Surname
The historical evolution of Vedic priests can be traced back to ancient Aryan civilization through the Chandragupta Maurya era, branching off to all regions by family geneaology across Bharatvarsha after training under the ancient Hindu Sages to perform services to the people and the Kings (Rajas). The surnames appended to the pundits often follow the gotra of the family geneaology, historical regions in migration, or the patronage of the Kings or nobility.
The surname "Pandit", most abundantly found among Kashmiris, is found all over India today. The surname is mostly found among Hindus; however, there are also cases of the surname Pandit used by Kashmiri Muslims who are more recent converts into Islam.
Naming patterns of the Kashmiri Pandits are almost the same as are found there among the Brahmins of the centro-eastern region with componential preferences with regard to the second component. Some of these are: (1) + Narayan: Jagdish – (Sapru), Anand – (Mulla), Parameshwar – (Haksar), Hriday - (Kunjru), Jagat-,Laxmi-,Brij-,Shyam-,etc. (2) + Krisn: Roop-, Maharaj-, Brij-, Avta-, Tej-, Mohan-, Hari-, Kumar-, Jay-, Pyare-, Nipun-, Apurv-, etc. (3) + Nath: Hriday-, Omkar-, Raghu-, Amar-, Balji-, etc. (4) + Lal: Moti-, Jawahar-, Krishan-, Ziya-
Moreover, at present, the names of Kashmiri Pandits are drawn from the same sources as by the Hindus of northern India, but some of the names of Kashmiri Pandits recorded in earlier literary works show that names drawn from Persian sources were also current among them (e.g. Aftab Pandit, Balkak Dar, etc.). Interestingly, in Kashmiri, the "Pandit" surname is found in Muslims as well, e.g. Mohd Shafi Pandit, Chairman of J&K Public Service Commission. High incidence of the surname today can be found in Kashmir, Uttarakhand, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, and Rajasthan..
"Pandit" as a surname is likely indicative of someone who has Saraswat Brahmin lineage at some point.
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