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 and many parts of Kerala.
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 sometimes as a part 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 surnames.nadu 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, as well as Neon and Iodine.
Names by state
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, Inkollu, 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, K agodu B airappa 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 Ch
INDIAN BABY NAMES, Boy and Girl Baby Names With Sanskrit Meanings
HUGE Collection - 17,347 Names - Ebook - Ultimate Collection of Indian Baby Names, Popular, Rare Sanskrit names, Hindu baby names, 2 Free Ebooks with 5000+ indian baby names
Indian Baby Names
Find exotic Indian names for babies with the meaning of their name. Modern and traditional Hindu Baby names with meaning ! BOYS NAMES - Indian baby boy name
Beautiful Hindu Baby Names
Hindu Baby Names; Hindu Boy Names ; Hindu Girl Names ; Your Favourite Name List ... The Ultimate Collection of Hindu Baby Names
Hindu Baby Name Meanings - Boy & Girl Names
Search for Hindu baby names. Find meanings for Hindu baby girl and baby boy names and PregnancyAndBaby.com
Baby Boy Names N
A boy or girl's name. Nimai: Hindu: name of Lord Krishna: Nimbus: Latin: rain cloud, halo ... Baby Boy Names - B. Baby Boy Names - C. Baby Boy Names - D. Baby Boy Names - E
Hindu / Indian Baby Boy Names – D
Here’s a selection of Hindu / Indian baby names for boys beginning with “D”.
Hindu Baby Boy Names - Hindu Boy Name List - Hindu Baby Boys Names ...
Here is a list of Hindu Baby Boy Names along with their meanings.
Baby Boy Names A
Baby Boy Names A - good baby boy names beginning with A ... A boy or girl's name. Avinash: Hindu: Aviv: Hebrew: Of the springtime. Avner: Hebrew
Hindu / Indian Baby Boy Names – V
Here’s a selection of Hindu / Indian baby names for boys beginning with “V”.
Hindu baby boy names | Hindu boys names meaning
Hindu baby boy names - Large list of Hindu Boy names with meaning, Male name meanings