Family name origins & meanings
- Indian (Gujarat, Rajasthan, Panjab, and Bombay city) : Hindu (Bania, Vania, Brahman, Khatri), Jain, Parsi, and Sikh name meaning ‘chief’ in several modern Indian languages, from Sanskrit mahita ‘praised’, ‘great’ (from mah- ‘to praise or magnify’). In Gujarati it has come to mean ‘teacher’, ‘accountant’, probably because teachers and accountants were respectfully so addressed in Gujarat. The Oswal and Porwal Banias and the Panjabi Khatris also have clans called Mehta.
