Indian family names are derived from several sources:

• 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. Upper caste Kshatriyas sometimes append a "singh" or "sinh" at the end of their first name.

• 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. In Maharashtra many family names are derived by attaching a "kar" to their place of origin. e.g. people whose last name is Gavaskar trace back their origin to the town of Gavas, The Tendulkars trace their origins to Tendol, Pawaskar to Pawas, and so on.

• Learning and Academics: Some Hindu families have names that reflect the academic achievements of their forefathers. e.g., Sastri - one who has studied the Sastras, 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 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 name, or adopting their patronyms as family names. In North India, many times the first name is split to generate a last name, like, "Arunkumar" is split into "Arun Kumar".

Contents

1 Indian naming system 1.1 Initial system 1.1.1 Men 1.1.1.1 Foreigner's misinterpretations 1.1.2 Women 2 External link

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. In many schools, the records are kept in the LastName-FirstName-MiddleName format.

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 Bengal, 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 Maharashtra, 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. In Maharashtra sometimes the newborn boy is named the same as his grandfather.

Initial system

This is mostly followed in South India. Adding an initial before the name is somewhat a social must. e.g., P. Chidambaram. In most schools, when a child joins, they automatically add the initials. The Intial is taken from the first letter of the first name of father's name. For example, in the name P. Chidambaram, P is taken from his father's first name Palaniyappan. In certain societies, a person without an initial (bastard) is looked down upon. An Initial is also a must to mention in government records. A Missing initial in certificates, bank transactions etc. is sometimes considered illegal and may cause inconvenience.

Family names are closely tied to the castes system followed in India. Caste is a kind of racial/ethnic concept used in India to separate poor and rich. Recently in some parts of India, traditional family names are abandoned and instead they use father's/husband's first name as family name. The Usage of father's/husband's first name as family name, eliminates ones caste identity.

These family 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" is also written as "Janaki Sridar" in legal documents.

Legal documents such as Passport will have the last name fully expanded, instead of initials. Other legal documents such as property deeds will have any of these name format with the mention of father’s /grandfather’s/husband’s name and/or village/town/city name.

Men

Men's names are usually prefixed with initials as mentioned before. But, however few men used to omit the initial but will add the father's name in the end. This won't, however, be a legal name and men won't change their naming system in official records such as government, schools, etc. For example, both P. Chidambaram and Chidambaram Palaniyappan are valid; however the latter form is not legally used. Omitting initial and suffixing father's first name is usually used to shorten the long names:

Father name: M. Gopal Krishnan

Name: G. Raja Ravi Varma

Shortened name: Raja Gopal ("Ravi Varma" is omitted)

Foreigner's misinterpretations

Foreigners, especially American magazines tended to expand Indian initials in an incorrect manner. For example, the name P. Chidambaram, tended to be expanded to Palaniyappan Chidambaram, which is incorrect, in the sense that it implies that the person's first name is "Palaniyappan," and the last name or the family name, "Chidambaram." As shown above, this is wrong, since the person's only name is "Chidambaram," with an initial of "P."

Women

For women, the system of initials is slightly different. Before marriage, a girl uses her father's initial, but after marriage, she uses her husband's initial. For example:

Father's name: M. Gopal Krishnan

Husband's name: K. Manohar Murthy

Name: Sudha Kalyani

Before marriage: G. Sudha Kalyani or Sudha Gopal (in shortened form)

After marriage: M. Sudha Kalyani or Sudha Manohar (in shortend form)

*Names in italics refer common usage system among women.

See also:

• List of Indian family names

External link

• Discussion on Indian last names (http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Bridge/1771/Desh/nms.html)