Top 100 Punjabi Surnames or Last Names With Meanings

6 min read

Written by Tarasha Chandra

Tarasha Chandra

PGDPM

Tarasha is the mother of two kids, a 12-year-old preteen boy, and an inquisitive and bubbly 8-year-old girl. She has her hands full. She loves giving a personal touch to her articles by incorporating all her experiences as a full-time mom. Tarasha brings with her more than 15 years of writing experience in various domains of parenting.

Punjabi Surnames or Last Names With Meanings

Punjabis are the most well known for their bravery and hospitality. This also reflects in their surnames. The Punjabi surnames reflect their background which could be ancestral, occupational or topography. There are three communities in Punjab that comprise the Jats (the landlords), the Aroras (the merchants) and the Khatris (Consisting of warriors and merchants). Most of the common surnames belong to these communities only. Many are even named after villages, so few surnames belong to the clan of these communities as well. We list the most common Punjabi surnames or last names with meanings.

Punjabi surnames have diverse communities from the region of Punjab, Sindh, Haryana and Rajasthan and a few parts of Pakistan as well. Since the people of Punjab are widespread in different parts of the world including Pakistan, Afghanistan etc., they carry the same surnames even though nationalities differ and even the language and dialect is pretty similar. Most of the surnames are subgroups of the bigger communities of Punjab.

In This Article

Punjabi Surnames or Last Names With Meanings
Top 100 Punjabi Surnames or Last Names With Meanings
FAQ’s

Punjabi Surnames or Last Names With Meanings

Punjabi surnames are easy to understand since most of them belong to one community or the other. Khatri community and Arora community are more common in urban areas while the surnames from the Jatts are not that common. Due to digitisation though, now the surnames even from the Jatts community is gaining importance, especially in the Sports sector as we see many emerging from Haryana state as very good sportsmen, wrestlers and boxers to name a few.

Top 100 Punjabi Surnames or Last Names With Meanings

A list of the 100 Punjabi surnames from all the communities are listed below:

SL No	Name	Meaning
1	Agre	A clan from Haryana
2	Ahlawat	Jats found in Rajasthan Haryana and Delh
3	Ahluiwalia	Ones belonging to village called Ahlu, situated near Lahore with the suffix of walia
4	Ahuja	Jat and Sikh name, desecendant of Ahu
5	Ahluja	Refers to the descendants of Ahlu
6	Ajmeria	Gotras of Jats
7	Anand	Founder of the Anand clan of the Kahtri community
8	Aneja	Refers to a clan in the Arora community
9	Arora	Ones who belong to Aror , also known as Rohri which is in Pakistan
10	Atwal/ Attwal	derived from Attalika meaning high hill tops, originates from a Jat clan from the region of Punjab
11	Aulakh	Originates from a Jat clan in India and Pakistan
12	Babbar	Originates from the Jatt community
13	Bajaj	refers to a clothier, a common surname for Arora and khatri community
14	Bajwa	Refers to a hawk or falcon, the word comes from Persian
15	Batra	Originates from a clan in Arora community
16	Bedi	A clan withing the Khatri community
17	Behl	name of clan in Khatri community
18	Bhalla	Meaning auspicious, common for Sikhs and Punjabi khatris
19	Bhasin	Means the sun, clan within the Khatri community
20	Bhatia	Community of merchants and landlords, located in the North-western parts of the country
21	Bhatti	Means lord, belonging to the region between Punjab and Haryana called Bhattiana
22	Bhinder	Popular caste of Punjabi origin and means no fear
23	Bhullar	People from Batala in Gurdaspur
24	Bindra	Refers to high hill tops, common between Jatts and khatris
25	Brar	Originates from tribe of Jatt community
26	Brar	Jats clan of Sikh and Punjabi
27	Chahal	Hindu and Sikh Jatts
28	Chawla	Clan within the Arora community also found in khatris and Jatt’s community
29	Chhabra	Name of the Arora clan
30	Chillar	Gotra from Punjab
31	Chopra	Khatri Hindu and Sikh name
32	Deol	Name of a Jat clan
33	Dhaliwal	Jatt tribe and Bhatti Rajputs, a Hindu and Sikh surname
34	Dhankar	Jatt surname of Haryana origin
35	Dhanoa	Gotra of Jats found in Amritsar, Punjab and Pakistan
36	Dhawan	Clan of Khatri community
37	Dhillon	Second largest Jat tribe of Punjab
38	Dosanjh	common in Jats, derived from the village Dosanjh in Punjab, also means a union of two
39	Duggal	Clan from Khatri community
40	Gambhir	A Surname of the Arora community
41	Ghai	Punjabi Khatri community
42	Gill	Clan from Jatt community meaning prosperity
43	Grover	Common for Khatri, Jatts and Sikhs
44	Gulati	A Surname from the Arora community
45	Handa	A common surname in Khatri community
46	Hans	Arora community surname, refers to a swan
47	Jhakar	Gotra of jats found in Rajasthan, Punjab and Haryana
48	Jangra	Commonly found in Haryana
49	Jaswal	Common for Jatt Sikhs and Jatt muslims
50	Juneja	Surname from Arora community, tribe from Sindh region, presently in Pakistan
51	Kakkar	Clan of Bahri subdivision of Khatri community
52	Kalra	Clan of Arora community
53	Kambhoj	An agricultural community of Sikhs, Hindus and Muslim faiths, from northern Pakistan and India
54	Kamra	Clan of Arora community
55	Kapoor	Punjabi khatri community
56	Kataria	They are Jatts from Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan
57	Kaur	It is used for baptised female Sikh women
58	Kaushal	Family name in Punjabis, lineal descendants Of Rishi Hiranyabha Kaushal, the human son of Lord Brahma who created life on the planet
59	Khanna	A name from Khatri community, originally belonging to city of Khanna in Punjab
60	Khurana	A clan from Arora community
61	Kohli	Name of a clan of khatri community
62	Maan	A Haryanvi name, originates from Haryana
63	Madan	Used by Kashmiris, Punjabis especially the Arora community
64	Mahajan	Used by people who live in Punjab
65	Malik	Surname used by Punjabis in Kashmir and Punjab
66	Mhendiratta	A tribe from Punjabi khatris from Pakistan and parts of Punjab, peace-loving people
67	Monga	A surname of Rajputs and Jats
68	Nanda	A name from the Punjabi Khatri community
69	Narang	One from the Arora community
70	Narula	Common amongst Sikhs, a clan of Arora community
71	Parkash	A common last name used by the clan of Khatri community
72	Pathania	Derived from Pathankot Tehsil, members from Punjab and Jammu
73	Punia	Widely found in Haryana
74	Puri	Khatri surname from Punjab region of India and Pakistan
75	Randhawa	Jat clan of Punjab of India and Pakistan
76	Sachdeva	Arora Hindu and Sikh surname
77	Sagar	Hindu and Sikh name from khatri community
78	Sahni/Sawhney	Khatri surname
79	Sahota	A jat caste from Punjab and hilly regions of India and Pakistan
80	Sandhu	Second largest tribe of Punjab
81	Sareen	Hindu and Sikh name from Khatri community
82	Sehgal	Punjabi Kshatriya or Khatri community
83	Sethi	Common surname from Jat Sikh clans from Rajasthan and Punjab
84	Shergill	Jat tribes from Punjab
85	Singh	Ornamental title adopted by warriors and mandatory for Sikhs
86	Sobti	Clan from Punjabi Khatri community
87	Sodhi	A name from the Khatri community and Sikhs as well
88	Soni	A name from Punjabi Khatris
89	Sood	A name from a community of merchants and traders
90	Suri	A name from the Khatri community
91	Talwar	A clan from the Khatri community
92	Tandon	Clan of warriors in Khatri community
93	Taneja	Name of a clan in Arora community
94	Thapar	A clan of the Khatri community
95	Tuli	Name of a warrior in the khatri community
96	Vij	A common name among Punjabi khatris
97	Vohra	Common between Punjabi khatris and Sikhs
98	Wadhwa	A common name from Khatri, Jats or Sikhs
99	Wahe (Wahie)	A name from the Khatri community
100	Walia	A short name from Ahluwalia, originates for the people from Ahalowal in western Punjab and Chakwal

[Read : Top 100 Gujarati Surnames or Last Names in India ]

FAQ’s

1. Why Do Punjabi Families Often Have the Same Surnames?

The religious Guru of Punjabi or Sikhs tried to eradicate the caste system and religious inequalities. It is from them that most Punjabis ended up having the same surnames to indicate their unity and to stay away from caste barriers. They adapted Singh and Kaur. Singh means lion and Kaur means lioness. The men in most Punjabi families take their last name as Singh and the women take up Kaur.

2. What is the Most Common Punjabi Surname?

The most common Punjabi Surnames are Singh and Kaur. Singh is for men and Kaur is for women. They both imply the same meaning. Other common surnames include Vohra, Bhalla, Wadhwa, Thaper, Taneja, Sodhi, Monga, Punia, Pathania, etc.

Tarasha Chandra,PGDPM

She loves to dance, listen to music, cook, and read in her free time. She is transparent, intuitive, quick-witted, and loves to spend time with her near and dear ones. She believes in taking each day as it comes.Read more.

Already Pregnant?

Preparing for the baby