Home > Indian family name

• Caste or subcaste name: These are analogous to western family names like Smith and Barber to the extent that they represent occupation. Example: Reddy ( Hindu Telugu caste). However, Indians usually marry within the caste, and often within the subcaste.

• Exogamous division within caste: These are usually on the basis of deity worshipped. Example: Tamma (within Reddy caste). This is widely followed by the Telugu people .

• Religion: A number of Sikhs are named Singh, and most Jains are called Jain. However, there are Hindus with these two surnames as well.

• Placename: Many South Indians, especially Tamils, use the name of their place of origin as the family name. In this case the surname is placed before the given name. Some 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.

• Learning and Academics: Some Hindu families have names that reflect the academic achievements of their forefathers. e.g., Sastri - one who has studied the Sastra s, Dwivedi - one who has studied two vedas, Trivedi - three vedas, Chaturvedi - four vedas, Pathak , etc.

Many Indians have no family names. This too is common in southern India, particularly among Tamils. The pressure of conformity (especially strong for overseas Indians) often forces them to acquire surnames, either by inventing one, or splitting their given nameA given name specifies and differentiates between members of a group of individuals, especially a family, all of whose members usually share the same family name. The given name may be single, or several names may be given (the latter are known as middle, or adopting their patronyms as family names.

1 Indian naming system

Usually in many Indian families, birth name and school record name (the name known to outside of the family, especially classmates and schoolmates) will differ. Sometimes the birth name will be used only inside the family. In modern families, a child is named only one name -- both as birth name and school record name.

Some children are named with 3 names: first name, middle name and last name. First name is usually unique; middle name is also sometimes unique; the last name is usually the family name or grand father/mother's (depending upon the sex of the child) first name or a God's name.

Some children are named with 2 names: first name and last name. First name is often unique and last name is usually the family name. In modern and urban families, the child is usually named with only one name which is usually unique. Naming with 4 names is usually uncommon.

In West BengalCapital Kolkata Governor Viren J. Shah Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya Area 88,752 km² Population Total Density Ranked 4th in India 80,221,171 ( 2001) 904/km² Literacy rate: Total Male Female 69. 22% Urbanization: 28. 03% West Bengal is a state in t, especially amongst Hindus, it is common to have a first and last name as well as a Daak naam, or nick name, which is not listed in official documents.

In most parts of north india , including MaharashtraDate of formation May 1, 1960 Capital Mumbai Auxiliary Capital Nagpur Largest City Mumbai Governor Mohammad Fazal Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh Deputy Chief Minister R R Patil Area 308,000 km² Population Total Density Ranked 2nd in India 96,752,247 ( 2, the naming system is very similar to the first-middle-last format followed in western world. e.g. "Sunil Manohar Gavaskar", here "Sunil" is the (first) name of the person. "Manohar" is the father's name, which is often abbriviated as an initial, and "Gavaskar" is the last or family name. Traditionally, women take up the husband's name as their middle name and also adopt the husband's family name.