Indian Names

Indian Names posts walk through first names and surnames across the regions and religions of the subcontinent. Articles look at the Sanskrit-rooted names common in north India, the Tamil and Telugu naming conventions of the south where the village name often precedes the personal name, the patronymic system in Maharashtra, the very different Sikh tradition of Singh and Kaur as universal middle names, the Christian names common in Kerala and Goa and the use of caste-marker surnames in older generations and the slow shift away from them. There are also notes on Anglicised spellings used for international travel.