Kumar
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A coin, around 200 BCE, of the Yaudheyas with depiction of Kumāra Karttikeya
Kumar (
pronunciation (help·info); Sanskrit: कुमार kumārá) is a given name, middle name, or a family name found in the Indian subcontinent, mainly in India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Nepal, though not specific to any religion, ethnicity, or caste. It is a generic title which variously means prince, son, boy, or chaste. It is the 11th most common family name in the world as of August 2019.[1]
History[]
The origin of kumar can be traced back to the early development of Hinduism and its origin in ancient India. The first usage of Kumar was for the Four Kumāras, the four sons of Brahma from the Puranic texts of Hinduism named Sanaka, Sanatana, Sanandana, and Sanat.
In Skanda Purana, the largest Mahapurana, a genre of eighteen Hindu religious texts, the text is devoted mainly to the leelas of Kartikeya, son of Shiva and Parvati. "Kumar" is used to refer Kartikeya.
Geographical distribution[]
As of 2014, 97.3% of all known bearers of the surname Kumar were residents of India. The frequency of the surname was higher than national average in the following states and union territories:[2]
- 1. Himachal Pradesh (1: 9)
- 2. Chandigarh (1: 10)
- 3. Delhi (1: 11)
- 3. Haryana (1: 11)
- 4. Bihar (1: 15)
- 5. Jammu and Kashmir (1: 16)
- 5. Uttar Pradesh (1: 16)
- 6. Uttarakhand (1: 28)
- 7. Rajasthan (1: 30)
- 8. Punjab (1: 39)
Notable people[]
First name[]
- Kumar Basnet, (born 1943) Nepalese folk singer
- Kumar Kashyap Mahasthavir, Nepalese Buddhist monk
- Kumar Gaurav, Indian film actor
- Kumar Pradhan, Nepalese scholar
- Kumar Rocker, American baseball pitcher
- Kumar Shri Duleepsinhji, cricketer who played for England
- Kumar Shri Ranjitsinhji, AKA K. S. Ranjitsinhji, Indian prince, maharaja and Test cricketer
- Kumar Sangakkara, Sri Lankan cricketer and a former captain of the Sri Lanka national cricket team
- Kumar Sanu, Indian playback singer
- Kumar Vishwas, Hindi-language performance poet
- Kumar Dharmasena, Sri Lankan cricketer and International cricket umpire
- Kumar Mangalam Birla, Indian industrialist
Middle name[]
- Abhas Kumar Ganguly, birth name of Kishore Kumar
- Ajith Kumar Siriwardena, Sri Lankan Briton professor of hepato-pancreatico-biliary surgery
- Amal Kumar Raychaudhuri, a leading physicist
- Amrit Kumar Bohara, Nepalese politician
- Anil Kumar Jha, (born 1969) Nepalese politician
- Anjani Kumar Sharma, Nepalese surgeon
- Arjun Kumar Basnet, (born 1975) Nepalese marathon runner
- General Arunkumar Vaidya,[3] the former Chief of Indian Army
- Bijay Kumar Gachchhadar, Nepalese politician
- Devendra Kumar Joshi, the Indian Chief of Naval Staff
- Hemanta Kumar Mukhopadhyay, a Bengali singer, composer and producer
- Inder Kumar Gujral, an Indian politician who served as the 12th Prime Minister of India
- Keshav Kumar Budhathoki, Nepali politician
- Madhav Kumar Nepal, Former Prime Minister of Nepal
- Pawan Kumar Chamling, an Sikkimese politician who served as the 5th Chief Minister of Sikkim
- Pradip Kumar Rai known as Byakul Maila, Nepalese poet
- Prafulla Kumar Mahanta, Indian politician who was the leader of the Assam Movement, a former Chief Minister of Assam.
- Prem Kumar Dhumal, chief minister of Indian state
- Raj kumar Saini, Indian politician
- Raj Kumar Rao, Indian actor
- Raj Kumar Kapoor, Indian actor, director
- Roop Kumar Rathod, an Indian playback singer and music director
- Satinder Kumar Saini, vice chief of the Indian army
- Selvar Kumar Silvaras (c. 1971–1998), Singaporean convicted murderer
- Shailendra Kumar Upadhyaya, Nepalese diplomat
- Shiv Kumar Batalvi, a Punjabi language poet
- Sunil Kumar Yadav, Nepalese politician
- Suniti Kumar Chatterji, an Indian linguist, educationist and litterateur
- Tej Kumar Shrestha, Nepalese zoologist
- Vijay Kumar Malhotra, Indian politician
- Vijay Kumar Pandey, Nepalese journalist
- Vijay Kumar Singh, Indian politician and a retired four star general in the Indian Army
- Vinod Kumar Shukla, modern Hindi writer
- Yogesh Kumar Joshi, 17th and the current Commander, XIV Corps of the Indian Army
- Yogesh Kumar Sabharwal, the 36th Chief Justice of India
Last name[]
- Aanchal Kumar, Indian model and actress
- Ajith Kumar, an Indian film actor who works mainly in Tamil cinema
- Akhil Kumar, an Indian boxer who has won several international and national boxing awards
- Akshay Kumar, stage name of Indian-Canadian film actor, producer and martial artist, Rajiv Bhatia
- Amit Kumar, Indian film playback singer, actor, and director
- Amitava Kumar, Indian writer, journalist, professor
- Anand Kumar, Indian mathematician
- Anil Kumar, Indian businessman, consultant
- Ashok Kumar, AKA Dadamoni in Bengali, Indian film actor
- Arun Kumar, Indian politician
- Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Indian pace bowler
- Bandi Sanjay Kumar, Indian politician
- Chetan Kumar, Indian actor
- Darshan Kumar, Indian actor
- Dev Kumar, Indian actor
- Dilip Kumar, Indian film actor known as the 'Tragedy King' and a former Member of Parliament
- Divya Khosla Kumar, Indian film actress, producer and director
- E. Santhosh Kumar, Indian writer
- Girish Kumar, Indian film actor
- G. V. Prakash Kumar, Indian film score and soundtrack composer and singer
- Gulshan Kumar, T-Series music label owner
- Guru Rudra Kumar
- Hiten Kumar, Gujrati film actor
- Inder Kumar, Indian actor
- Indra Kumar, an Indian film director and producer
- Jeeva Kumar, Indian kabbadi player
- Jitender Kumar (flyweight boxer), an Indian flyweight boxer
- Kanhaiya Kumar, Indian politician
- Kishore Kumar, Indian film playback singer, actor, lyricist, composer, producer, director, screenwriter and scriptwriter
- Manoj Kumar (boxer), Indian boxer who won a gold medal in the light welterweight division at the 2010 Commonwealth Games
- Manoj Kumar, an award-winning Indian actor and director in the Bollywood
- María Teresa Kumar, a political organizer and voting rights activist for Latinos in the United States
- Meira Kumar, an Indian politician and a five time Member of Parliament
- Mukesh Kumar, Indian cricketer
- Navin Kumar
- Nirmalya Kumar, professor and businessman
- Nish Kumar, British comedian
- Nitish Kumar, Indian politician
- Oil Kumar, aa Indian ganglord and organized crime boss
- Pawan Kumar, several people, including:
- Pawan Kumar (director), Indian film director, actor, producer, and screenwriter
- Pawan Kumar (wrestler), Indian wrestler
- Pradeep Kumar, Indian actor in Hindi, Bengali and English-language films
- Praveen Kumar, Indian medium-pace swing bowler
- Raaj Kumar, Indian film actor
- Ravi Kumar (Indian footballer)
- Ravish Kumar, Indian Journalist at NDTV India
- Ritu Kumar, Indian fashion designer
- Sanjay Kumar, former CEO of Computer Associates
- Sanjeev Kumar, Indian film actor
- Shashi Kumar, or Shashikumar, Indian actor and politician
- Sushil Kumar, several people, including:
- Sushil Kumar (wrestler), Indian World Champion wrestler
- Tulsi Kumar, an Indian playback singer for Bollywood films
- Uttam Kumar, Indian (Bengali) cinema actor and contemporary of Dilip Kumar
- Uttar Kumar, famous actor in north India
- Venkatesh Kumar, Hindustani vocalist.
- Vikram Kumar, director
- Vijay Kumar (sport shooter), Indian champion shooter, Olympic 2012 silver medalist
- Vimal Kumar, Indian badminton player
- Vinay Kumar, Indian cricket player
- Vinay Kumar (pathologist), the Alice Hogge & Arthur Baer Professor of Pathology at the University of Chicago
- Vinoth Kumar, Indian football player
See also[]
Notes[]
- ^ http://forebears.co.uk/surnames/kumar Kumar Surname at Forebears
- ^ Kumar Surname Distribution
- ^ "Land Forces Site - General Arunkumar Sridhar Vaidya". Bharat Rakshak. Archived from the original on 2014-01-10. Retrieved 2014-01-10.
Categories:
- Indian surnames
- Surnames
- Gujarati-language surnames