Indian name

Indian family names are based on a variety of systems and naming conventions, which vary from region to region. Names are also influenced by religion and caste and may come from religion or epics. India's population speaks a wide variety of languages and nearly every major religion in the world has a substantial following in India. This variety makes for subtle, often confusing, differences in names and naming styles. For example, the concept of a family name did not exist widely in Tamil Nadu until modern legal systems initiated the use of second names to reduce the occurrence of name clashes.

For many Indians, their birth name is different from their official name; the birth name starts with a letter auspicious on the basis of the person's horoscope. Some children are given one name (a given name). In communities that don't use family names, the third name can be a god's name, or the grandfather's or grandmother's name, depending on the sex of the child. Many children are given two names: a given name and a family name. Having four names is uncommon, as is having only a single name.

Sub-national divisions in India have been drawn up based on linguistic lines and therefore some clear geographical distribution of family names is apparent.

Names by caste

For Hindus belonging to the upper castes, the lineage of a person is known through his or her gotra, which is usually the name of the first traceable paternal ancestor in their lineage, like Atreya, Koundinya etc. For some people, it may be the ancestral profession or village name. Two people of the same gotra cannot wed, as they are supposed to be related filially. Some use place names or caste names as family names.

Many upper caste Indians use ancestral village names, occupations, honorifics, titles, caste or clan derivatives as their family names. The subcaste names are themselves derived from occupations or characteristics of the subcaste, for example, within subcastes among Telugu brahmins: "Niogi" derives from ancestral appointments as ministers of the royal court. "Vaideeki" denotes an ancestor who followed the profession of religious teaching, and "Velanati" and "Telaganya" indicate the ancestral places of their origin. These are used for subcaste identification and not necessarily used routinely as part of a person's official name or daily use name.

Due to caste-based discrimination or favouritism (mostly in government jobs), many people started adopting generic last names such as Kumar. Film stars such as Rajkumar(Kannada Film legend),Dilip Kumar, Manoj Kumar and, more recently, Akshay Kumar have adopted Kumar as their last names for marketing reasons. As Kumar became too common, people adopted names such as Ranjan and Anand as their last names, e.g. Rajesh Ranjan or Abhishek Anand. Many people have two given names as their name, e.g. Amit Vikram.

Sometimes a family name is added on to the end of the name as an initial, eg. Noushad S. U. (or S. U. Noushad) the shortened form of Noushad Shafi Ulooji, which is interpreted as Noushad, son of Shafi of the Ulooji family.

Names by religion

Hindu names

A Hindu will have a given name, may or may not have a middle name and a family name (in some regions like Maharashtra and Gujarat, father's first name is taken as the middle name). Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was an example of this; he was the son of Karamchand Gandhi, and his own sons all had the middle name Mohandas. In other instances, a name may be broken into two parts, with one as the first name and one as a middle name. For example, the name Swami Vivekanand can be broken into "Vivek" as the first name "Anand" as a middle name. This is usually done for convenient use in the Western World, where first names are typically shorter than Latinized versions of Indian names.

After marriage usually the Hindu woman's family name is changed to husband's family name or, in communities that don't use family names, the husband's given name. In Tamil nadu if a married woman's name is Sudha Ramesh this means that Sudha is married to Ramesh. In some areas of India, the wife's given name is also changed to one chosen by her husband. Some Indian women have, as some western women have, chosen to keep their original family names and add to them their husbands' family names, such as "Anjali Guha Sharma." In urban areas, increasing numbers of women choose to retain their original family name, especially for professional purposes.

In many South Indian communities, it is typical to abbreviate all but one name, such as in "K.V.M.M. Shastry." Traditionally, the unabbreviated name is the person's principal given name, but in some cases it can also be the family name. The abbreviations usually stand for the patronymic, the name of the family's home village, the family name, and the caste name.

In North India, it is more usual to follow the pattern of given name (one or two) followed by the family name, which is familiar in the West. Unlike South Indian names, North Indian names are unlikely to include home village, caste, patronymic, or clan names, although the caste is often easily inferred from the family name.

In Hindu names the family name often signifies the cast or community to which the person belongs, e.g.,Udayan Shukla (Udayan - given name and Shukla is a Brahmin family name) or Abhijeet Mukherjee (Abhijeet - given name and Mukherjee is a Brahmin family name) . Most of the names have some significance and meaning. Many Hindu families have name giving ceremony after the child's birth, usually made after the horoscope of the child. Most Hindu names are identified in some way as an "alternative" name for a Hindu divinity.

Nicknames are very popular among Hindus, and every family member or close friend is free to apply a different nickname to an individual.

In the old days, the first names of women would be changed based on the husband's choice. Let's say there was a woman named Devashree Podhar. Devashree Podhar, arranged of course, is married to Tejas Damnle. Her name is no longer Devashree or Podhar. Her husband picks the name, "Malavi" for her. Now, she is Malavi Damnle, not Devashree Podhar.

Sikh names

Most of the first names in the Sikh community are derivatives of Sanskritic names (e.g. Mahinder from Maha/Indra) and Persian names (e.g. Kamal).Furthermore, the names are given to both the male as well as female adherents on a non-discriminatory basis. But to distinguish between the genders, the faith calls upon the male adherents to take the name 'Singh' (a Sanskrit derivative for lion-hearted) as a suffix to their first names to be followed by a surname; e.g. Mahindar Singh Bawa; whereas the female adherents are given the name 'Kaur' (meaning princess) as a suffix to their first names to be followed by a surname; e.g. Mahindar Kaur Bawa.

Jain names

Jains, followers of Jainism, often use the last name Bains. Shah is also a very common Gujarati Jain last name that is derived from Sanskrit Sadhu (meaning a monk) and/or Prakrit Sahu. The word Sadhu/Sahu is also separately used to indicate a Jain monk. Jains last name are as follows:Bains Banthia,Bhandari,Dalal,Nahar, Kanthed, Kothari, Kataria, Mehta, Gandhi, Pichholiya, Daga, Shrimal, Shri Sanghvi, Vohra, Motha, Badjatya, Doshi, Saravagi, Chodhari, Kocharand,Bewaa Aurat,Bilal Rich, many more.

Muslim names

Arabic names are used as the first, middle and last names; e.g. Dawood Salman Ibrahim (David Solomon Abraham). They may also use native Indian names, especially Urdu, as long as they are not related to other religion. Like if those who converted to Islam in adulthood or adolescence, they change their original names unless they are related to another religion. Thus, a woman whose given name is "Prana" does not have to change it because it is the Sanskrit of "life force" and has no religious context. But, a person named "Chanda" may choose to change her name to fully separate herself from her Hindu background and to prevent confusion for others.

Family names indicating Arab ancestry, e.g. Shaikh, Siddiqui, Abbasi, Syed,Bukhari,Zaidi,Naqvi, Farooqi, Osmani, Alavi, Hassani, Hussaini, and Suhrawardi.

People claiming Afghan ancestry include those with family names Khan, Cheema, Suri etc.

Family names indicating Turkish heritage include Mughal, Chughtai (this name is also an Arab Family name in Middle East) , Mirza, Baig or Beg, Pasha, and Barlas.

People claiming Indian (Hindu) ancestry include those with family names Barelwi, Lakhnavi, Delhvi, Bilgrami etc.

People claiming Iranian ancestry include those with family names Agha, Firdausi, Ghazali, Hafi, Isfahani, Kashani, Kermani, Khorasani, Mir, Montazeri, Nishapuri, Noorani, Kayani, Qizilbash, Saadi, Sabzvari, Shirazi, Sistani, Yazdani, Zahedi, and Zand.

Christian names

Syrian, Northern-European (English), Southern-European (Portuguese), and Arabic names are preferred; e.g. Anto Chakko Chazhukaran. Lately, many Goan parents have begun to give their children Hindu first names in the hope of getting a leg up in India; e.g. Dinesh (name of a Hindu god) D'Souza. Also, the use of Arab derivative names like Fatima, Omar & Soraya are commonplace given the past dominance of the Iberian peninsula by the Moors.

But those who convert to Christianity in adulthood rarely alter their names unless their given name is associated with another religion. For instance, a man whose first name is “Rahul” need not change his name, as Rahul simply means "reliable" and has no religious connotation. In contrast, an individual named Lakshmi may opt to change her name to fully separate herself from her Hindu background and to prevent confusion for others.

Some Christian names are more common in specific regions and localities of India. In South India, the names Anto, Jose, Annie, Chakko, Joseph, Jacob, Peter, and Thomas are widespread, while Northern India favors Michael, Jonathan, and Samuel. In Kerala Christians associate their family names to their first name, like Chazhukaran, Kureekkal, Koikkara, Pulikkotil etc.

Names by profession

The caste or subcaste name is often used as part of a name or as a title. These are analogous to western family names like Smith and Barber to the extent that they represent occupation. Chowdary or Chaudhari (Hindu Telugu landowner caste) is an example. Mohandas Gandhi belonged to the caste of Gandhis (grocers). Where the use of surnames was not customary, use of the caste name as the surname is increasing in recent times. Examples of surnames of this kind from southern India include Iyer, Iyengar, Chettiar,Chetty,Gounder, Gowda, Nair, Naidu, Patel, Shetty, Setty.

There are a few exogamous divisions within castes. These are usually on the basis of deities worshipped by the family. For example, Tamma (within the Reddy caste). This is widely followed by the Telugu people. The last name of Bal Gangadhar Tilak, another Independence-era leader, belongs to this category. This is more common among castes, like the Brahmins, that are spread throughout the country. Kamath and Shenoy are both Konkani Brahmin last names. Clan names are used only in small communities scattered around the country. The Chota Nagpur tribals use as clan names the names of animal deities with whom they claim kinship. The Kodavas of South India also have clan or sib-names.

Some families in India rename themselves on the basis of their profession. This is common among the Parsis, who often have surnames ending with "wala" (also spelled "walla" or "wallah"), meaning someone who engages in a particular activity. Names like Screwala when the person might have sold screws, or Cyclewala (cycle seller) are quite common; one Bollywood actress is named Shenaz Treasurywala. Many social ranks were also hereditary. Names such as Talukdar, Tehsildar, Tarafdar and Pillai are based on social rank.

Poojari or Poojary surname followed by the Billavas in Karnataka is a testimony to the caste's ancient profession as priests in the temples of ancient dieties in the bygone era.The word Poojary or Poojari literally means "worshiper". In olden Tulunadu region in Karnataka only the members of Billava community had the preveledge to perform the Pooja activity during Nema or Bhuta Kola which is a kind of spirit-worship, a practice seen amongst most of the communities of Tulunadu even today.

Some English occupational nouns have also passed into surname usage, with surnames such as Engineer. Rajesh Pilot, an Indian ex-minister, adopted his surname after a stint in the Indian Air Force.

It is also common for people to name their children after international personalities. Most of the times the surname is used as a first name, like Einstein, Churchill, Kennedy, Beethoven, Shakespeare etc., and tend to denote the parents' political affiliations. This practice is particularly prevalent in Goa and Tamil Nadu. Examples of names like these are Churchill B. Alemao and his brothers, Roosevelt B. Alemao and Kennedy B. Alemao from Goa and M.K. Stalin and Napoleon Einstein from Tamil Nadu. Like in Western societies, parents are beginning to experiment with uncommon names, or are using words that aren't usually considered names, like Proton Padmanabhan, Alpha Jyothis and Omega Jyothis.

Names by state

State(s)-
Andhra Pradesh	Telugu	Aluri, Aaluri,Aelleni,Adhikarla, Akkineni, Addanki, Akkiyana, Akurathi,Allenki, Alla, Allu, Alapati, Ambati, Ammu, Appala, Appalaneni, Avuthu,Banna, Badam, Bandari, Banothu, Barlanka,Boini, Bhagavatula, Burra, Burujula, Bonela, Bathina,chaparala, chennupati, CHEPYALA, cherukuri, Chikkala, Chilukuri, Chinthala, Chintharapu, Chowdary, Dasari, Dodda,Donthi, Dopaati Ekkati, Emmadi,Gadeboina, Gattamaneni, Ganti, Gandavarapu, Garimella, Geddada, Godavarthi, Gollapudi,Gondi, Gontu, Goud, Guntaka, Gunuru, Gupta, Jujjavarapu, Koganti, Kodukula, Kalla, kamanu, Kanakala, Kanaparthi, Kandimalla, Kanmuri, Kantu, Kanuganti, Kanukuntla,Karkera, Karnamadakala, Kavali, Kilari, Krishna, Kodhidineni, Kommaboina,Kondrakunta, Konidela, Korrapati, Kuppa, Madanu, Madhavapeddi, Majeti Makineni, Manchem, Margam, Merugu, Mittapalli, MudiRaj, Muppala, Murty, Mynampati, Namuduri, Naidu, Nandamuri,Narumanchi, Nelluri, Nekkanti, Nunemunthala, Nuthulapati, Pasala, Pagadala, Palaparthi, Palavarapu, Paravathaneni, Paruchuri, Pegada,Penumaka,Perla, Pillarisetty,Polagani,Police, Pothina, Penugonda, Peri, Potluri, Putta,putcha Raavella, Reka, Ravula, Rao, Reddi, Reddy, Sonti, Sarma, Sunkara, Sasanapuri, Sastry, Sayala, Setty, Singampalli, Srikanti, Sreeram, Subudhi, Surapaneni, Syamala, Soorkattula, Thota, Tippabhotla, Tripurana, Tripuraneni, Tumarada, Uppu, Vaka, vankayalapati, Vanukuru, Varma, Vasireddy, Velaga, Velmineti, Veeranki, Vennelakanti, Vettickanakudy, VishnuBhotla, Vodicherla, Vulongonda, Vishwabrahmin, Yadav
Assam	Assamese	Barua, Baruah,Barthakur, Barman, Bezbaruah, Bhattacharya, Bhuyan, Barbhuyan, Bora, Borah, Borboruah, Borbora, Bordoloi, Borgohain, Borkakoti, Borkotoky, Borpatragohain, Buragohain, Chetia, Choudhuri, Das, Deka, Dhekial, Gogoi, Gohain, Goswami, Hazarika, Kalita, Konwar, Phookan, Phukan, Saikia, Sarma, Sarmah
Bihar, Jharkhand	Hindi	Agrawal, Akhauri, Asthana, Bajpai, Bharti, Chaturvedi, Choudhary, Dhanjit, Dubey, Dwivedi, Giri, Goswami, Jha, Kumar, Mahato, Mandal, Mishra, Pandey, Paswan, Pathak, Prasad, Puri, Rajak, Sah, Sahay, Sharma, Singh, Sinha, Srivastava, Tanti, Thakur, Tiwari, Tiwary, Trivedi, Upadhyay, Vajpai, Verma, Yadav
Chhattisgarh	Hindi, Chhattisgarhi	Agharia, Bhoi, Chandrakar, Dewangan, Nishad, Patel, Sahu, Verma
Goa	Konkani, Marathi	Abhisheki, Alphonso, Amonkar, Banaulikar, Bhembre, Borkar, Chodnekar, Chowgule, Cudchadkar, D'Costa, D'Silva, D'Souza, Da Cunha, Desai, Dharwadkar, Fernandes, Gavnekar, Hede, Kadkade, Kaisari, Kamath, Karmali, Kenkre, Keni, Kerkar, Khandeparkar, Laad, Lobo, Loliyekar,Moghe,Mangeshkar,Mayekar, Mendes, Nadkarni, Naik, Pai, Palekar, Parikar, Pinto, Pissurlekar, Prabhu, Raikar, Rege, Revankar, Rodrigues, Saldanha, Salgaonkar, Shanbhag, Shirodkar, Shirwaikar, Timblo, Vernekar, Viegas, Zantye
Gujarat	Gujarati	Acharya, Adani, Ajmera, Ambani, Amin, Asher, Barot, Bhagat, Bhansali, Bhatt, Bunha, Bhuta, Bhuva, Chag, Chandratre, Chandratreya, Chauhan, Chikhalia, Chitalia, Chokshi, Chudasama, Contractor, Daftary, Dalal, Dave, Desai, Dhaduk, Dhokia, Doshi, Gaekwad, Ganjawala, Gajjar, Gandhi, Godhania, Goradia, Goswami, Grigg, Gupta, Gohil, Hathiwala, Jadeja, Jariwala, Jobanputra, Joshi, Juthani, Kamdar, Kanakia, Kapadia, Karavadra, Katira, Karia, Kotadia, Kotak, Kotecha, Kuchhadia, Kyada, Lal, Lalbhai, Makavana/Makwana, Mehta, Mistry, Modi, Modhwadia, Mulani, Munim, Naik, Odedra/Odedara, Oza, Palan, Panchal, Parekh, Parikh, Pathak, Patel, Pipalia, Purohit, Prajapati, Rabadia, Rathod, Sampat, Sanghavi, Sarabhai, Savalia, Shah, Servaia, Sheladia, Sheth, Shroff, Sisodiya, Solanki, Soni, Sutaria, Suthar, Talati, Tandel, Tanti, Thakar, Thakkar, Thanki, Tripathi, Trivedi, Valia, Visaria, Visariya, Vora, Vyas, Zariwala
Haryana	Hindi, Haryanvi	Ahlawat, Beniwal, Chauhan, Chautala, Dahiya, Maan, Malhan, Rathi, Saini,Singhal, Shangwan, Sharma, Sheoran, Talwar
Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi	Marwari, Hindi, Garhwali, Kumaoni	Aggarwal, Agrawal, Asthana, Bajapi, Bansal, Bartwal, Baurai, Bhati, Bindal,Binjola, Bisht,Chand, Chandels, Chandratre, Chandratreya, Chaturvedi, Chaudhary, Chauhan, Choudhary, Dashattor,Dhasmana, Dhoni, Dhounndiyal, Dixit, Dwivedi, Ghatori, Ghilidiyal, Gulia, Gusain, Jindal, Joshi, Juyal, Kalawat, Kansal, Karamchand, Kaushal, Kumavat, Khatri, Kothiyal, Mathur, Maurya, Mishra, Mittal, Naugai, Nautiyal, Nagda, Negi, Nigam, Niraniya, Panwar, Rai, Rajput, Rajawat, Rana, Rawat, Rathore, Rustagi, Saxena, Shahalia, Sharma, Shekhawat, Shrimali, Singhal, Srivastava, Singh, Thakur, Thapliyal, Tiwari, Tripathi, Trivedi, Uniyal, Vajpai, Verma, Visariya, Yadav,Kukreti
Jammu and Kashmir	Dogri, Kashmiri	Ahmed, Baldotra, Balotra,Bhan,Bhat, Bhatt, Butt, Charak,Dar,Dhar, Dogra, Dubey, Gandotra, Ganjoo, Handoo, Jasrotia, Kakapuri, Kaul, Khajuria, Koul,Langer,Maam, Mangotra, Ogra, Pandit, Proach, Raina, Rajwal, Sadathia, Sadotra, Sahgal, Salathia Sangra, Samyal, Shahalia, Sharma, Syed, Talwar,Thaaltsoor,Tickoo, Ticku,Tikku,Tiku,Tikkoo,Toshkhani, Upadhyaya, Wali, Wani
Karnataka	Kannada	Jammihal, Srividyadhare Kateel, Savitha, Chandrashekara, Poojari or Poojary, Kotian,Suvarna, Salian, Kunder,Kukian, Karkera,Shrian, Nairi, Papanashi, Bhadranavar, Chetti, Hukkeri, Jamakhandi, Sonnad, Kanthi, Sinnur, Sukali, Kulkarni, Patil, Mayachari, Sangati, Chikkatumbal, Halemani, Hosamani, Dharawadkar, Doddamni, Jadhav, Madivalar, Hiremath, Jituri, Benakannakarvar, Torath, Talwari, Jakkannavar, Kogilagaddi, Ponarkaar, Noorkhan, Kodhanch, Bellubbli, Lohar, Basidoni, Kabadagi, Jalageri, Mallammanavar, Giddananavar, Menashinakayi, Ullagaddi, Bhajentri, Nadkarni, Nadig, Nadgir, Rao, Nayak, Gaonkar, Rai, Shetty, Heggade, Alva, Dhore, Raya, Gondkar, Huded, Datanal, Kallanagowdar, Marigodar, Wali, Walishettar, Dundur, Dixit, Dasar, Kumbar, Jolad, Hoskeri, Hubli, Uppin, Bapakar, Badni, Hanchinal, Athani, Turamri, Gourishetty, Hurkadli, Akki, Kalal, Chatnis, Khatawakar, Bargi, Kadni, Kabboor, Reddy, Yadav, Dasegouda, Bhandarkar, Padki, Dasannanavar, Simi, Belgavi, Naravatte, Navalagi, Bellad, Malagi, Shettar, Goudar, Gowda, Hegde, Udupa, Handhe, Shasthri, Kamath, Shanbhag, Shanubhogue, Murthy, Aithal, Shenoy, Tantry, Pai, Upadhya, Prabhu, Kini, Bijapur, Veerapur, Devarmani, Gangannavar, Kattimani, Math, Tatpatti, Akkur, Jambagi, Khavatekar, Beedi, Zalaki, Hallur, Negalur, Hondadakatti, Itagi, Koluvailu, Hosagrahara, Naregal, Paramshetti, Kanthi, Iyengar, Padukone, Lingayat Setty, Pandit, Nayaka, Anna, Swami, Eshwar, Prasad, Bahudur, Deshpande, Wodeyar, Prasad, Rao, Sheshadri, Shet, Raikar, Revenkar, Vernekar, Anvekar,Bargali,Barigali,Katakol,Godkhindi
Kerala	Malayalam	Adikal, Adiyodi, Anitha, Anto, Asaan, Alapatt, Bhattathiri, Chakyar, Chakko, Channar, Chazhukaran, Chekavan, Chekavar, Chovan, Eradi, Ilayath, Kaimal,Kani, Kanikkar Kartha, Kurukkal, Kurup, Marar, Menon, Moosad,Moothan, Menachery, Nair, Nambiar, Nambudiri, Nayanar, Nayar, Nedungadi,Palatty, Pandala, Panikkar, Payankan, Pillai, Pisharody, Porathur, Pothuval, Pulikkottil, Samoothiri, Thampi, Thangal, Thankkal, Unnithan, Thakkolkaran, Thakolkaran, Unnithiri, Vaidyan, Vaidyar, Valiathan, valiyaveetil, Valodi, Variar, Varma Verghese, Vettickanakudy, Verakooti, Varghesekooti, Nayakooti, Palakooti, Cherripondicherikooti, Prasadaramanakooti.
Madhya Pradesh	Hindi	Shuklas, Chandels, Chandratre, Chandratreya, Goyal, Gurjar, Jadhav, Jaitley, Kalsangrah, Patidar, Scindia,Moghe
Maharashtra	Marathi	Agarkar, Aher, Ahire, Ahirrao, Ambole, Angre, Apte, Arjunwadkar, Atre, Bachhe, Bade, Bagne, Bande, Bandgar, Bansode, Bapat, Bavane, Bedekar, Bedge,Belwalkar,Bendre, Bhadane, Bhamare, Bharati, Bhat, Bhave, Bhide,Bhise Bhinge, Bhoite, Bhonsale, Bhosale, Birnale, Borade, Bratch, Lokhande,Kawade,Charaple, Borkar,Buchade, Borse, Budhale, Bugale, Chandratre, Chandratreya, Charankar,Chavan, Chavanke,Chibde, Chitale, Chitnis, Chitre,Chopde,Chougule, Dabhole,Dabholkar, Dahake, Dahanukar, Dahapute, Dalvi, Damle, Dandekar, Dandge Darekar,Chinchwade, Deo, Deshmukh, Deshpande, Deulkar,Desai, Devgekar,Devre, Dhage, Dhuri, Dikshit, Donde, Dongare, Dubhasi,Dukale, Ekhande, Gabale, Gadgil, Gaekwad, Gaikar,Gaikwad, Gaitonde, Galvankar, Ganorkar, Gantare, Gaonkar, Ghatge, Gholkar, Ghorpade, Gire, Gite, Godambe, Godbole, Godse, Gogte, Gokhale, Gore, Goregaonkar, Gothe, Gujarati, Gulgule, Gupte,Gurav,Jounjal, Hardas,Harne, Hegde, Holkar, Hosmani, Jadhav, Jagdale,Ghuse, Jagtap,Jangam, Joshi, Kaamat,Kalantre, Kadam, Kadam,Kaingade, Kale, Kaledhonkar,Navale,Bhojane,Paretkar,Koli,Supale,Bokade,Magdug,Gavhane, Kamath,Kapare, Kamble, Kambli, Kanse, Kantap, Kante, Karadge, Kashid, Kapartiwar, Karvir, Kate,Kekre,Keripale, Khachane, Khalfe, Khandagale, Khandekar,Khamkar, Khandke, Khanvilkar,Khanwalkar, Khare,Khairnar, Kibile,Hatvalne, Killedar,Kirolkar< Kodolikar, Kokate, Kole, Kondke,Konde,Koshti, Kore,Kulkarni, Kumbhar, Kutwal,Landge, Lohar, Mahadik, Mali,Mali,Mahajan,Mapkar, Marudkar,Mate, Matondkar, Matsagar,Mhatre,Manwatkar Mhatre,Injal,Kanase,Sonikar,Moghe, Mhetre, Mirajkar, Mojad, Mudgal More, Mukaddam, Mulani, Mulge, Mulik, Mulye, Naik, Nakhtare, Nargundkar,Mohite,Sarudkar, Nemishte, Nigade, Nikam, Nimbalkar, Padki, Pailwan, Darge, Doltade, Inamdar, Pakhare, Doijad, Kawathekar, Nandgawe, Mutkekar, Gadre, Dhore, Khanolkar, Pawase, Nalwade, Bhalavane, Karmakar, Dhumal, Ghodake, Potdar, Palsule, Pandit,Kagwade,Prayagkar,Kharat,Wani, Parab,Parit, Patankar, Pathak, Patil, Patki, Patwardhan, Pavaskar, Pawar/Powar Pendharkar, Pendse, Penkar, Phadke, Phadnis, Phatak, Phule, Prabhughate, Pujari, Raijadhav,Raje,Rajmane, Ranbhise, Randive, Rane, Rao, Rasam,Raul,Raundal, Raut, Salunkhe, Samdulkar,Khot,Adate,Borse,Jamdade,Shedage,Tatode,Vanmore, Sankpal, Saraf,Sathe, Sarate Satarkar,Sapatnekar, Satvekar,Sawant, Savekar, Shelke, Shetye,Surve, Shikhare, Shinde,Shingare, Shiordkar, Shirke,Shirole, Shirolkar, Shirvadkar, Solashe, Solunke, Soman, Sonawane,Sontake, Sonde, Sule,Patange, Sutar, Tamankar,Tupe, Tambey, Tawde, Tejam,Tendulkar, Telang, Teli,Thackeray, Thakur, Thatte, Thosar,Thorat,Thupare, Tilak,Todkar,Tripne, Undre, Vankudre, Vanmane,Varpe, Vardam,Hublikar,Belapurkar,Pol, Vichare, Wable, Wagh, Waghmare, Walavalkar/Walawalkar, Yadav, Waje,Chile,Khatavkar,Kendre,Birajdar,Birasdar,Gavandi,Varaskar, Wale, Walkhede, Wankhade, Wasgare, Welling, Wgale, Zele, Zhende,Talpade,
Manipur	Manipuri	Ningthoujam, Rajkumar, Maharajkumar, Yumnam, Thokchom, Konsam, Seram, Ahanthem, Atom, Chakpram, Kamei, Nandeibam, Oinam, Senjam, Konjengbam
Orissa	Oriya	Biswal, Chandratre, Chandratreya, Patnaik, Samantray, Subudhi, Samal, Satpathy, Dutta, Das, Mohanty, Sahoo, Sahu, Pati, Mishra, Sarangi, Rout, Ray, Pani, Rath, Acharya, Tripathy, Naik, Nayak, Patra, Mohanta, Singh Deo, Senapati, Sandha, Bagh, Hati, Paschimakabata, Uttarakaba, Dakshinakabata, Gochhayata, Singh, Raj, Khandayata, Dehuri, Basantaray, Behera, Kaibarta, Sarangi, Panda, Mohapatra, Moharana, Mishra, Mahakuda, Mali, Jani, Khora, Khosla, Kuldeep, Kantabali, Nandibali, Alang, Guntha, Dhangadamajhi, Tading, Bajing, Nag, Bag, Khalpadia, Mading, Badnayak, Disari, Muduli, Bhumia, Batra, Amantya, Samarth, Gadaba, Pujari, Dalpati, Saura, Baliputia, Arlab, Petia, Badaputia, Mastiputia, Penthia, Garahandiya, Randhari, Bagderia, Kulsika, Challan, Minyakka, Wadaka, Mandinga, Pidika, Bidika, Pusika, Melka, Hikka, Sirika, Nisikia, Badatasia, Kisani, Sisa, Pangi, Injel, Banda, Halang, Padam, Golari, Badam, Karlia, Ghosarlia, Kendu, Gatam, Mattam, Mari, Bitu, Tangali, Jagatray, Harijan, Gouda, Sisa, Sorabu, Ganda, Komra, Pentana, Khemundu, Kadraka, Mangaria, Mangraj, Gemel, Kadamgudia, Murja, Sirkarlia, Pukia, Siya, Swain, Hantala, Bisoi, Chati, Chapadi, Kandulphul, Ghiuria, Udalbadiya, Tudu, Hembram, Besra, Oram, Kulu, Kerketa, Ekka, Lakra, Balbantray, Chotray, Paikray, Paltasing, Baliarsing, Sundara, Ojha, Choudhry, Samantsinghar, Pradhani, Mahapatra, Parija, Parida, Jena, Sabat, Sethi, Dash, Mallick, Pradhan, Guru, Padhi, Panigrahi, Dora, Dangayat, Dandpat, Garhnayak, Bhanjadeo, Deo,
Punjab	Punjabi	Bangar, Ahuja, Bachchan, Garcha, Rakkar, Sihra, Mann, Sehgal, Singh, Kaur, Khalsa, Khosla, Bains, Baweja, Banga, Mahil, Gabbi, Chana, Dhonsi, Dhand, Sidhu, Sandhu, Shahalia, Bal, Brar, Poddar, Dullo, Shergill, Walia, Ahluwalia, Cheema, Chishty, Boparai, Badal, Gill, Grover, Gulati, Sarai, Dhillon, Benipal, Padda, Sekhon, Ahuja, Dulay, Multani, Juneja, Hasija,Khurana,Khanna, Kapoor, Khanduja, Arora, Malhotra, Mehra, Saigal, Suri, Puri, Soni, Tuli, Gupta, Agarwal, Malik, Munjal, Sahani, Saini, Talwar, Chopra, Bajaj, Pathak,Ghera,Sharma, Verma, Bhardwaj, Vashisht, Sood, Bhatia, Dawar, Dhawan,Bhagat, Hundal, Ting Ling
Sikkim	Nepali, Tibetan	Bhutia, Chetri, Dolma, Dorjee, Sungte
Tamil Nadu	Tamil	Achari, Chettiar,Fernandes, Gounder, Iyengar, Iyer, Kuyavar, Lebbai, Maraikayar, Mudaliar, Nadar, Naicker, Pillai, Prabakar,Poobalarayar, Rowther, Thevar, Vellalar, Vishwakarma, Ambalakarar
Uttar Pradesh	Hindi	Chandratre, Chandratreya, Varshney,Agarwal,Dukale,Tripathi, Srivastava, Jain, Kapoor, Mishra, Pandey, Bhatnagar, Dwivedi, Trivedi, Chaturvedi, Tandon, Gupta, Goel, Garg, Malhotra, Verma, Nigam, Vajpai, Sharma, Maheshwari, Jain, Saxena, Singhal, Sinha, Chopra, Mehra, Mehrotra, Mittal, Mathur, Jalota, Awasthi, Singh
West Bengal	Bengali	Acharya, Bagchi, Baidya, Banerjee (Bandyopadhyay), Banik, Basak, Bhanja, Bhatta, Bhattacharya, Bid, Biswas, Bose/Basu,Karmakar, Brahma, Chakladar, Chakraborty, Chandratre, Chandratreya, Chanda, Chatterjee (Chattopadhyay), Choudhuri, Das, Dasgupta, Dastidar, Deb, Dey/De, Dhar, Dutta/Datta, Duari, Ganguly (Gangopadhyay), Ghatak, Ghosh, Guha, Guha Neogi Guhathakurta, Gupta, Haldar, Jana, Kabiraj, Kumar, Kundu, Laha, Lahiri, Maitra, Maity, Majumdar, Mal, Mallick, Mandal, Manna, Mitra, Mukherjee (Mukhopadhyay), Nag, Nandan, Neogi, Pal/Paul, Poddar, Pradhan, Pramanik, Ray, Roy/Ray, Rudra, Saha,Santra, Sanyal, Sarkar, Sen, Sengupta, Sensharma, Sinha, Sur, Thakur

South Indian names

For a long time, South Indians had a simple naming system. Historically, everyone was given a single name, which was chosen in one of three ways that South Indians chose their names on the basis of:

• The name of their village/town, e.g. Udyavara, Chitti, Kular, Chavali, Hattiangdi, Janaswamy,Hubli, Kokradi, Mangalore, etc.
• Their family name, e.g. Pulithevar, Sahonta
• or both, e.g. Yalamanchili Krishna Hasa

The concepts of initials, middle names, family names and surnames are foreign to South Indians. Everyone had a single name like Murugesh, Lakshmanan or Seetharamiah. Occasionally these names were extremely lengthy. A lengthy name could be interpreted as a sign of parental affection in some cases. However, it was not the full name of a particular family, nor did it give more information about that family.

Under British rule, Indians were expected to follow English procedures for official purposes such as registering births, enrolling children in school and registering land ownership details.

Many South Indians use the name of their ancestral hometown, or the family profession as the last name or family name. In this case sometimes the surname is placed before the given name. Some Tamil people have both a village name and a caste name as part of their name, for instance Madurai Mani Iyer. Here, Madurai is a town and Iyer is a caste. Many Keralites especially Syrian Christians use as the "tharavaad", a description of their ancestral home. Names like Pramod Perumparambil and Paul Chemmanoor fall under this category.

In some families(Nair/Nayar) in Kerala, the children carry the last name of their mother instead of the father and are considered part of the mother's family.

In Karnataka, sometimes initials precede a given name. For example, Kagodu Bairappa Timmappa (village, father, given name). Sometimes only village name precedes their given name. Some names explicitly mention afficliation to a family. For example, Pasharara Kolli (Kolli of Pashara family), Naigodara Kanni (Kanni of Naigod family). Unlike in other places women in Karnataka do not use their husband's surname.

In southern India, especially in Tamil Nadu where caste symbols tend to be kept private, there is widespread usage of a patronymic: use of the father's given name as the second name. This means that the given name of one generation becomes the second name of the next. In many cases, this second name is used as an initial and the given name may appear like a second name. For example a name like "Ajith Abraham" means "Ajith son of Abraham". If Ajith then has a son named Ashwin, then his name would be Ashwin Ajith.

It is common for Tamil women to adopt their husband’s given name as a second name. Sunitha Gopalan (Sunitha daughter of Gopalan) might change her name to Sunitha Rajiv (Sunitha wife of Rajiv) after marriage. Some South Indians use an inverted patronym. For example, Chitra Visweswaran is a dancer whose last name is either a patronym or the given name of her husband. More common among women, the inverted patronym is also adopted by people migrating West who want to be called by their given names without having to explain Indian naming conventions. The given names of their fathers or husbands become their family names.

Among Christians in Kerala, it is a common practice to have a second given name (middle name) which is the baptismal name, usually the first name of a grandparent or godparent, like Roshni Mary George and Anoop Antony Philip. Until about two decades ago, some people were named in the 'Family name-Given name-Caste' format. Eg Kannoth Karunakaran Maarar, interpreted as Karunakaran of the Maarar caste from the Kannoth family.

Initials

In Western English-speaking societies, when there are two people with the same name, for example, Robert Jones and Robert Smith, in an elementary school class, they are referred to as Robert J. and Robert S. respectively to avoid confusion. But two Ramans in South India have just the one name each. So the names of their fathers are used as initials instead of a surname. Raman, son of Gopal, would be G. Raman, and Raman, son of Dinesh, D. Raman. This led to the initial system, mostly followed in South India. Most schools automatically add the initials upon enrollment.

In some parts of Tamil Nadu, traditional family names have recently been abandoned in favour of a father's/husband's given name as a family name. The use of a father's/husband's given name as a family name is in vogue. These names are also used as initials. School and college records would have the names with initials as given below.

• "S. Janaki" - the family name initial and then the given name.
• "S. Janaki" might also be written as "Janaki Sridar" in legal documents.

Legal documents such as passports will have the last name fully expanded, instead of initials. Other legal documents such as property deeds will have any of these name formats with the mention of father’s /grandfather’s/husband’s given name and/or village/town/city name. Mandating expansion of initials in passport and multinational companies that are influenced by western standards is a big source of confusion in South India. For example, a letter for Raja Gopala Varma, son of Krishna Kumar, who is usually referred as "K. Raja Gopala Varma", might be addressed incorrectly to "Krishna Kumar Raja Gopala Varma".

Men's names are usually prefixed with initials as mentioned before. Some men used to omit the initial, adding the father's given name in the end. However, this isn't a legal name and won't change their name in official records. For example, both P. Chidambaram and Chidambaram Palaniyappan are valid; however the latter form is not legally used. Generally, the initials are omitted, and father's name is suffixed in order to shorten a name, for example, G. Raja Ravi Varma, son of M. Gopal Krishnan, becomes Raja Gopal.

For women, the system of initials is slightly different. Before marriage, a girl uses her father's initial, but after marriage, she may choose to use her husband's initial. Of late the trend has changed and many women, especially those employed, do not change the initials, but continue with their father's initials. This is mainly for convenience, since school degree and career papers have the woman's father's initials on them. Changing a name legally is a cumbersome procedure, including announcing the proposed change in a newspaper and getting it published in an official gazette. So the modern trend is to add the husband's name at the end, like some Western women who add their husband’s name with a hyphen.

People who do not understand the South Indian naming protocol sometimes expand the initials in an incorrect manner. For example, the name P. Chidambaram, tends to be expanded to Palaniyappan Chidambaram, which is incorrect in the sense that it implies that the person's given name is "Palaniyappan", and the family name is "Chidambaram". In fact, the person's only name is "Chidambaram", with an initial of "P". Other such famous misrepresentations include the chess grandmaster, V. Anand (wrongly expanded as Vishwanathan Anand); cricketer, L. Sivaramakrishnan (Laxman is his father's name); and the freedom fighter and statesman, C. Rajagopalachari (often cited as Chakravarty Rajagopalachari). On the other hand, north India media refers to Dr. Anbumani Ramadoss (son of Dr. Ramadoss) often simply as Dr Ramadoss, which again is incorrect as Ramadoss is his father's name and not his family name.

Surnames or family names

Many South Indians also use a family name.

Family names are not common among the Tamil people, but most of the rest of India uses a family name.

1. Invented family names such as that of Rajesh Pilot.
2. The English last name of Anglo-Indians - descendants of British and Indian parents.
3. Portuguese-Goan last names, such as Fernandes.
4. Arabic surnames of Muslims with ancestors converted to Islam by Arabs and Muslims of mixed Arab and Indian descent.

Telugu names

The family names of Telugu people precede the give name and are mostly abbreviated.For e.g., the name Bathina Kesava Mani Kumar would be abbreviated as B. K. Mani Kumar. In this name Kesava Mani Kumar is the given name, and Bathina would be the family(Surname) name. Some of the people who belong to a particular Reddy caste include the caste names in their names, especially Chowdary or Reddy. For example, Vijay Reddy, Hari Chowdary. In general, if the name of a person in western format would be Vijay Reddy Kandi (given name, second given name and family name), then the name in Telugu speaking areas would be written as K. Vijay Reddy.

Family names of telugu people are supposed to be the name of the village or area their ancestors came from. Sometimes the family name can be same for people belonging to different castes.

Tamil names

Tamils like the north east Indians, have names in their native tongue Tamil itself, instead of Sanskrit as in other parts of India. Many beautiful names are in Tamil like, Thenmozhi, Chezhian, Tamizh chelvi, Aaravamudhan, Azhagan, Panneer Selvam, Kayalvizhi, Kanimozhi, Muthazhagu, Pandiyan, Anbazhagan, Vadivukkarasi, Sendil, Vadivel, Velu, Murugan, Perumal and many more. Many people now a days, name in Sanskrit and also in other languages like Arabic. Government has introduced a scheme to name babies born in Chennai Municipality hospital in Tamil and as an encouragement avail a free gift of a gold coin. This is taken as a measure to curb the recent trends of naming the babies in other languages. Many Tamils use a "vilasam". That gives the initials (a syllable in Tamil) of the person's paternal ancestors up to, say, seven generations. This keeps every one readily identifiable. For example, in a reasonably sized community Mu. Ko. Ka. Mu. Tha. Er. Ganesh would be the cousin of Mu. Ko. Ka. Mu. Tha. Ka. Ganesh.

When the initial is expanded it refers to the name of the father, and not the person bearing the name. So the final name in the sequence is the actual given name of the individual and first name stands for the father. For example, C. V. Raman (who won the 1930 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on the scattering of light and for the discovery of the Raman effect) was from Tiruchirappalli, a town in south india. His full name is Chandrashekhara Venkata Raman (C. V. Raman); Raman is the given name of the nobel laureate, and Chandrashekharan is his father's name. Raman is not the family name of the nobel laureate, as many in Europe and the US mistakenly believe.

In Tamil Nadu, only the father's initial is used with the given name. The first name of a person is expanded and used only at legal documents such as passports, court proceedings and wills.

Tamil names also contain the village name in the following order: village name, father's name, given name. For example, Monkombu Sambasivan Swaminathan who is known as M. S. Swaminathan is one of the most popular Indian scientists and known as "Father of the Green Revolution" in India. Swaminathan is the name of the person, Sambasivan is the name of the father, and Monkombu is name of the village from where they have originated.

Family names in south India would be their caste names if have to be strictly followed. Caste names are rarely used, since they are not unique. In addition, many people exclude the caste in their names because the caste system is a controversial social problem in India; young people rarely like to identify themselves by their caste. Unique family names are hidden in the caste, sub-caste and tribe names.

Malayali (Kerala) names

Most Keralites, like in the case of Telugus, have a family name. Most of the family names are of obscure origin, but many have geographical origins – e.g., Vadakkedath (from the North), Puthenveetil (from the new house),Chirayath Chazhukaran (Chirayath family who migrated from Chazhoor)etc. Traditionally the full names followed one of three patterns:

1. Family name followed by Given name followed usually by the caste name or title. This was the common pattern (for men and women) among the upper-caste Hindus, especially of Malabar and Cochin. Examples: Mani Madhava Chakyar (Mani is the family name or tharavad name, Madhava(n) is the given name and Chakyar is the caste name), Vallathol Narayana Menon (Vallathol is the family name or tharavad name, Narayana(n) is the given name and Menon is the caste name), Olappamanna Subramanian Nambudiri, Erambala Krishnan Nayanar, etc. Sometimes the caste name/title was omitted, e.g., Kannoth Karunakaran (where the caste name Marar has been omitted). In the case of women the caste name/title was, traditionally, usually different, for example "Amma" was used for "Nair", "Andarjjanam" was used for "Nampoothiri", "Varyasyar" for "Varyar", "Nangyar" for "Nambiar" "Kunjamma" for "Valiathan/Unnithan/Kartha" etc. (see the Singh/Kaur convention in Punjab), e.g., Nalappat Balamani Amma whose brother was Nalappat Narayana Menon and Savithri Andarjjanam (A renowned author). Quite often the family name will have more than one part to it, e.g., Elankulam Manakkal Sankaran Namboodiripad, Madathil Thekkepaattu Vasudevan Nair, etc. The family name is usually initialled, the given name is sometimes initialled (never when there is no caste name following) and the caste name (if present) is never initialled. This is completely arbitrary. So we have as common forms Vallathol Narayana Menon, C. Achutha Menon, E K Nayanar and P. Bhaskaran (here Bhaskaran is the given name; the caste name, Nair in this case, has been omitted).

2. Family name followed by Father's given name followed by Given name. This is common among the rest of the population. For example most traditional Christian names followed this pattern. Usually the Family name and Father name were initialled. In case of (Hindu) women "Amma" was frequently used (as in the previous case). Examples include K M Mani, K G George, V S Achuthanandan, K R Gowri Amma. Many Palakkad Iyers (Kerala Iyers) use an adaptation of this convention by replacing the Family Name with the name of the "gramam" (village). Example: Tirunellai Narayanaiyer Seshan (T N Seshan), where Tirunellai would be the village name, Narayanaiyer is the Father's given name and Seshan is the given name; or Guruvayoor Shankaranarayanan Lalitha abbreviated as G. S. Lalitha.

3.Given Name followed by Title. This is common particularly among Syrian Christians in the old central Travancore area, where the king (Maharaja) or the local ruler (Raja or Thampuran) used to assign some titles to select families. Examples include Varghese Vaidyan(Vaidyan)of Famous Vaidyan Family whose roots are in Thevelakara,Kollam, Fr. Geevarghese Panicker (Panicker), Chacko Muthalaly (Muthalaly), Avira Tharakan (Tharakan), Varkey Vallikappen (Vallikappen), etc.

Much of these traditional naming patterns have now disappeared. The family names are usually not included nowadays (this can probably be attributed to the decline of the joint families or tharavads). The most common patterns nowadays is to have given names, followed by the father's given name (patronymic, e.g., Sunil Narayanan or Anil Varghese) or caste name (e.g., Anup Nair). Sometimes (especially in the case of women) both the Fathers and Mothers given names are used as part of the name, e.g., L Athira Krishna. It is also not uncommon for the village of origin to be use in lieu of the family name, especially in South Kerala, e.g., Kavalam Narayana Panicker, where Kavalam is a village in Alapuzha district.

It should be observed that many Christian names such as Varghese (Ghevarghese) is of Aramaic/Syrian origin.

Kannada names

Kannada names might include place names, clan/title/caste names, father's names along with person's own given name. The rules generally followed when combinations of the names used; Some times they prefix and suffix as surname and middle name will be given name.

• The place name should always come first.

eg. Kadidal Manjappa, where Kadidal is place name and Manjappa is person's given name.

• Father's name should always come second.

eg. Kuppalli Venkatappa Puttappa, where Kuppalli is place name, Venkatappa is father's name and Puttappa is person's given name.

• Initials from father's Name and Place name

e.g. Adnoor Bheemappa Narendra, where Adnoor is place name, Bheemappa is father's name and Narendra is person's given name. Adnoor and Bheemappa can be initialled resulting in the name "A. B. Narendra".

• The clan/title/caste names (generally called surnames) must come last.

eg. Kundapur Varun Shenoy, Kundapur is place name, Varun is person's given name and Shenoy is the surname. eg. Satish Ramanath Hegde, Satish is person's given name, Ramanath is father's name and Hegde is the title. eg.Satish Gowda

• Having two prefix and suffix as the surname and the middle name as given name. For example Doddamane Ramakrishna Hegde.

• Rare cases of ancestral house names can also be found, and they follow the rule for place names.

However, if a person wants to go by only his/her given name, there is a tendency in official circles to forcibly add extra names (generally, the place names). sometimes the surname depends on the work that person does

Malaysian Indian Names - South Indian Origin

Most ethnic Indians in Malaysia trace their ancestral origin to South India. In Malaysia, the general naming format for Indians is X son of Y or X daughter of Y. The term 'son of' is ANAK LELAKI (abbreviated to A/L in ID documents) in the Malay Language and the term 'daughter of' is ANAK PEREMPUAN (abbreviated to A/P in ID documents) in the Malay Language.

• In the British colonial days, male Indian names would employ the connective term S/O (son of) and female Indian names D/O (daughter of) respectively, and these terms are still in common use in Singapore.

Example: Murugan the son of Vellupillai would appear as MURUGAN A/L VELLUPILLAI in Malaysian ID Card (MyKad) in the name field and the Malaysian Passport.

In the eyes of authorities in the West, the connective term A/L (son of in the Malay Language) appears deceptively similar to the Arabic prefix 'Al' which appears in numerous Surnames/ Family Names of people of Arab descent.

Using the example above, MURUGAN A/L VELLUPILLAI would also arrange his name in such a way that his father's name become his initial and his given name appears to be his Surname/ Last Name: V. MURUGAN. This practice is similar to the name format of a very famous South Indian writer R. K. Narayan (R - Place of Origin: RASIPURAM, K - Father's Name: KRISHNASWAMI). Since most Malaysian Indians are today born in Malaysia, usually only the father's name appears as the initials.

However an increasing number of Malaysian Indians are migrating to the West, and they have begun using their father's name as the Last Name to avoid confusion. Therefore, Murugan the son of Vellupillai would simply go as MURUGAN VELLUPILLAI or M. VELLUPILLAI in the West. Malaysian Indian females don't take their husband's given name as their Surname or Last Name, it's not possible to change the name as they like. It's a long procedure to change the birth name, even if they do change then it will appear as alias in their mykad.

East and west Indian names

Assamese names

The Ahom community have a naming system which is loosely based on their ancestors profession during Ahom kings reign. Usually most names follow the Firstname, Middlename,Lastname format. Last name Saikia indicates commander over 100 soldiers (Sa=100). Hazarika was commander over 1000 soldiers(Hazar=1000). Other lastnames are Bora and Borbora, Barua and Borbarua, Gohain, Borgohain, Buragohain etc. where Bor=elder or bigger, Bura=older. Other communities have last names which may be same as last names used in other parts of north India such as Das, Sarma, Chakravarty, Ali, Ahmed etc.

Bengali & Oriya names

In addition to a family name, many Bengalis (in both West Bengal and Bangladesh) have two given names: a bhalo nam (lit. "good name"), which is used on all legal documents, and a dak nam ("nickname"), which is used by family members and close friends. The two names may or may not be at all related; for example, a man named Anoop Saha may be called by his dak nam (e.g. Bablu) at home and a his bhalo nam (Anoop) elsewhere. Many people also have a shortened version of their bhalo nam (e.g. Deepu for Deepak, Faru for Farhana, etc.) in addition to their full bhalo nam and their dak nam. Recently, many Bengalis have begun to add their dak nam to the end of their full official name, resulting in names like Saifuddeen Chowdhury Kanchon, where "Saifuddeen" would be the man's bhalo nam, "Chowdhury" would be his family name, and "Kanchon" would be his dak nam. In these situations, this man would be correctly addressed "Mr. Chowdhury", not "Mr. Kanchon". Bengali People and Oriya People (Oriyas, people form Orissa) Have many similar surnames such as Das, Dasgupta, Bhattacharya, Chowdury, Saha and many others. For Oriyas the "Bhalo Naam" (lit. Meaning good name) is used for all legal documents, and "daka naam" is the nickname or pet name used by family and friends. Oriya surnames come from the caste system based on the occupation of people. For example, a common last name is Mohapatra and Dash (Das is not a brahmin last name, only Dash is.) The villages in Orissa, have the same concept, but is slightly different. They name first names by zodiac. For example, if a girl's name was "Bedhamati" the prefix "Be" is used for the zodiac Taurus. But other than that, it is the same concept everywhere.

Gujarati and Marathi names

In Gujarat and Maharashtra, the naming system is comparable to the Russian system of patronymics. For example, the first name of cricketer Sunil Manohar Gavaskar is "Sunil;" "Manohar" is his father's name, and "Gavaskar" is the family name.

Traditionally, married women take their husband's given name as their middle name, in addition to adopting his family name. In Maharashtra sometimes a male newborn is named after his grandfather's name.

In Gujarat, people also add suffixes to their names based on their gender. "Bhai" (brother) for men and "Ben" (sister) for woman. For example, Sunil is called Sunilbhai and Lata is called Lataben. Similarly, Maharastrians address males as "Rao". (Sunil will be called Sunilrao.) This is generally an informal convention, used between friends and not on official documents.

Common Gujarati family names include Patel, Mehta, Shah, Desai, Parekh and Chudasama. Frequent Marathi family names include Kulkarni , Joshi, Deshpande, Deshmukh, and Patil. The family name 'Bhat' is used for a Maharashtrian Brahmin, whereas an extra t is added for the Gujaratis.

A number of Marathi family names end in 'kar', e.g. Gavaskar, Tendulkar, Savarkar, Madgulkar,Mayekar, Navalkar, Joglekar, Juhekar, Deuskar, Manglokar, Chindarkar and are sometimes associated with the native village of the family or its ancestors. E.g., Chindarkar may stand for origins in the town Chindar at Sindhudurg District in Maharashtra - Konkan region.

Marathi last names and origins are extremely well documented and the roots and lineage can be traced back hundreds of years. See Main article Maratha clan system

In Gujarat, family names ending in the suffix 'vala' or 'walla' may refer to the place where a person resides when written on wedding invitations (concotri), when listing members of the family, someone who did not live locally, for example, someone from London may have his surname put down as 'Londonwalla' just to describe the fact the reside there, their actual surname might be the normal family name. It also may describe the ancestral villiage of the family when used as the actual surname. An example of this is the moving of some of the Tandel family from the villiage of Meh to nearby Mogod Dungri (Valsad District) in recent times, changing their surnames to Mehwala, to say that they are from Meh. It is also used to denote a profession or family business, like Lakdawalla, which denotes that the persons family business is trading in wood.

References

• Kaushik, Devendra Kumar (2000) Cataloguing of Indic Names in AACR-2. Delhi: Originals. ISBN 81-7536-187-5.

External links

• Indian baby names at Curlie
• My Friends Call Me Mo A humorous article about the naming confusion