Brahmin Surnames List

In this article I will share Brahmin surnames list in India based on my ongoing research on Brahmins.

I have tried to make this list of Brahmin surnames as exhaustive as possible. If you have anything to add, please drop me an email.

Below is presented, by state/ geographic region detailed Hindu Brahmin surnames list.

Bengali Brahmin Surnames List

Bengali Brahmins are those who have origins in the West Bengal, Tripura, Bangladesh and parts of Jharkhand. A
A list of common Bengali Brahmin surnames is given below.

Bhattacharya
Chakraborty
Mukhopadhyay / Mukherjee
Bandyopadhyay / Banerjee
Chattopadhyay / Chatterjee
Gangopadhyay / Ganguly
Ghoshal
Thakur / Tagore
Lahiri
Bhaduri
Sanyal
Maitra
Bagchi
Patitunda
Kanjilal
Others Titles - Roy, Choudhury, Majumdar, Joardar

Assamese Brahmins list of Surnames

Assamese Brahmins^[12] are those who originate in Assam, Meghalaya, parts of northern Bangladesh and some parts of Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland. At one time, Kamarupa was an important seat of Hinduism and many Brahmin scholars were residents of Kamarupa.

Brahmon Sobha Guwahati is trying its best to preserve and promote Vedic Brahmin culture[13].

Baruah
Bez Baruah
Bujar Barua
Chandra Barua
Ram Barua
Prasad Barua
Gobinda Barua
Acharya / Acharjee
Bhattacharya / Bhattacharjee
Bhagavati
Bardalai
Gain
Goswami
Sharma
Siddhanta
Thakur
Pathak

Bihari Brahmin Surnames List (Bihar/ Mithila / Jharkhand)

At one time Bihari Brahmins were famous for their scholarship and erudition and Mithila^[14] produced one Vedic scholar after another starting from Yajnavalkya. Today except for a few exceptional scholar and Vedic experts, most Bihari Brahmins lack academic rigor and are more interested in rajasic and tamasic pursuits [15].

List of Bihari Brahmin surnames is given below.

Acharya
Mishra
Ojha/ Jha
Thakur
Pathak
Upadhyay
Choudhary
Shandilya
Rajhans
Kashyap
Jajware
Sharma
Chaturvedi

Nepali Brahmins List of Surnames

Neplai Brahmins are also known as Bahun. Apart from indigenous Brahmin population since ancient times, Nepali Brahmins also consist of Brahmins of UP origin (Banarasi), Bengali origin, Punjabi/ Rajasthani origin and Brahma-Kayastha of Bhutanese origin.^[16]

List of Nepali Brahmin surname is given below.

Acharya
Lamichhane
Rijal
Bastola
Bhurtel
Bhetwal
Gajurel
Chudal
Subedi

Uttar Pradesh / Uttarakhand / Other North Indian Brahmins Surname List

At one time North Indian Brahmins were famous for their scholarship and erudition and the central Gangetic basin was considered the seat of Vedic learning. Many of these Brahmins were famous for their learning, sophistication and range of knowledge. But things are really bad now - especially given the Dalit extremism and rising Islamic fundamnetalism in these regions.

Except for a handful of noted scholars especially in places like Varanasi, Allahabad - majority of these north Indian brahmins lack shastra knowledge and academic rigor. They eat vegetarian food and indluge in slogaeering like "Jai Shree Ram", "Namah Shivaya" or "Jai Parshuram" and writing against beef eating on Facebook.

Having said that, even today, UP and Uttarakand regularly churn out quite few Vedic scholars and Sanskrit experts.

Mishra
Dikshit
Dubey
Dwivedi
Tiwari
Trivedi
Chaubey
Chaturvedi
Pandey
Vajpayee
Bajpai
Pathak
Upadhyay
Ojha
Goswami
Parashara
Tiwari
Nirmal
Pandit
Bharadwaj
Shukla
Agnihotri
Siritiya
Tote
Pujari
Purohit
Nayapaul

Kashmiri Pandit Surname List

Kashmir has produced brilliant Brahmins^[17] like Abhinava Gupta, Kshemeraja and Kalhana in the past - but today Kahsmiri Pandits are an almost-dying species and they are simply fighting for their survival, having been massacred and driven out of their homeland by Muslims in Kashmir.[18]

Kaul
Bhat
Raina
Haksar
Tikoo
Mattoo
Dhar
Kak
Sapru
Sopori
Razdan
Kher
Bachloo
Bakshi
Draboo
Hangloo
Wanchoo

Orissa Brahmins Surnames List

List of Odisha Brahmin surnames are given below.

Samanta
Mishra
Acharya
Satapati
Pati
Upadhyay
Tiwari
Dash
Panda
Bishi
Vedi
Divedi
Trivedi
Chaturvedi
Dash Sharma
Dikshit
Debata
Nath
Sahu
Panigrahi
Mohapatra
Rath
Rath Sharma
Sarongi
Joshi
Pattojoshi
Purohit
Pujari
Devasharma
Padhi
Khuntia
Nanda

Gujarati Brahmins List of Surnames

Bhatta
Upadhyay
Vyasa

Maharashtrian / Karnataka Brahmins

To some extent Maharashtrian Brahmins ^[19] have somewhat managed to continue their Vedic heritage in unbroken traditions and this is really a very good thing. In places like Pune, one may still find quite a few Sanskrit scholars.

Deshmukh
Kulkarni
Deshpande
Fadnavis, Phadnis or Phadnavis
Desai
Patil
Joshi
Bhatta
Shastri
Rao
Sharma
Hedge
Garge
Varne
Shrirame
Padhye

Andhara Brahmins List of Surnames

Andhra Brahmins are those who reside primarily in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. They have produced eminent scholars like the great Sayanacharya, the commentator of the Rig Veda and the first person in recorded history to mention the speed of light, centuries before western science.[20]

Andhra Brahmins are of two types:

Niyogi
Vaidiki/Dravida

In general Andhra Brahmins identify themselves with gotra, and use suffixes like:

Sharma
Deekshitulu
Joshyula/ Josyula
Mishrula
Dwibhashyula
Bhagvatula
Shashtrula
Shastry/ Sastri/ Sastry
Upadhyayula
Suarashtrula
Bhattula
Saraswatula

Dravida Brahmins (Tamil / Karnataka/ Kerala)

Iyers and Iyengars are truly the only sect of Brahmis who have truly maintained their Brahmanical traditions to this day and in fact I would say that in modern day Hindusim, south Indian Brahmins are playing a much greater role than north Indians. Many south Indian Brahmins are fluent in Sanskit, highly educated in secular subjects as well and regularly follow their festivals and events.

The only problem is that many Iyers and Iyengers, especially from TN are vehemently anti-Hindi and anti-North Indian, and that is a worrisome matter.

Tamil Brahmins

Iyer / Aiyar
Iyengar

Kerala Brahmins

Namboothiri / Nampoorithiri
Moosathu
Unni
Kurukkal
Nambissan / Nambiassan/ Nambeeassan (also known as Puspakar Brahmins)[21][[Note 1]
Plappally
Potti

References

Ramakrishna Paramhamsa - http://www.ramakrishna.org/rmk.htm
Rabindranath Tagore - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabindranath_Tagore
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu - http://www.iskconbangalore.org/lord-chaitanya
Panchanan Tarkaratna - http://www.bdlinks.net/biography/Panchanan-Tarkaratna.php
Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ishwar_Chandra_Vidyasagar
Danger of Fascism: Buddhadeb Bhattacharya - http://www.cpim.org/states/danger-fascism-buddhadeb-bhattacharya
Mission Bengal Jihad - https://hinduexistence.org/2012/05/03/mission-bengal-jihad-mamata-to-convert-west-bengal-as-a-muslim-state-step-by-step/
CPI(M) leader slammed for participating in ‘beef’ event - http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/kolkata/cpim-leader-slammed-for-participating-in-beef-event/article7852855.ece
Bengali Hindu intellectuals please stop propagation of beef eating and cow slaughter - https://hinduexistence.org/2013/01/06/bengali-hindu-intellectuals-please-stop-propagation-of-beef-eating-and-cow-slaughter/
Changing Religious Demographics of West Bengal - http://www.thetinyman.in/2011/07/west-bengal-demographics-study.html
West Bengal Population - Extinction of Bengali Hindus - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gTUyDedMok
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assamese_Brahmins
Brahmon Sobha - https://www.facebook.com/brahmonsobha
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maithil_Brahmin
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bahun
http://www.shehjar.com/list/14/63/1.html
http://www.harekrsna.com/sun/features/01-10/features1602.htm
Islamic Terrorism and Genocide of Kashmiri Pandits - http://ikashmir.net/history/genocide.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deshastha_Brahmin
Speed of Light in Ancient India - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EW1ck0qnOk
Pushpaka Brahmin - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pushpaka_Brahmin