Sikhism

History

This Indian religion was founded in the C15th by Guru Nanak to combine elements of Hinduism and Islam. It uses the ideas of karma and rebirth but not the caste system and shares some of the mystical ideas of the Sufi Muslims and devotional aspects of Hindu Bhakti movement. Martial aspects of religion are strongly emphasised, combining the Hindu warrior caste, 'Ksaytriya', and the Islamic 'jihad' or Holy War.

Sikhism is the main religion of the Punjab ('five rivers') area in North-West India which was semi-independent from the British Raj until the Sikh Wars of the Victorian period. There is currently a movement to have the Punjab declared independent again and Sikh extremists have been involved in several assassinations of leading political figures in India, including Indira Gandhi. Many ordinary Sikhs would probably also prefer it to be an independant nation, but few seem to feel as strongly about it although support has increased steadily over the last twenty-five years. The name chosen for the independent Punjabi nation would probably be 'Khalistan', derived from the word 'Khalsa', meaning pure, which can be a religious title, a reference to God and a rather rare last name. It was also the name given to the Sikh army which fought against the British in the C19th.

Sikh Names

Most Sikhs have three names: a personal name, a name to show Sikh identity (Singh, 'lion' for a male) and a clan or subsect name. Women often just use Kaur (female) as a third name but can also use 'Singh' as many families have taken this as a surname. Compound names are common, especially those ending in 'inder' (from the Vedic god of battle, Indra) which can be male or female, and beginning with bal- (Sanskrit 'bala', strength). The Name of God is stressed as in Islam and priests are often consulted about naming children. The Granth, a compilation of teachings of the first five gurus, and the holy book of Sikhism, is opened and the name begins with the first syllable on the page. Men are often addressed as 'Sardarji' (abbreviated S.) which is an honorific similar the English 'Mister' (abbreviated Mr.).

Many Sikh names are the same as, or similar to, Hindu ones. For example, Guru Nanak Dev Ji, the founder of Sikhism, has two Hindu names (Nanak, Dev) and 'Ji', an optional suffix to show respect which is sometimes used as the end of a last name (Devji or Deviji).

Most Punjabi names can be used for males or females and women sometimes take their husband's name as a middle or last name. This means that women sometimes have names meanings warrior, brother or strength which are more traditionally male. English spellings for these names can vary as Hindi and Punjabi use written accent marks to define pronunciation and not everyone follows the same system when converting from one language to another. For instance, the name Avinash ('indestructible'), a modernization of Abnash, also occurs as Avinasa, Abinash and Abhinash.

Name Elements

Most elements can occur as a suffix or prefix but some are more likely to be one than the other. For instance, -pal, -want and -jit/jeet are far more common as suffixes.

akal - eternal	aman - peace	amar - immortal	amrit - lord's nectar
anand - bliss	anoop - beauty	avtar - incarnation of god	bahadar - hero
bakhsheesh - blessed	bal - mighty	bhagat - devotee	bir - brave/fight
charan - guru's lotus feet	dal - soldier	darshan - vision	das - slave
deep - lamp	dev - god	dhann - blessed	dharam - righteous
dhiaan - contemplation	dit - given	fateh - victory	gagan - sky
gat - freedom	gharch - home within	giaan - divine knowledge	gun - excellence
gur - guru	har - god's	ik - oneness	jag - world/ocean
jai - victorious	jap - remembrance	jas - praises/glories	jeet - victory
jodh - warrior	jot - light	karam - god's grace	keerat - praises
khalsa - pure	kirpal - kind	kul - family	lakh - hundred thousand
leen - imbued	liv - absorbed	man - fortunate?	man - heart?
Meet - friend	mohan - beautiful	nar - person	nav - new
neet - always	nir - flawless?	noor - divine light	onkar - primal being
pal - protector	param - highest	pat - respectable	prabh - god
preet - love	prem - love	raj - king	ram - god
ran - battle	ras - elixir	ratan - diamond	roop - embodiment
sach - truth	saihaj - peaceful	sarab all	sharan - guru's shelter
sher - lion	simar - remembrance of god	sobha - virtuous	sukh - peace
sundar - beautiful	sur - godly	talib - seeker of truth	taran - saviour
tegh - wielding the sword	tek - support	thakur - master	udai - rising
ujjal - holy person	up - exalted	uttam - exalted	veer - brave

Male/Female

Abnash	Abrik	Agamjot	Agampreet	Ajaib	Ajaipal
Ajeet	Ajit	Ajitpal	Ajmer	Akal	Akal Keerat
Akalbir	Akaldeep	Akaljot	Akalnivas	Akalpreet	Akalroop
Akalsharan	Akalsimar	Akalsukh	Akas	Albel	Aman
Amanbir	Amandeep	Amandev	Amandip	Amanjeet	Amanjeevan
Amanjot	Amanpal	Amanpreet	Amanroop	Amanvir	Amar
Amardeep	Amardev	Amarjeet	Amarjit	Amarjot	Amarleen
Amarpreet	Amberjit	Amit	Amrik	Amrindar	Amrit
Amritbaan	Amritleen	Amritpal	Amritvaani	Anaad	Anadjot
Anand	Anandjot	Anandleen	Anandroop	Anant	Anantarjot
Anantbir	Anantdev	Aneel	Anokh	Anoop	Anoopbir
Anoopjot	Anooplok	Antarjot	Antarpreet	Anurag	Aqubal
Arshbir	Arvinder	Arvinderjeet	Arvinderjit	Aseem	Asha
Atamjeet	Atamjit	Atamveer	Attamjeet	Attamjit	Avinash
Avinash	Avtar	Bachan	Bachanbinajit	Bachittar	Bahadar
Bahadur	Bakhsheesh	Bakhshish	Bakhtawer	Bakshi	Bakshish
Baksish	Balan	Balbir	Baldev	Balinderjit	Baljeet
Baljinder	Baljit	Balkar	Balraj	Baltej	Balvan
Balveer	Balvinder	Balwant	Balwinder	Barinder	Barjinder
Beant	Beena	Bhagat	Bhagatveer	Bhagwant	Bhajan
Bhavender	Bhavjeet	Bhupindar	Bhupindarpal	Bhupinder	Bhupinderpal
Bikramjit	Bina	Bir	Birindar	Birinder	Bobby
Brahmdev	Brahmjot	Brahmleen	Brahmvir	Brijdev	Buksis
Burpinder	Chaman	Chamkaur	Chanandeep	Chanandip	Chananjeet
Chananjit	Chandan	Chanden	Chann	Channan	Charan
Charandeep	Charandev	Charandip	Charanjeet	Charanjit	Charanjot
Charanpal	Charanpreet	Charat	Chitleen	Dalbir	Dale
Dalip	Daljeet	Daljit	Dara	Darshan	Darshanbir
Darshi	Darvesh	Dasonda	Daulat	Dave	Davinder
Davinderjeet	Davinderjit	Davinderpal	Dayal	Deenpal	Deep
Deepinder	Dev	Devindar	Dhann	Dhanna	Dhanvant
Dhanwant	Dharam	Dharamjot	Dharamleen	Dharampal	Dharamveer
Dhiaan	Dibagh	Didar	Dilbaag	Dilbah	Dilmohan
Dimple	Dugga	Esharveer	Fakeer	Fakir	Faquir
Fateh	Fatehpal	Gagandeep	Gaganjot	Gatleen	Gatnam
Gatsharan	Gharcheen	Gharchet	Ghasita	Giaan	Giaandeep
Giaanleen	Giaanpreet	Giaanroop	Giaanveer	Gian	Gobind
Gopal	Grumk	Gulwant	Gulzara	Gunbir	Gundeep
Gunkar	Gunpreet	Guntas	Gurbachan	Gurbakhsh	Gurbaksh
Gurbans	Gurbax	Gurbir	Gurchandip	Gurcharan	Gurcharandeep
Gurcharanjeet	Gurcharanjit	Gurcharanpal	Gurchet	Gurdas	Gurdave
Gurdaya	Gurdeep	Gurdev	Gurdial	Gurdip	Gurditta
Gurgian	Gurinder	Gurjeet	Gurjeevan	Gurjinder	Gurjit
Gurkeerat	Gurkiran	Gurleen	Gurmail	Gurmeet	Gurmit
Gurmukh	Gurnam	Gurnek	Gurpal	Gurpratap	Gurpreet
Gursev	Gursewak	Gurshaman	Gurshant	Gursharan	Gursukh
Gurtaran	Gurveer	Gyan	Gyani	Hank	Hanspreet
Harbans	Harbel	Harbhajan	Harbir	Harbux	Harchanan
Harchandh	Harcharan	Hardas	Hardeep	Hardev	Hardhian
Hardial	Hardit	Hargun	Hari	Harinder	Harinderpal
Harjap	Harjas	Harjeevan	Harjinder	Harjit	Harjodh
Harjot	Harkeerat	Harkiran	Harkirat	Harleen	Harmail
Harmandar	Harmeet	Harminder	Harmohinder	Harmohinderjeet	Harmohinderjit
Harmonhinderpal	Harnail	Harnam	Harnek	Harpal	Harpartap
Harpratap	Harpreet	Harsajjan	Harsha	Harsharan	Harsimran
Harsukh	Harvinder	Harvinderpal	Harwinder	Hazara	Heera
Himmat	Ikhtiar	Ikjot	Ikroop	Inderjit	Indermohan
Inderpal	Indirjeet	Indirjot	Indirpreet	Indirveer	Iqbal
Jagbir	Jagdeep	Jagdesh	Jagdev	Jagdip	Jagir
Jagjeet	Jagjit	Jagjodh	Jagmohan	Jagraj	Jagrup
Jagtar	Jai	Jaila	Jaipal	Jaipreet	Jang
Jangjeet	Japbir	Japjot	Japleen	Jarnail	Jasbinder
Jasbir	Jasdave	Jasdeep	Jasdev	Jashmer	Jasjit
Jaskaran	Jaskeerat	Jaskirat	Jasleen	Jasmin	Jasminder
Jasnam	Jaspal	Jaspreet	Jasveer	Jasvinder	Jaswant
Jaswinder	Jatinder	Jatinderpal	Jatinderpreet	Jawala	Jeet
Jeevan	Jit	Jodh	Jodha	Joga	Jogindar
Joginder	Jujhar	Kala	Kalwindar	Kalwinder	Kamal
Kamaldeep	Kamaldip	Kamaljeet	Kamaljit	Kamaljot	Kamalpal
Kamalpreet	Kanwal	Kanwalnain	Karam	Karamdeep	Karamjot
Karampal	Karampreet	Karan	Karanjit	Karma	Karnail
Kartar	Kashmir	Kashmiri	Kawaljeet	Kawaljit	Keerat
Kewal	Khalsa	Kharak	Khushpreet	Khushwant	Kieran
Kierat	Kiran	Kirat	Kirin	Kirpal	Kirpan
Kishan	Krishna	Krishnamoorthy	Kulbir	Kuldeep	Kuldev
Kuldip	Kuljeet	Kuljit	Kultaran	Kulvinder	Kulwant
Kundan	Kuranpreet	Lachan	Lakhbir	Lakshman	Lakshmani
Lakviar	Laxman	Livdeep	Livjot	Livleen	Livpreet
Livroop	Livsharan	Livtar	Madan	Madanjeet	Madanjit
Madankirpal	Madanpal	Mahaan	Mahindar	Mahtab	Major
Makhan	Mandeep	Mandhir	Mandip	Mangal	Maninder
Maninderjeet	Maninderjit	Maninderpal	Manjit	Manmohan	Manohar
Mansukh	Mantosh	Manvinder	Maskeen	Mastaan	Mastveer
Mehnga	Mithal	Mohal	Mohan	Mohanbir	Mohandayal
Mohandyal	Mohinder	Mohinderpal	Mohinderpartap	Mohinderpratap	Mukhtair
Nageena	Naginder	Naginderjeet	Naginderjit	Naginderpal	Namdev
Namgeet	Namjas	Namjeev	Namjot	Namleen	Nampreet
Namroop	Nanak	Narain	Naranjan	Narbir	Nardev
Narindar	Narinder	Narinderjeet	Narinderjit	Narinderpal	Narottam
Narveer	Nasib	Navbir	Navdeep	Navdip	Naveen
Navjeet	Navjeev	Navjot	Navneet	Neera	Nihal
Nirban	Nirmal	Nirman	Nirmla	Nirvair	Nitnam
Noor	Omaha	Onkar	Pal	Palvinderjit	Palwinder
Panjab	Parambir	Paramdeep	Paramdesh	Paramdev	Paramgeet
Paramjit	Paramjog	Paramjot	Paramleen	Parampal	Parampreet
Paramveer	Parbeen	Pardaman	Pardeep	Pardip	Parduman
Paremjit	Pargat	Parmindar	Parminder	Parmjit	Parsan
Partap	Parvinder	Parwinder	Patveer	Patwant	Paul
Pavitar	Phoola	Piara	Pinki	Pooran	Prabhbir
Prabhdeep	Prabhgun	Prabhjeet	Prabhjit	Prabhjot	Prabhleen
Prabhnoor	Prabhroop	Pradeep	Pradip	Prakash	Prambir
Pramodh	Pratap	Pravinder	Preet	Preetamjot	Preeti
Prem	Premdeep	Premjeet	Premjot	Premleen	Prempal
Prit	Pritam	Prithipal	Pritinder	Pritmohan	Pritpal
Puneet	Racchpal	Raghbir	Raghuvenderpal	Raghuvinder	Raghuvinderjeet
Raghuvinderjit	Rahul	Raj	Rajbir	Rajdeep	Rajeshwar
Rajeswar	Rajindar	Rajinder	Rajinderjeet	Rajinderjit	Rajinderpal
Rajpal	Rajveer	Rajwant	Rajwinder	Ram	Ramandeep
Rambir	Ramdas	Ramdeep	Ramgeet	Ramindar	Ramjeet
Ramjot	Ramkrishnan	Ramleen	Ramneek	Rampreet	Rana
Ranbir	Randeep	Randhir	Ranga	Rangjot	Rangleen
Rangpreet	Ranjeet	Ranjit	Ranjodh	Ranjot	Ranveer
Rasbir	Rasdeep	Rasgun	Rasgur	Rashpal	Rasjeevan
Rasjog	Rasleen	Rasnam	Ratan	Ratanbir	Ratandeep
Ratangeet	Ratanjot	Ratanpreet	Ratinder	Raushan	Ravi
Ravindar	Ravinder	Ravinderjeet	Ravinderjit	Ravindernath	Ravinderpal
Resham	Ripudaman	Romesh	Roopindar	Roopjot	Rupinder
Sachdev	Sachdhian	Sachgian	Sachkeerat	Sachleen	Sachman
Sachpreet	Sachsev	Sachsukh	Sachveer	Sadhu	Saihaj
Saihajleen	Sajjan	Sampuran	Samrath	Samsher	Sandeep
Sangat	Sangram	Sant	Santa	Santokh	Sarabdeep
Sarabdev	Sarabjeet	Sarabjit	Sarabjot	Sarableen	Sarina
Sarjant	Saroj	Saroop	Sartaj	Sarwan	Satbachan
Satbir	Satgun	Satinder	Satinderpal	Satjeevan	Satkeerat
Satleen	Satnam	Satpal	Satparvan	Satpaul	Satpreet
Satsukh	Satveer	Satwant	Satwinder	Satyapal	Satyender
Savinder	Seetal	Semrarjit	Seva	Sewa	Sewak
Sewakaran	Shaan	Shabaddeep	Shabadpreet	Shabeg	Shah
Shaman	Shamsher	Shangara	Sharan	Sharanjeet	Sharon
Shawn	Sher	Sherbahadur	Shivcharan	Shivcharanjit	Sikander
Simar	Simardeep	Simarleen	Simran	Simranjit	Simranpreet
Simrarjit	Sobha	Sodhi	Sohan	Sonny	Subash
Subhash	Sujan	Sukhbir	Sukhbirpal	Sukhchain	Sukhcharan
Sukhcharanjit	Sukhdarshan	Sukhdeep	Sukhdev	Sukhindir	Sukhjeet
Sukhjeev	Sukhjinder	Sukhjit	Sukhjiwan	Sukhjodh	Sukhjot
Sukhleen	Sukhmeet	Sukhminder	Sukhnam	Sukhpal	Sukhpreet
Sukhraj	Sukhram	Sukhroop	Sukhshant	Sukhsharan	Sukhveer
Sukhvinder	Sukhwinder	Sulakhan	Sultan	Sumat	Sundar
Sundarjeet	Sundarveer	Sunieta	Sunil	Sunita	Suraj
Surajprakash	Surat	Surindar	Surinder	Surinderjeet	Surinderjit
Surinderpal	Surjeet	Surjit	Surjot	Surya	Sutantar
Swaraj	Swaran	Swaranjeet	Swaranjit	Swaranlal	Swaranpal
Swarn	Tajender	Takdeer	Takhat	Takhvinder	Talib
Talvir	Tara	Taran	Tarlochan	Tarsem	Taru
Tatleen	Teg	Tegbir	Tegh	Teijinder	Teijinderjeet
Teijinderjit	Tej	Teja	Tejbir	Tejindar	Tejinder
Tejinderjeet	Tejinderjit	Tejinderpreet	Tejpal	Tejpaul	Tekjot
Teknam	Tekroop	Thakur	Thakurjeet	Thalbir	Tirath
Tribhawan	Trilochan	Triman	Tripat	Tulwar	Udai
Udaijot	Uddam	Udham	Ujaagar	Ujaala	Ujjal
Ujjaldeep	Ujjaldip	Ujjaljeet	Ujjaljit	Ujjalpreet	Ujjalroop
Updes	Upender	Upenderjeet	Upenderjit	Upjeet	Upkaar
Upkeerat	Uppender	Uppenderjeet	Uppenderjit	Upraj	Uttam
Uttamjeet	Uttamjit	Uttamjodh	Uttamjot	Uttamleen	Uttampal
Uttampreet	Uttamreet	Uttamroop	Uttamveer	Vaani	Variam
Varinder	Varinderjeet	Varinderjit	Varinderpal	Vatish	Veer
Veerindar	Vicharleen	Vikram	Vikramjeet	Vikramjit	Vikrampal
Vikrampreet	Walia	Waraich	Warwaha	Waryam	Yadleen

Clans

These often reflect the profession or caste of the family. There are two broad categories: Jat (jut) and Khat(t)ri (kh - schwa - t - r - long e). Jats are historically land-owners, farmers or warriors. Khatris are historically merchants or, less commonly, warriors. Although someone with the last name 'Khatter', a derivative of Khatri, could be part of the Arora clan, this does not necessarily form part of the legal name.

Jat(Zat/Jutt)	land-owners/farmers	not surname?
Aroras	merchants/businessmen	fairly common surname
Khattris/Khatters	warriors, can be merchants	subsection of Arora surname

Surnames

Agarwal	Agroia	Ahluwalia	Ahuja	Anand	Arakoni
Arneja	Arora	Attariwala	Attwal	Atwal	Aujla
Aulakh	Ayer	Badyal	Bagha	Bahia	Bains
Bajwa	Bal	Balil	Balli	Banga	Bansal
Banwait	Barmi	Barn	Basra	Basrai	Bassi
Batra	Bawa	Baweja	Beasley	Bedi	Beesla
Bhachu	Bhambra	Bhangu	Bhardwaj	Bhasin	Bhatia
Bhatti	Bhaura	Bhudraja	Bhuppal	Birdi	Bisla
Boparai	Brar	Brara	Chadha	Chaha	Chahal
Chahall	Chahil	Chana	Chand	Chandha	Chattha
Chaudhari	Chaudhary	Chawla	Cheema	Chhugani	Chima
Chohan	Chopra	Daire	Dale	Dalel	Dambria
Das	Dass	Datta	Denhoy	Deol	Dhaliwal
Dhami	Dhamija	Dhanoa	Dhariwal	Dhillon	Dhudwal
Dindral	Doabia	Dosanjh	Dua	Gala	Gandhi
Garcha	Ghag	Ghai	Ghuman	Gill	Girgla
Gogia	Grewal	Gugral	Gujral	Gupta	Gurai
Heer	Hira	Hora	Hothi	Hundal	Jaggi
Jagur	Jammu	Janda	Japra	Jethani	Jhuti
Johal	Johar	Johl	Judge	Kaal	Kahlon
Kaila	Kalirai	Kalra	Kals	Kang	Kapani
Kapoor	Kasal	Kattaura	Khahera	Khaira	Khalsa
Khangura	Khanna	Khatri	Khatter	Khattqr	Khattri
Kler	Kohli	Kooner	Lal	Lalli	Lally
Laungani	Lell	Loey	Mahal	Mahmi	Malhan
Malhi	Mann	Mansukhani	Maroke	Matharu	Mattu
Maude	Mirchandani	Multani	Mundra	Nagra	Nahal
Narindra	Nayyar	Nijjar	Pabley	Padda	Pahwa
Pal	Pannu	Panu	Patiala	Pind	Prewal
Ragi	Rahul	Rai	Raj	Raja	Ram
Rama	Rana	Randhawa	Rani	Rao	Rattu
Reel	Rekhi	Sabdhu	Sabharwal	Sachdev	Sachdeva
Sagoo	Sahni	Sahota	Sambhi	Samra	Samran
Sandhar	Sandhu	Sangha	Sanghera	Sarang	Sarkaria
Sawhney	Sekhon	Sethi	Shah	Shahraj	Sharma
Shergill	Shindi	Siddhu	Sidhu	Sihota	Sikand
Sodhi	Sohal	Sohota	Sokhey	Sra	Sran
Sudan	Sukhija	Sull	Sutantar	Takhar	Takkar
Talib	Thakkar	Thakkur	Thiara	Thind	Tind
Toor	Tur	Uppal	Virdee	Virk	Wahlia
Walia	Waraich	Warwaha

The Ten Gurus of Sikhism

		born
Guru Nanak	c 1500-39	1469
Guru Angad	1539-52	1504
Guru Amar Das	1552-74	1495
Guru Ram Das	1574-81	1534
Guru Arjan	1581-1606	1563
Guru Hargobind	1606-44	1595
Guru Har Rai	1644-61	1630
Guru Har Krishan	1661-4	1656
Guru Tej Bahadur	1664-75	1621
Guru Gobind Singh	1675-1708	1666

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This collection of names compiled by Kate Monk. Copyright January 1997, Kate Monk. Last updated November, 97. Copies may be made for personal use only.