Telugu names

Telugu (/ˈtɛlʊɡuː/;[1] తెలుగు, Telugu pronunciation: [ˈteluɡu]) is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly in the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Yanam district of Puducherry, India. Telugu-speaking people have a different naming style from rest of India which can be confusing. The family name is a genitive case, hence stands first, which followed by personal name.[2] This practice of placing family name first is also seen in Chinese, Koreans, Japanese and Hungarians.[3]

Introduction

The "Family name (surname), Given name" format used by Telugu speakers is contrasted from North India and western countries, where family name typically appears last or the other parts of South India where family names are little used. This might cause confusion to varying degree within India and rest of the world.[4]

Occasionally, caste name is also suffixed at the end. For example, Katta Bomma Naicker, where Katta is the family name, Bomma is the given name and Naicker is the caste name.[5]

This practice of placing family name first is also seen in Korean , Japanese[6] Chinese and Hungarians.[3]

Personal names (Given names)

Telugu speakers are often named after Hindu gods or goddesses or having some cultural significance. Many times the given names are compound words and followed by a caste suffix like Naidu, Shastry, Sharma, Rao, Choudhary, Raju, Varma, Reddy, Yadav, Goud, Setty, and Gupta. When the given name is a compound word e.g. Venkata Satyanarayana Naidu, the last word before the caste suffix (i.e. Satyanarayana ) is generally used by the callers.

Family names

Nearly all Telugus possess family name called Inti peru (lit. 'House name'), which are the most unique of all the linguistic groups in India.

Telugu family names are sometimes named after a place or occupation or some historic event in family. For example, Pasupaleti after Pasupaleru, Kondaveeti after Kondaveedu, Kandukuri is named after Kandukur, or such as the ones ending in wada, palli (village), veedhi (street) or giri (hill), Vungrala which means the person with rings or the maker of rings, Gurram which means trading in horses, Kasu mean coin may mean jeweler etc. Unlike western names, where family name is well known over personal name, it is contrary among the Telugu speaking states, where person is well known by given name, without ever hearing their family name.

Telugu family names are often abbreviated and written, e.g., P. V. Narasimha Rao, etc. unlike the western names where given name is often abbreviated.

References
  1. Laurie Bauer, 2007, The Linguistics Student’s Handbook, Edinburgh
  2. S., Rajeswari (June 2016). "The realization of address terms in Telugu in Andhra Pradesh" (PDF). International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research and Development. International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research and Development; Volume 3; Issue 6. 3 (6): 122–125. ISSN 2349-4182.
  3. Brown, Charles Philip (1857). A Grammar of the Telugu Language. printed at the Christian Knowledge Society's Press. p. 209.
  4. Telugu Personal Names. Central Intelligence Agency. 1964. p. 5.
  5. Bamshad, M; et al. (Jun 2001). "Origins of Indian Caste Populations". Genome Research. 11 (6): 994–1004. doi:10.1101/gr.gr-1733rr. PMC 311057. PMID 11381027.
  6. "Japan to switch order of names in victory for tradition". Reuters.
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