History
Banerjees are Rarhi Kulin Brahmins of the Sandilya gotra, who are considered the highest caste in Bengal alongside Mukherjees, Chatterjees and Gangulis. They are descendents of Bhattanarayana, originally from Uttar Pradesh. During the Bengal renaissance and Young Bengal movement, some Bandyopadhyays converted to Christianity and anglicized their name as "Banerjee" or "Bonnerjee". Others anglicized their name without converting. Recent genetic studies have shown that a high percentage of the Y-DNA haplogroup R1a1a occurs among these people, in common with West Bengal Brahmins (72%).
"Indian (Bengal) and Bangladeshi: Hindu (Brahman) name, the first element of which, Ban-, is a shortened form of the village name Bandoghat. The final element -jee is derived from jha (greatly reduced form of Sanskrit upadhyaya ‘teacher’); thus, Banerjee ‘teacher from the village of Bandoghat’. In Bengali names formed with -jee, the initial element is believed to indicate a village granted by Ballal Sen, a legendary ancient king of Bengal, to the ancestor of the person bearing the surname. A Sanskrit version of this name, Vandyopadhyaya, was coined later, from the elements vandya ‘venerable’ + upadhyaya ‘teacher’. "
— Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-508137-4
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