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

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Bengali Brahmins are those who have origins in the West Bengal, Tripura, Bangladesh and parts of Jharkhand. At one time, Bengali Brahmins were famous for their scholarship, erudition and nationalism and produced the likes of Shri Shri Ramakirshna^[1], Rabindranath Thakur^[2], Chaitanya Mahaprabhu^[3], Raghunandan Bhattacharya, Panchanan Tarkaratna^[4], Ishwarchandra Vidyasagar^[5] etc. 

Today however majority Bengali Brahmins are not aware of Hindu customs, let alone Brahmin customs. For example

• Ex-CM of West Bengal openly denigrated Hinduism. [6]
• Current CM offers Muslim prayers/ Namaz, and indulges in massive Muslim appeasement at the cost of native Hindu culture. [7]
• Ex-mayor Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya openly eats beef. [8]
• Many so-called Bengali Brahmins eat beef and pork. [9]

It is not a good situation, as even demographics is against Bengali Hindus, and in all likelihood Bengali Hindus will become a minority by 2050, and extinct by end of this century. [10] [11]

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

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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)

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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• Bhatta
• Upadhyay
• Vyasa

Maharashtrian / Karnataka Brahmins

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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

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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)

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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

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1. Ramakrishna Paramhamsa - http://www.ramakrishna.org/rmk.htm
2. Rabindranath Tagore - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabindranath_Tagore
3. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu - http://www.iskconbangalore.org/lord-chaitanya
4. Panchanan Tarkaratna - http://www.bdlinks.net/biography/Panchanan-Tarkaratna.php
5. Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ishwar_Chandra_Vidyasagar
6. Danger of Fascism: Buddhadeb Bhattacharya - http://www.cpim.org/states/danger-fascism-buddhadeb-bhattacharya
7. Mission Bengal Jihad - https://hinduexistence.org/2012/05/03/mission-bengal-jihad-mamata-to-convert-west-bengal-as-a-muslim-state-step-by-step/
8. 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
9. 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/
10. Changing Religious Demographics of West Bengal - http://www.thetinyman.in/2011/07/west-bengal-demographics-study.html
11. West Bengal Population - Extinction of Bengali Hindus - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gTUyDedMok
12. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assamese_Brahmins
13. Brahmon Sobha - https://www.facebook.com/brahmonsobha
14. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maithil_Brahmin
15. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bahun
16. http://www.shehjar.com/list/14/63/1.html
17. http://www.harekrsna.com/sun/features/01-10/features1602.htm
18. Islamic Terrorism and Genocide of Kashmiri Pandits - http://ikashmir.net/history/genocide.html
19. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deshastha_Brahmin
20. Speed of Light in Ancient India - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EW1ck0qnOk
21. Pushpaka Brahmin - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pushpaka_Brahmin

Note

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1. Some opine, that "Nambissan" are not Brahmins as they cannot enter the sanctum sanctorum of the temple. Nambissan, Varrier in Kerala and the Staanika in Karnataka are same. These people are very close to the Brahmin community as they make garlands for the deities, wash utensils of the Nivedyam made for Deities and other duties to help the main priest in temples.