Nepalese First names and Family names list

The number of Nepalese students and workers are increasing in many countries, but because there are many different facial features in Nepalese people, it may sometimes be difficult to tell if someone is Nepalese just by looking at them. In such cases, knowing the Nepalese common names and surnames will make it easier to identify them. It is also useful when you want to become friends with Nepalese people. This article is aimed to help you deepen your understanding about Nepalese people and make a relationship with them.

Nepalese common first names and surnames

Let me not that the tribal names are written based on the tribals' original surnames, however it is also common that their surnames and their tribe don't match when a case like their parents got inter-tribal marriage.

Here's typical example:
when a brahmin man marries to chhetri woman and then their son becomes chhetri yet the son hold's brahmin father's surname.

As you notice their names usually contains 3 syllables. The sounds of Nepalese names are fundamentally different from East and South East Asian names. You will start remembering by looking at their names repeatedly.

Nepalese name order

In Nepal the name order is "First name + Middle name + Father's last name". Just like in the English-speaking region, the first name comes first. For example if there is a person named Dependra Prasad Devkota, then "Dependra" is first name, "Prasad" is middle name and "Devkota" is last name. Some people have middle names, some don't.

How to call a Nepalese person indivisually

Family member's form of address

It is very common to lovingly call family member by their relationship names instead of calling each names. For example a Nepalese mother calls her son "Chora" which literally means "son" or calls her doughter "chori" which literrally means "doughter". They call their brothers "Dai" which means "elder brother" and "Bai" for younger brother. When they call eler relatives like their ancle they say "Ram ancle" with a respect.

Friend's form of address

In nepal people treat their friends like their real family. hense they call their elder friend "Dai (means elfer brother)" or "Bai (yonger brother)". They call each other by their first names when the both of their age are the same.

Respect form of address

Nepalese surname rules ater marriage

It is traditional and common for women to change their last names to their husbands' ones. However there are many wives who haven't change their last names in census register. Simply because some people are feeling lazy to change their ID register due to the lack of infrastructure in Nepal, and/or it's accepted that they can introduce themselves in spouse's or their former surnames in private. They are generaous people and don't really care about small issues. Of course, they use husbands' surnames on all official documents.

That's all.

Above are the detailed breakdown of Nepalese male and female names and surnames including the meanings, the order of names, how to address family, friends and strangers, and surnames after marriage.