Narayana (Sanskrit: नारायण; nārāyaṇa) or Narayan is an important Sanskrit name for Vishnu and is in many contemporary vernaculars, a common Indian name. The name is also associated with Brahman and Krishna. He is also identified as the original man, Purusha.

But at its core, Nara-Narayana is further broken down where Nara means human and Narayana means the Supreme Divinity, or Vishnu. In the concept of Nara-Narayana, the human spirit Nara is the eternal companion of the Divine Narayana. Any human being with an awakened consciousness of divinity in him and who works overall for the welfare of humanity is a Nara-Narayana, an incarnation of Vishnu as twins on earth working for the preservation of dharma or righteousness. In the Mahabharata, Krishna is often referred to as Narayana and Arjuna as Nara.

Furthermore, the name Narayana is a Sanskrit tatpurusha compound, with the members nara, which means "human, man", and ayana "eternal, without ending (a-yana)". Tradition associates the nara element with another meaning of "water", explaining the name as indicating the all-pervasive nature of Narayana as that of an infinite ocean in which the never-ending movement of birth, life and death of the cosmos occurs. Narayana according to this etymology is the one who moves in the infinite waters and is also the water itself. This close association of Narayana with water explains the frequent depiction of Narayana in Hindu Art as standing or sitting on an ocean.