Indian honorifics



Indian honorifics are honorific titles or appendices to names used in the Indian subcontinent, covering formal and informal social, commercial, and religious relationships. These may take the form of prefixes, suffixes or replacements.

Native honorifics
Honorifics with native/indigenous Hindu-Buddhist origin.

List of titles

 * Abhyasi
 * Acharya
 * Aasaan
 * Appa - title given to Lingayat and Maratha Kings meaning "head" or "father".
 * Ayya
 * Baba
 * Babu
 * Bhagavan
 * Bhagat
 * Bhai
 * Chhatrapati
 * Chakravarti, Chakraborty
 * Chettiar, suffix denoting a man's wealth
 * Chitnis one of the most important and highest-ranking ministers in a court.


 * Choudhury
 * Chempakaraman
 * Das, a common surname on the Indian subcontinent which has also been applied as a title, signifying "devotee" or "votary" (in the context of religion); also, Dasa
 * Devi
 * Deshmukh, Maratha title given to "Head of State".
 * Dvija
 * Gain or Gayen
 * Goaysain
 * Guru
 * JagadRayuru
 * Jagirdar
 * Kothari
 * Kshatriya Kulavantas, Maratha title given to "Kshatriya Family".
 * Kumari
 * Kunwar, Kumar
 * Mahamandaleshwar
 * Mahant
 * Maharaj, Maharaja, Maharajadhiraj
 * Mahātmā
 * Maharani
 * Maharishi, Maharshi
 * Mahayogi, Mahayogini
 * Mankari
 * Mantrik
 * Melshanthi
 * Menon
 * Muni
 * Naidu
 * Naicker
 * Nayak
 * Pandit
 * Patil, Maratha title given to "Head of Village" & "Kshatriya Noble Family".
 * Patlin, Maratha Title given to "Wife of Patil Saheb & Kshatrani".
 * Paramahamsa
 * Paramguru
 * Potdar
 * Prabhu
 * Pujari
 * Raj
 * Raje, Raidu, Raja, Rai/Ray, Rana, Rao, Rawal, Rawat
 * Rajarshi
 * Rajguru
 * Rajkumar, Maharajkumar
 * Rajkumari, Maharajkumari
 * Rani
 * Reddy
 * Rishi
 * Rishi Mudgal
 * Sādhaka
 * Sadhu
 * Sain Saeen
 * Samanta
 * Samrat
 * Sannyasin
 * Sardar
 * Sarpatil
 * Satguru, Sadguru
 * Sawai
 * Singh
 * Sethi, Sheth, suffixes denoting a man's wealth
 * Shankaracharya
 * Shaunaka
 * Shishya
 * Sri Shri, Shree
 * Shrimati, Maratha title given to "Rich or Noble Person".
 * Swami
 * Thakur
 * Thiru or Thirumathi
 * Yogi, Yogini
 * Yuvraj
 * Veer

Secular profession-specific honorifics

 * Lambardar
 * Patwari
 * Pandit (Can have Hindu connotations)
 * Zamindar
 * Ghatwal
 * Mulraiyat
 * Pradhan
 * Jagirdar
 * Mustajir
 * Zaildar
 * Talukdar
 * Thikadars

Influence on other cultures


With the expansion of Indosphere cultural influence of Greater India, through transmission of Hinduism in Southeast Asia  and the Silk Road transmission of Buddhism  leading to Indianization of Southeast Asia with non-Indian southeast Asian native Indianized kingdoms adopting Sanskritization of their languages and titles as well as ongoing historic expansion of Indian diaspora has resulted in many overseas places having Indianised names (e.g. Sanskritised naming of people, Sanskritised naming of places, Sankritised institutional mottos, Sanskritised educational institute names), architecture, martial arts, music and dance, clothing, and cuisine.

Please help expand the following partial list of Indian influenced honorifics:
 * Burmese honorifics and Burmese Buddhist titles
 * Cambodia honorifics
 * Cham honorifics
 * Filipino styles and honorifics
 * Indonesian honorifics
 * Khmer honorifics
 * Lao honorifics
 * Malay styles and titles
 * Sinhala honorifics
 * Thai royal ranks and titles

Maratha honorifics
Associated with the Maratha Kingdom or general Marathi-speaking population.
 * Kshatriyakulavatans
 * Chhatrapati
 * Maharaj
 * Maharani
 * Peshwa
 * PratapRao
 * Appa
 * Sardar
 * Deshmukh
 * Patil
 * Rao

Sikh honorific

 * Sardar
 * Sardarni
 * Giani

Nepali (Gorkhali) honorifics
Associated with the Khas Kings of Nepal, esp. the Shah dynasty of the Kingdom of Gorkha.
 * Kaji
 * Mukthiyar
 * Jangi Lat
 * Khazanchi
 * Maharajdhiraj
 * Maharathi
 * Nayab
 * Rajpratinidhi

Middle East honorifics

 * Amir
 * Badshah
 * Bahadur
 * Beg
 * Begum
 * Darogha
 * Dastur / Dastoor
 * Ghazi
 * Hazrat
 * Khan or Khatoon for females
 * Khaqan
 * Mahaldar
 * Mansabdar
 * Mir
 * Mirza
 * Sahib
 * Shah and Shahanshah
 * Shahzada
 * Sultan
 * Syed
 * Taluqdar
 * Ustad