Most common surnames in India
The top 100 family names, ranked by how many people carry them.
| Rank | Surname | Origin & meaning | People |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Devi | Indian (Sanskrit) · “goddess” | 70,362,192 |
| 2 | Singh | Indian (Sanskrit) · “lion” | 34,838,027 |
| 3 | Kumar | Indian (Sanskrit) · “prince, son” | 31,111,248 |
| 4 | Das | Indian (Sanskrit) · “servant (of God)” | 11,368,810 |
| 5 | Kaur | Indian (Punjabi) · “princess” | 9,480,229 |
| 6 | Ram | Indian (Sanskrit) · “from the deity Rama” | 7,228,601 |
| 7 | Yadav | Indian · “descendant of Yadu” | 6,993,402 |
| 8 | Kumari | Indian (Sanskrit) · “maiden, princess” | 6,615,155 |
| 9 | Lal | Indian · “beloved; red” | 5,669,679 |
| 10 | Bai | Chinese · “lady” | 5,339,803 |
| 11 | Khatun | Turkic/Persian · “lady, noblewoman” | 5,276,481 |
| 12 | Mandal | Indian | 5,168,020 |
| 13 | Ali | Arabic · “exalted” | 5,119,011 |
| 14 | Sharma | Indian (Sanskrit) · “protection, joy” | 5,025,045 |
| 15 | Ray | Indian | 4,740,466 |
| 16 | Mondal | Indian | 4,655,155 |
| 17 | Khan | Turkic/Mongolic · “ruler” | 4,569,403 |
| 18 | Sah | Indian | 4,551,188 |
| 19 | Patel | Indian (Gujarati) · “village headman” | 4,215,909 |
| 20 | Prasad | Indian (Sanskrit) · “divine offering” | 3,934,526 |
| 21 | Patil | — | 3,680,454 |
| 22 | Ghosh | — | 3,640,391 |
| 23 | Pal | — | 2,968,653 |
| 24 | Sahu | — | 2,841,127 |
| 25 | Gupta | — | 2,835,996 |
| 26 | Shaikh | — | 2,814,126 |
| 27 | Bibi | — | 2,770,989 |
| 28 | Sekh | — | 2,367,491 |
| 29 | Begam | — | 2,345,927 |
| 30 | Biswas | — | 2,256,464 |
| 31 | Sarkar | — | 2,247,125 |
| 32 | Paramar | — | 2,246,677 |
| 33 | Khatoon | — | 2,203,395 |
| 34 | Mahto | — | 2,174,470 |
| 35 | Ansari | — | 2,096,249 |
| 36 | Nayak | — | 2,078,522 |
| 37 | Ma | Korean · “horse” | 2,068,573 |
| 38 | Rathod | — | 2,054,799 |
| 39 | Jadhav | — | 2,054,727 |
| 40 | Mahato | — | 2,003,812 |
| 41 | Rani | — | 1,998,518 |
| 42 | Barman | — | 1,961,488 |
| 43 | Behera | — | 1,948,478 |
| 44 | Mishra | — | 1,917,079 |
| 45 | Chand | — | 1,915,664 |
| 46 | Roy | French · “king” | 1,914,389 |
| 47 | Begum | — | 1,907,677 |
| 48 | Saha | — | 1,879,529 |
| 49 | Paswan | — | 1,843,568 |
| 50 | Thakur | — | 1,815,968 |
| 51 | Thakor | — | 1,646,907 |
| 52 | Ahamad | — | 1,626,496 |
| 53 | Chauhan | — | 1,592,333 |
| 54 | Pawar | — | 1,578,907 |
| 55 | Majhi | — | 1,571,251 |
| 56 | Bano | — | 1,563,848 |
| 57 | Naik | — | 1,535,390 |
| 58 | Pradhan | — | 1,493,792 |
| 59 | Alam | — | 1,398,760 |
| 60 | Shinde | — | 1,350,189 |
| 61 | Malik | — | 1,334,790 |
| 62 | Sardar | — | 1,251,202 |
| 63 | Nath | — | 1,221,582 |
| 64 | Raut | — | 1,201,391 |
| 65 | Bauri | — | 1,146,373 |
| 66 | Shaik | — | 1,117,587 |
| 67 | Chandra | — | 1,117,494 |
| 68 | Patra | — | 1,114,838 |
| 69 | Jha | — | 1,112,929 |
| 70 | Murmu | — | 1,099,561 |
| 71 | Solanki | — | 1,081,015 |
| 72 | Cauhan | — | 1,043,183 |
| 73 | Shah | — | 1,039,805 |
| 74 | Prakash | — | 1,036,854 |
| 75 | Sinh | — | 1,025,018 |
| 76 | Pandey | — | 1,021,399 |
| 77 | Patal | — | 1,002,362 |
| 78 | Munda | — | 996,606 |
| 79 | Dutta | — | 993,827 |
| 80 | Chaudhari | — | 973,422 |
| 81 | Raj | — | 965,682 |
| 82 | Pandit | — | 965,309 |
| 83 | Jain | — | 944,114 |
| 84 | Kamble | — | 941,078 |
| 85 | Manjhi | — | 938,578 |
| 86 | Rana | — | 935,595 |
| 87 | Molla | — | 904,591 |
| 88 | Chaudhary | — | 896,004 |
| 89 | Makavan | — | 890,167 |
| 90 | Jena | — | 890,023 |
| 91 | Chakraborty | — | 881,399 |
| 92 | Hussain | — | 869,396 |
| 93 | Pathan | — | 859,148 |
| 94 | Gayakwad | — | 817,151 |
| 95 | Nisha | — | 811,780 |
| 96 | Vasav | — | 793,673 |
| 97 | Debnath | — | 780,253 |
| 98 | Rai | — | 778,770 |
| 99 | More | — | 762,382 |
| 100 | Varma | — | 761,718 |
Source: Forebears (non-official). Rankings are updated when the publisher releases new data.
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