Bhaktipada, the guru of New Vrndavana until 1993/94, who seems to have been getting some mention as of late, named many devotees some pretty freaky names (among other freaky things).

In Krishna consciousness, when devotees take initiation, they receive a new name, a name of Krishna with the suffix “das” or “devi dasi” (male or female) which signifies them as a servant of Krishna, God.

So here are a bunch of names that Bhaktipada and his era came up with. These were done after his 1987 expulsion from ISKCON.

This is, of course, not to lessen the horrible and insane evil perpetrated by Bhaktipada while inside and outside of ISKCON. Things like molesting small boys, forcing pre-pubescent girls to marry older men in their 30′s, arranging murders and generally being, well, Bhaktipada.

Keep in mind that many of these devotees are great people. None of the kids had a choice of their names (obviously). This is in no way poking fun at the devotees who received these names.

Please also keep in mind that these lists are not definitive. Names are missing and possibly some other details are incorrect. If you find errors, please leave a message in the comments. Thanks!

At first, like any ISKCON guru, he gave normal names like
Braja Kumari devi dasi
Lokanatha das
Jagannatha das
Remuna devi dasi
Cintamani devi dasi
Daya devi dasi
Yamuna devi dasi
Krsna das

However, he often couldn’t be bothered with the troublesome task of actually picking out his own disciples names, so the older boys in the ashrama (and others) helped pick out the names for him. So if it was someone they didn’t like, they’d pick a typically undesirable name.

At any rate, as the older boys left, the names went downhill.

Kid’s named after food:
Kitri
Jalebi (whose father, long before she was born, was married off by Bhaktipada -while still a “pure devotee” and guru in good standing in ISKCON- to an 11 year old. Bhaktipada’s youngest arranged child marriage was to a 9 year old, again, while still a “pure devotee” and guru in ISKCON.)
Halava
Puri (not the town)
Yogi Bar (there was a Yogi Bar energy bar factory in Gita Nagari)
He also threatened to name Kaladri’s twins “Rice” and “Oatwater”

Sanskrit/English initiation names:
Up until this point, there were varying degrees of normal Hare Krishna names. For some reason, Bhaktipada thought it would be cute to mix East and West. Many of these happened on Christmas Day, 1988, when they installed the Jesus murti next to Srila Prabhupada.

Dutiful Rama
Sita Love
Bhakti Joy
Shanti Peace
Laxmi Honest
Radha Grace
Sachi Hope
Arjun Surrenders
Jesusananda

Kid’s English names
During the Summer of 1988, Bhaktipada began giving newborn children English names.

Joyful
Peaceful
Sweet Sound (a boy whose nickname became “Sweetie”)
Mercy (he may not have named either Mercy’s – there were two – but it was definitely due to his wacky influence)
Zeal
Krishna’s Marathon (seriously, they just called him Marathon for short, but now they call him Martin. He was born and named in 1985 after his mother did really well on the Christmas marathon)
Pious
Harmony

Full English names from initiations
At the next initiation, roughly half a year later, Bhaktipada went full swing with the English names. These continued, interspersed with sanskrit names, through 1994.

Equanimity devi dasi(mother of Zeal)
Gentle Love devi dasi
Faithful Love das
True Love devi dasi
All Love das
Wonderful Love das
Merciful devi dasi
Serene Heart devi dasi
Nectar devi dasi
Spirit Soul das
Truthful das
Serenity devi dasi
Good Hope das
Strong Faith das
Pure Bliss devi dasi
True Peace das
Sister Piety devi dasi
Kind Heart devi dasi
Christian Charity devi dasi
Lasting Peace devi dasi
Joyous devi dasi
Patience das
Faithful das
Careful Love das
Sincere Heart devi dasi
Sincere Praise devi dasi
Humble Heart das (he technically wasn’t given this name at initiation, he already had a nice sanskrit name, but there were confessions at New Vrndavana and he was given this name because his confession was humble. The name didn’t really stick, most devotees went back to calling him by his original sanskrit name.)

Sannyasa English names (anyone know if there were more?)
Peaceful Swami (or Brother Peaceful)
Purity Swami
Devotion Swami

Sannyasini English names (sometimes called “Smommy” hehe – Bhaktipada was initiating women sannyasis as early as 1987)
Eternal Love Swami (the mother of Gentle, Faithful and True Loves)
Holyname Swami
Supreme Truth Swami
Compassionate Swami
Surrender Swami
Steady Swami
Joy Divine Swami

And that’s about all I could come up with (after talking to five or six devotees). If anyone has any other info about initiations or even rumored ritvik initiations, I’d love to hear it.