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Even though the subject line is about anwesh, the question semed to be about anweshA. anwesh is odd: the construction demands the feminine gender in Sanskrit. If you want parallel grammatical constructions, think of thought, cintA, desire, icchA, or work, kriYA. It was a perfectly proper and living construction, and was semantically pretty similar to the -an forms (though the -A form is ever so slightly more neutral; the -an has a hint of durative aspect in many cases). I do not hear a connotation difference between anweshA and anweshan. For a boy anwesh would not work in Sanskrit.

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anweshA (the feminine) is used to mean the act of searching in Sanskrit, and is very common word in Bengali, and has often been used as names for clubs and magazines for a long time. Anecdotally, it is increasing in popularity as a female name there.

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AkarSaN for attraction is the common form.

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AYus (ultimately from i, to move) meaning vitality or vigour is the name of the famous mythological character who is the son of purUravas and UrvashI in the mahAbhArata, so the name is a couple of millenia old at least as a male name (originally, in the vedas, it was neuter gender, and was used as a name for asterisms, concepts, and hymns), and is a classic case of metonymy. AYuSI, the feminine, is new, I believe (I haven't checked). AYuSmAn and AYuSmatI are, of course, very old (vedic) as adjectives meaning, one who posseses life (and also in the sense of old): I can't remember Sanskrit use as names, off hand (it was a common term of benediction and affectionate appelation).