgara
बभ्रु · noun · masculine
अग्नि · नेवला · भूरा या पिंगल वर्ण — Śabdasāgara
बभ्रु · babhru · adj.
Brown, tan-coloured ( = bhūrā); bald-headed through disease; large, great — Platts (1884), digital edition courtesy DSAL, University of Chicago, p. 130
As a Sanskrit word
Meaning
a kind of large ichneumon
Scripturally attested Verified derivationMultiple readings (2)Why this matches what you typed
The spelling you confirmed, बभ्रु, is itself a dictionary headword — no grammatical transformation stands between what you typed and the meaning above.
Gender counterpart
The kosha attests this stem in the feminine, the masculine, and the neuter — the same name serves without alteration.
Dictionary citations
babhru mf(u, or ū)n. (according to Uṇ. i, 23 fr. √ bhṛ) deep-brown, reddish-brown, tawny, RV. &c. &c.
bald-headed, L.
babhru m. a kind of large ichneumon, L.
any ichneumon, MBh.; Hariv.
a man with deep-brown hair, Mn. iv, 30 (others ‘a reddish-brown animal’ or ‘the Soma creeper’)
Alternative readings
More than one analysis survives full verification. That ambiguity is real, so we show every reading rather than pick one silently.
Caveats
Sources contain errors and engines have limits; every claim above carries its citation so you can verify it. This is guidance about names and their sources — not religious or astrological consultation. How we work · Our sources