Readers' Forum
“Origin of surname”
In response to readers’ queries in the letter "Origin of surname” (Readers’ Forum, Parsiana, March 7, 2015) regarding the surnames Sukeshwala and Italia, I would like to state that the former comes from Sukesh village, Pardi taluka in the Valsad district of Gujarat and the latter from Itali village, Malia taluka of Junagadh district in Saurashtra. Many misconstrue that the name Italia comes from association with Italy in Europe.
I have compiled a list of Parsi Irani surnames, about 2,500 and counting, in alphabetical order as well as groupwise. To make things more interesting, I have included some facts about their origin. Surnames ending with "wala” could refer to either place of origin or trade. For example, Adenwala and Mombassawala were adopted from the places where they lived. Similarly, those ending with "gar” or "gara” could be a maker of something or a resident of a place.
Parsi surnames generally come from trades or professions, places, positions, titles, descriptions, religious terms or family genealogy. Some have adopted European names, while many Iranis use as their surnames the names of their places of origin.
Some interesting names are Chichgar (makers of special wooden toys); Paajnigara (makers of fine silk cloth); Rao (a title of honor). Dokawala was originally Dokawadiwala, named after a maidan near the Goti Adarian in Surat. The maidan was known as Dokawadi because during a battle there between the Marathas and the Moguls many had had been beheaded. Panday is a learned person, with roots in Pandit in Sanskrit.
Much more information is available from the following links: http://parsiiranisurnames.tripod.com and http://zoroastrians.net/2008/02/23/parsi-irani-surnames BURJOR DABOO
burkhurdar@gmail.com
I have compiled a list of Parsi Irani surnames, about 2,500 and counting, in alphabetical order as well as groupwise. To make things more interesting, I have included some facts about their origin. Surnames ending with "wala” could refer to either place of origin or trade. For example, Adenwala and Mombassawala were adopted from the places where they lived. Similarly, those ending with "gar” or "gara” could be a maker of something or a resident of a place.
Parsi surnames generally come from trades or professions, places, positions, titles, descriptions, religious terms or family genealogy. Some have adopted European names, while many Iranis use as their surnames the names of their places of origin.
Some interesting names are Chichgar (makers of special wooden toys); Paajnigara (makers of fine silk cloth); Rao (a title of honor). Dokawala was originally Dokawadiwala, named after a maidan near the Goti Adarian in Surat. The maidan was known as Dokawadi because during a battle there between the Marathas and the Moguls many had had been beheaded. Panday is a learned person, with roots in Pandit in Sanskrit.
Much more information is available from the following links: http://parsiiranisurnames.tripod.com and http://zoroastrians.net/2008/02/23/parsi-irani-surnames BURJOR DABOO
burkhurdar@gmail.com
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