andhra pradesh india,what is surname, forename, last name and family name, we do not use father's name?

Answer 1

Hey ramakrisha,

Ah, yes, India's people and their name conventions are a mystery to me somewhat. Many of my Indian friends have tried to explain to me how the names concatenate, and show lineage. Anyway, for Surname, Forename, Last Name and family Name:

Surname is the same as Last Name, the two terms mean the same thing. Surnames are passed down to children, and in most cases taken from the Father. Family Name is ambiguous, but generally means the same as Surname or Last Name also.

In some cases a Family Name could be someones first name which is passed down through the generations as a first name, but it is unique to the family (Archibald, Gilbert, James, Mary, are such names).

Wikipedia does a better job of explaining Surname than I do.