Indian Names

Indian or Hindu names are used in India. The complete name usually consists of a given name and zero, one, or multiple secondary names. The secondary name could be a surname, a patronym, the caste, the occupation, or the village. The order of these names varies within India.

In southern India, Tamil names traditionally include the family's place of origin, the father's name, and given names, sometimes punctuated with the caste name (now less common). Often in writing, the place of origin and/or the patronym are initialized. For example, Aiyalam Parameswaran Balachandran has a given name of Balachandran, his father's name was Parameswaran, and his family is from the village of Aiyalam. His name may be written A. P. Balachandran. Kannada names and Malayalam names are similar to Tamil names. Telugu names are usually one or more surnames followed by one or more given names. Southern Indians may sometimes write the given names before the surnames, especially on legal documents.

In much of the north (for example among Assamese, Bengali and Punjabi speakers), the full name typically consists of one or two given names followed by a surname. In writing, the two given names may be combined, for example Satishchandra. Gujarati and Marathi names might be a given name, father's name, and surname. When a woman marries, the father's name is replaced by that of her husband.

Hindu given names often originate from Sanskrit, the ancient Indo-European language of India. The texts of Hinduism are an important source, providing, for example, Krishna and Rama for males, and Lakshmi and Sita for females. Sanskrit-origin vocabulary words are also used as names, such as Gita "song" and Anand "happiness".

Muslim given names can derive from Arabic or Persian. For centuries northern India had Muslim rulers. See Arabic names and Persian names for more information.

Sikh given names tend to derive from Sanskrit, though in most cases they are distinct from Hindu names.

Surnames usually originate from the local language. Typically they derive from either a profession or the family's place of origin. Some surnames indicate the caste.

Most Sikh men have a surname of Singh (meaning "lion"), while most women have a surname of Kaur (meaning "princess"). This was instituted by the guru Gobind Singh (1666-1708), who wished to diminish the power of the caste system. In some cases Singh or Kaur is the middle name, and it is followed by a family name.

List of Indian names and meanings
List of Hinduism names and meanings