Why Middle Name "Singh" ?

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srajdeep

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One of my friend asked me the significance of middle name SINGH. Lots of communities in India use this middle name (Jats, Sikhs, Rajputs, Bhumiars (from Bihar)).
Does anyone knows the origin of this middle name? Is it a derivative of “Sinh” (Hindi for Lion) or something else?

thanks
Raju
 
"Singh" is a derivative of sher.

"Singh" also comes from the sikhs/pujabis, as the sikh religion uses this as the last name of every male individual and "kaur" for every female individual.

Since, "Singh" kind of hides the real family name of the community, it is very popularly used by communities through out India (mostly northern states).

I have never seen a brahmin, who have used "singh" as the new last name. It's the other communities that used it.

Thanks.
 
so who used "SINGH" first? Did jats used it first and then other took it too or is it othe way around? Just curious.
 
Punjabi/Sardars/sikhs used it first. After that it just spread as a matter of convenience or who wanted to be like “shers”, at least how other perceived/called them. I don’t think it’s anything to do with jats or non-jats using it.

May be a historian can shed some more light on it.
 
The first time I have seen name 'Singh' being used in history is for Rana Sangram Singh (better known as Rana sanga) of Mewar. Until that time all Rajas and Maharajas were not using 'Singh'. The Jaipur family started using it from Raja Man Singh (Akbar's time), and the first Jat to use it was Jawahar Singh, the son of Maharaja Suraj Mal. The Sikhs started using it only after the tenth Guru, Govind Singh.

In feudal Rajasthan, Jats were not allowed to use Singh in many areas.
 
As I understand Kumar is a derivative of Kuvar or Kuvara i.e anyone who is not married is called Kumar. Same for Kumari (used by girls) People use it even after marrige but that is the origin of that middle name.
I couldn't find any info about "Singh". I am also using it but without knowing why and how it started. There are many good historians on this group so hopefully one of them will get to this thread and will shed some light on it.
Dr. Birbal had given the first use of it but the question still remains. Why did Rana Sangram used Singh with his name? Was he given this "upadhi" by someone for his brave action or he just started to use to to impress others.
 
I understand in the past jo log daadi aur moonch rakha karte the wo apne naam ke saath singh bhe lagate the.

when these men were young they were called kunwar

for example - Before pubirty its Kunwar Karan

After pubirty - Karan Singh.

Cheers!!!
 
hmmm.. interesting..
Anand Dalal (Aug 06, 2004 01:22 a.m.):
I understand in the past jo log daadi aur moonch rakha karte the wo apne naam ke saath singh bhe lagate the.

when these men were young they were called kunwar

for example - Before pubirty its Kunwar Karan

After pubirty - Karan Singh.

Cheers!!!
Click to expand...
 
dear all,

i would like to differ with dr. birbal singh that jawahar singh was the first jat to use singh
even if we talk of house of bharatpur,there were many before him to use singh.badan singh was grand father of jawahar singh.bhav singh was father of badan singh.braj singh was father of bhav singh.jujha singh and bhajja singh were brothers of braj singh
the famous churaman had nine sons.churaman was real uncle of badan singh.their names were like this
1.zulkaran singh
2.mokham singh
3.than singh
4.bakhtawar singh
5.chand singh
6.kirat singh
7.sujan singh
8.devi singh
9.kiran singh
i think jats were using singh much before what we are thinking.
 
Rajenderji,

You are right that there were Jats using 'Singh' in their name before Jawahar Singh. I was only referring to information available in commonly used history texts. Unfortunately, Jat individuals are rarely mentioned in history books.
 
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