The Indians I currently know have last names. The Indians that I used to run into in Chicagoland all the time had last names, too. Almost invariable it was “Patel.” As such, a lot of people called them “Patels” rather than “Indians.” Apu of Simpsons fame also has a last name, whih I won’t attempt to reproduce here.
Ah, I made a mistake… it was the Malays that did the son of/daughter of stuff.
“Patel” is a common family name among Gujaratis. It originated as a caste name, but now is used widely as a family name. There are entire villages in Gujarat populated by Patels. By the way, Gujaratis are not south Indians. To the extent that a lack of a family name is extant in India, it is in southern India. You can usually tell an Indian with a family name because he will write his name as initials followed by a name, such as “K. S. Nagaraja,” and then insist that you call him by the last name. That’s because that last name is his given name, and, is, indeed his only name. The initials, while they are derived from words (such as father’s names or names of birthplaces) are never written out and you would never address a person by the words that they stand for.
Apu’s last name is “Nahasapeemapetilon” and it is entirely fictional. It isn’t a real name at all and doesn’t even really sound like an Indian name. It sounds more like a Thai name. To the extent that it might be a fictional Indian name, it definitely doesn’t sound Bengali, which is what Apu is supposed to be. If it were an Indian name, it would have to be a south Indian one.
It’s worth noting that there are two different forms of patronymic usage and also an odd variation on surnaming (BTW, I have never heard “surname” applied to an epithet or agnomen).
- Patronymic in lieu of surname: Thorvald Grimsson, of Old Norse times or modern Iceland, has a son, whom he names Leif. His full name is Leif Thorvaldsson. His son, when he has one, will use the patronymic Leifsson.
Up until the 1500s this was the practice in Wales as well. Maredudd ap Tudor was the son of Tudor ap Einion, who was the son of Einion ap Howyll. If necessary to clarify which Maredudd ap Tudor you’re talking about, or to demonstrate a lineage, this can be strung together as Maredudd ap Tudor ap Einion ap Howyll. Daughters use “fyrch” in place of “ap.” Many modern Welsh surnames begin in P, and are the fossilized relics of this: ap Howyll > Powell, ap Richard > Pritchard, ap Rhys > Price.
- Patronymic as middle name. Ivan Minsky (which means “man from Minsk,” not “burlesque theatre owner”) has a son whom he names Dmitri. Dmitri’s full name is Dmitri Ivanovich Minsky. His son Igor will be Igor Dmitrievich Minksy. Dmitri’s sister Natalya is Natalya Ivanovna Minksy. Proper formal address (on the level of a Mr. Smith, Dr. Jones, Lord Tavernier usage in direct address) in Russian is given name plus patronymic. Your well-mannered ten-year-old, on being introduced to Dmitri, will politely greet him as “Zdravuistye, Dmitri Ivanovich” – only if he is in a formally subservient relationship, such as student to teacher, would he use “Gospodin Ivanov.”
It’s also worth noting that every Spanish-speaking person’s full name includes at least three names, with two surnames bringing up the rear. The actual surname, which is the one you should use in correspondence and polite oral contact, is the first of those two; the second is his mother’s maiden name. Pedro Ipolito Garcia Lopez was christened Pedro, adopted Ipolito at confirmation after his patron St. Hippolytus, and is the son of Sr. Garcia and his wife, the former Srta. Lopez. He himself, like his father, is properly addressed as “Señor Garcia.”
this tallies with what i’ve seen. s/o and d/o for Indians and bin/binti for Malays.