What was Mahatma Gandhi’s birth name before he became widely known by his honorific?

Mahatma Gandhi’s birth name was Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi.

He was born on 2 October 1869 in Porbandar, in present-day Gujarat, India. “Mohandas” was his given name, “Karamchand” was his father’s name, and “Gandhi” was the family surname. The honorific “Mahatma,” meaning “Great Soul,” became associated with him later.

The name “Mahatma Gandhi” is now familiar worldwide, but Gandhi himself did not generally use “Mahatma” as a personal title in the way a formal name is used. He was also commonly called Bapu, meaning “father,” especially in India.

A common mix-up is reversing the components of his name. Karamchand was not Gandhi’s given name; it was his father’s name. His full name is therefore Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, often abbreviated as M. K. Gandhi.