Question

why do Tamilians dont have surname?

Answer 1

Answer:

Tamils used to have surnames which were based on caste. This wasn't any different from what you see in every other state in India. Every common North Indian as well as Telugu and Kannada surname you can think of is the name of a caste or sub-caste. Like every other linguistic group, Tamils too have their own equally despicable caste system.

The change came about when Periyar E. V. Ramaswamy (1879-1973) started the self-respect movement in Tamil Nadu. He first started agitations telling people to remove caste names from all sign-boards across the state. This included names of buildings, hotels, streets and the like. Once that was accomplished successfully, he instructed everyone to also remove their caste based surnames as that gives people a reason to be prejudiced as soon as they hear someone's name. It was illegal de facto in Tamil Nadu for a long time.

The popularly used naming system in Tamil Nadu used to be VillageOfOrigin Father'sGivenName YourGivenName CasteName. My name in that system would be Kadayam Ramachandran Anirudh CasteName. This would be abbreviated to K.R. Anirudh CasteName. After these agitations, if I was born in those times, I would have had to shorten my name to K. R. Anirudh, making it seem like I didn't have a last name to anyone who wasn't aware of this development in Tamil Nadu.

Now, the prefixing of your name with the name of your village is also vanishing. When I was born, I was named R. Anirudh. I changed this to Anirudh R. when I was 15, and when I applied for my passport the R had to become Ramachandran as a last name is compulsory, so my dad's first name is my last name. This is called a patronym.

Edit: In 2017, I decided to change my name to Anirudh Ramachandran Kadayam, and I will be starting the legal process soon.

If you find any Tamilians who continue to use their caste names as their last names, it's probably because their families had moved out of Tamil Nadu before these agitations started. Even if they did move back much later, they were just comfortable with their names and didn't feel like changing it as it isn't a big deal anymore.

I like the idea of having a last name though. It gives a sense of continuity to the family. A lot of like-minded people from my generation have started making their patronyms into family names for the next generation, so one lucky man in each family is passing on his name to all his progeny in the foreseeable future.

Answer 2

Tamilians don't have a surname because:-

• Traditionally, South Indians especially Tamil Nadu prefix their given names with that of their fathers. In the topic of women, after marriage, the father's name is replaced with the husband's given name. For additional simplicity, some of them comprise the place of ancestral origin prior to the father's name.
• In earlier periods a caste name or village name was utilized by the Tamils as their last name, but because of the impact of the Dravidian movement, Tamils of all castes have mostly given up caste surnames
• In Tamil Nadu, most people do not take the caste names or name of the domain as surnames, to prevent caste-based discrimination or not to come across as a casteist

#SPJ3