Telugu (; , ) is a

Dravidian language The Dravidian languages (or sometimes Dravidic) are a family of languages spoken by 250 million people, mainly in southern India, north-east Sri Lanka, and south-west Pakistan. Since the colonial era, there have been small but significant i ...

spoken predominantly in the Indian states of

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...

Telangana Telangana (; , ) is a States and union territories of India, state in India situated on the south-central stretch of the Indian subcontinent, Indian peninsula on the high Deccan Plateau. It is the List of states and union territories of India b ...

and

Yanam Yanam (Telugu: ''యానాం'') is a town located in the Yanam district in Puducherry. It has a population of 35,000 and is entirely surrounded by Andhra Pradesh. It was formerly a French colony for nearly 200 years, and, though united wi ...

district of

Puducherry Puducherry or Pondicherry may refer to: * Puducherry (union territory), a union territory of India ** Pondicherry, capital of the union territory of Puducherry ** Puducherry district, a district of the union territory of Puducherry ** Puducherry t ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India *Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language ** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode S ...

-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. This practice of placing family name first is also seen in Chinese, Koreans, Japanese and Hungarians.

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. 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. This practice of placing family name first is also seen in

Korean Korean may refer to: People and culture * Koreans, ethnic group originating in the Korean Peninsula * Korean cuisine * Korean culture * Korean language **Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Chosŏn'gŭl **Korean dialects and the Jeju language ** ...

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

and

Hungarians Hungarians, also known as Magyars ( ; hu, magyarok ), are a nation and ethnic group native to Hungary () and historical Hungarian lands who share a common culture, history, ancestry, and language. The Hungarian language belongs to the Urali ...

Personal names (Given names)

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 (), 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

{{reflist Indian names Telugu names Names by culture Telugu society Telugu language