Indian family name
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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 Landowner 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:
- Sikhs as a community have adopted Singh(meaning Lion) as a suffix to their names and that is often used just as any other last name would be. The surname Singh predates the Sikh faith. Sikh Women use Kaur(meaning Princess) as their last names. (The name "Singh" predates the Sikh faith and is still a common one for upper caste Kshatriyas—both as "Singh" or the suffix "-sinh" as part of their given or family names. It is the same word that is in the name of Singapore, the country.)
- Jains often use the last name Jain. As for "Singh", this is also a surname also used by other Hindus especially upper caste Thakurs (Kshatriyas) or Rajputs.
- 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.
- If you go deep into Surnames there is also a link between certain surnames though virtually totally different. For example: Awasthi, Shukla & Vajpayee appear way different, but in reality they are distant cousins under Hindu Brahmins with Upmanyu Gotra.
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".
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Indian naming system
The naming system in India changes depending on which region you live in. The naming convention in southern India is very different from the that of northern india. It also depends on one's religion and one's caste, which makes it almost impossible for non-natives to understand it.
Typically a Hindu name will have a "given" first name like Vineet, a middle name which is usually the father's name for eg. Gopal and a last name or the family name like Kulkarni. A southern Indian on the other hand will use only the first name along with his caste/village prefixed.
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.
Many children are named with 2 names: first name and last name. First name is often unique and last name is usually the family name. Naming with 4 names is usually uncommon.As is naming with single unique names, which is quite unheard off.
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 Initial 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)
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.
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."
Another thing to be kept in mind is that nick names or shortened names are only used by close friends and elder relatives.
See also:
External link
- Discussion on Indian last names (http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Bridge/1771/Desh/nms.html)
- List of Indian Surnames (http://www.gaminggeeks.org/Resources/KateMonk/India/Hindu-Names/Surnames.htm)