Surnames and Families
A large number of Deshastha surnames are derived by adding the suffix kar to the village from which the family originally hailed. For example, Bidkar came from town of Bid, Dharwadkar from the town of Dharwad in Karnataka, and the Marathi poet V. V. Shirwadkar, colloquially knows as Kusumagraj, came from the town of Shirwad. The names Kulkarni, Deshpande, and Joshi are very common amongst Deshastha Brahmins, and denote their professions. For example, Kulkarni means revenue collector and Joshi means astrologer. Some surnames simply describe physical and mental characteristics such as Hirve which means green or Buddhisagar which literally translates to an ocean of intellect.
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Famous quotes containing the word families:
“Families have always been in flux and often in crisis; they have never lived up to nostalgic notions about “the way things used to be.” But that doesn’t mean the malaise and anxiety people feel about modern families are delusions, that everything would be fine if we would only realize that the past was not all it’s cracked up to be. . . . Even if things were not always right in families of the past, it seems clear that some things have newly gone wrong.”
—Stephanie Coontz (20th century)