Kamat

Kamath or Kamat is a common surname amongst the Konkani Saraswat Brahmins of the Konkan and Malabar coasts of India in the states of Goa, Karnataka, Kerala and Maharashtra. They usually speak Konkani and is considered as their mother tongue. And most often Marathi or Kannada as their secondary language. The surname is believed to be derived from kaali maTTaachi which means people from Kali Math. The intelligence of the Kamats is attributed to their ancestors, who spent time in the Math learning from the goddess Kali. Another opinion holds that it was derived from profession as many Konkani Saraswat Brahmin names are Kamats were said to be land owners among Konkani Saraswat families - the name could have been derived from "kaam mathichen", meaning work of the soil.