Tarafdar
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Tarafdar (spelling variations: Taraphdar, Taraphder, Tarafder) is a surname found in the states of West Bengal and Karnataka in India and in parts of Bangladesh. Historically, the "Tarafdar" title was given by Afghan (pre-Mughal era) kings, though few of the later Indian kings adopted this methodology.
The Tarafdar maintained all the accounts and handled all the monetary/financial transactions for his land.
The title was a prestigious position, so descendants continued claiming it, and it turned into a surname.
In Bengali it indicates someone who is a joiner of organizations.
It was also a title bestowed by the Ottoman Turks. A ruler of a "Taraf" was a "Tarafdar". It has come to be used as a last name in every country where the Ottomans once had their empire. There is another meaning of the word in Turkish, "partisan".
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A well known arm of the Tarafder's reside in the town of Moulvibazar in Bangladesh. Which is also a district in Bangladesh. Most of the next generation of this legacy have been born in Britain and have diversified in many professions. A lot of early Tarafder's were restaurant entrepreneurs who can be credited for the success of the Curry trade in the UK and helping make it one of the national dishes.
The late Monir Uddin Tarafder was very well renowned in the Moulvibazar area of Bangladesh and also in the Bengali community of London he was one of the first Bangladeshi businessman to set up foundations in London from Bangladesh in the late 1950's after helping setup restaurants in the West End of London he setup the first Indian Restaurant in South London (Streatham) called the Bombay along with other businesses and so forth other members of the family then followed suit and moved here too.
