Indian surnames starting with C and their meanings
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Time to read 2 min
Naming matters is a series of explorations that looks at the stories and meanings behind popular Indian names and surnames. Every episode will dig into a fresh batch and give us something to chew on. In this third installment, we kick things off with popular Indian surnames that begin with the letter C.
| Surname | Meaning |
| Chacko | Indian name derived from a pet form of the Hebrew personal name ya‘aqobh (see Jacob), used as a given name among Christians in Kerala (southern India) and in the U.S. as a last name among families from Kerala. Jewish: possibly an altered form of Slovak Cacko or Ukrainian Chacka, a nickname from Czech cacka ‘toy’, ‘plaything’, Ukrainian tsyatska |
| Chakraborty / Chakravarthy | Sanskrit čakravartī literally means ‘wheels rolling’ (čakra ‘wheel’ + vart ‘to roll or turn’); metaphorically, it describes a ruler whose chariot wheels roll everywhere without obstruction. Chakraborty is a surname meaning ′Ruler of the country′ or ′Emperor′ of Bengali and Assamese people in the Indian states of West Bengal, Assam and Tripura and in Bangladesh. It is spelled in various ways, including Chakraborti, Chokroborti, Chakrabarti, Chakrabarty, Chakravarty, Chakravarthy, Chakravarti, Chakravarthi, Chakravorti, and Chakravorty. |
| Chandak | From Sanskrit, means Moonlight |
| Chatterjee / Chattopadhyay | Chatterjee/Chatarjee (sometimes Chatterji or Chatterjea or chatarjee) is an Indian family name of the Bengali Brahmin caste. It is a variant of Chattopadhyay, (compound of village name "Chaṭṭa" and "upādhyāya" denoting "priest, teacher" originally granted with the village named Chaṭṭa) and is the Sanskritized form of the local Prakrit word "chaturjye", anglicized to Chatterjee. Upadhyays from Chattol area of gangetic Bengals were popularly known as Chattopadhyay or Chatterjee. |
| Chaturvedi / Chaubey / Choubey | Chaturvedi also known as Choubey or Chaubey is a title of Brahmin caste found in northern India. The name literally means "[Knower] of four Vedas". |
| Chaurasia / Chaurasiya | The Barai are a Hindu caste found in the state of Uttar Pradesh in India. They are also known as Chaurasia, and are a sub-group within the larger Tamboli community of South Asia. The Barai derive their name from the Sanskrit word vritti which means a maintainer. According to other traditions, they get their name from the word bari, which means a hedge or enclosure. Both these names allude to the fact that they are a community of horticulturists that grows and sells the betel leaf. The Barai are further divided into a number of clans, the main ones being the Chaurasia, Katiyar, Jaiswar and Nag |
| Cheema | A sub-clan of the Jutt clan found in India and Pakistan. Jutts are a large and important group of tribes in Punjab. Cheemas are one of the few major sub-clans of Jutts. They speak Punjabi, and usually own vast farmlands. Majority of people of Cheema clan who are Muslims are found in West Punjab (Pakistan), and many who are Sikhs are found in East Punjab (India). |
| Choksi | A most interesting Indian, Hindu (Vania), Jain, and Parsi name that comes from Gujarati the word coksi, meaning ‘jeweler’, ‘assayer of gold and silver’, and from coks ‘precise’, ‘circumspect’, a compound of co- ‘four’, ‘four-way’, ‘all-round’ (Sanskrit catus- ‘four’) + k’s ‘assaying’ (Sanskrit ka’sa ‘rubbing’, ‘touchstone’). |
| Chaudhari / Chaudhary / Choudhary / Choudhury / Chowdhary / Chowdhury |
"Chowdhury" is a term in Indo-Aryan languages, literally meaning "holder of four" in Sanskrit, from čatus (four) and dhuriya (burden of responsibility). The name is an ancient Sanskrit term denoting the head of a community or caste. These people generally belong to Brahmin and Kshatriya castes. They are landlords, 'Zamindars', 'Tehsildars' before the British Rule started in India. In India, this title is mainly used by privileged Brahmins, Ahirs, Gujjars, Jats, and Kammas. Similar lordships existed in other parts of the Eastern world, including in the Ottoman Empire (Malik), and Persia (Arbab). |
