Kumar (pronunciation ⓘ ; Sanskrit : कुमार kumārá ) is a title , given name , middle name , or a family name found in the Indian subcontinent , mainly in Pakistan , India , Bangladesh , Sri Lanka , and Nepal , though not specific to any religion, ethnicity, or caste. It is a generic title which variously means prince , son , boy, or chaste . It is the 11th most common family name in the world as of August 2019.[1]
A coin, around 200 BCE , of the Yaudheyas with depiction of Kumāra Karttikeya
The origin of kumar can be traced back to the early development of Hinduism and its origin in ancient India . The first usage of Kumar was for the Four Kumāras , the four sons of Brahma from the Puranic texts of Hinduism named Sanaka, Sanatana, Sanandana, and Sanat.
In Skanda Purana , the largest Mahapurana , a genre of eighteen Hindu religious texts, the text is devoted mainly to the leelas of Kartikeya , son of Shiva and Parvati . "Kumar" is used to refer Kartikeya .
As of 2014, 97.3% of all known bearers of the surname Kumar were residents of India . The frequency of the surname was higher than national average in the following states and union territories :[2]
First name
Kumar Basnet , (born 1943) Nepalese folk singer
Kumar Dharmasena , Sri Lankan cricketer and International cricket umpire
Kumar Gandharva (1924–1992), Indian singer
Kumar Gaurav , Indian film actor
Kumar Kashyap Mahasthavir , Nepalese Buddhist monk
Kumar Malavalli , Indian businessman
Kumar Mangalam Birla , Indian industrialist
Kumar Pallana , Indian film actor
Kumar Ponnambalam (1940–2000), Sri Lankan lawyer and politician
Kumar Pradhan , Nepalese scholar
Kumar Ram Narain Karthikeyan , Indian race car driver
Kumar Rocker , American baseball pitcher
Kumar Sangakkara , Sri Lankan cricketer and a former captain of the Sri Lanka national cricket team
Kumar Sanu , Indian playback singer
Kumar Shahani (1940-2024), Indian film director
Kumar Shri Duleepsinhji , cricketer who played for England
Kumar Shri Ranjitsinhji , AKA K. S. Ranjitsinhji, Indian prince, maharaja and Test cricketer
Kumar Vishwas , Hindi-language performance poet
Middle name
Abhas Kumar Ganguly , birth name of Kishore Kumar
Adarsh Kumar Goel , Indian judge
Ajith Kumar Siriwardena , Sri Lankan Briton professor of hepato-pancreatico-biliary surgery
Akshay Kumar Datta , Bengali writer
Amal Kumar Raychaudhuri , a leading physicist
Amrit Kumar Bohara , Nepalese politician
Anant Kumar Agarwal , engineer
Ananth Kumar Hegde , Indian politician
Anil Kumar Jha , (born 1969) Nepalese politician
Anjani Kumar Sharma , Nepalese surgeon
Arjun Kumar Basnet , (born 1975) Nepalese marathon runner
General Arunkumar Vaidya ,[3] the former Chief of Indian Army
Arup Kumar Kundu , educationist, rheumatologist, clinician, orator, teacher, and author
Bijay Kumar Gachchhadar , Nepalese politician
Devendra Kumar Joshi , the Indian Chief of Naval Staff
Hemanta Kumar Mukhopadhyay , a Bengali singer, composer and producer
Inder Kumar Gujral , an Indian politician who served as the 12th Prime Minister of India
Keshav Kumar Budhathoki , Nepali politician
Madhav Kumar Nepal , Former Prime Minister of Nepal
Manoj Kumar Pandey , Indian Army officer, recipient of the Param Vir Chakra
Manoj Kumar Sharma , Indian Police Service (IPS) officer
Nirmal Kumar Verma , former senior naval officer
Pawan Kumar Chamling , an Sikkimese politician who served as the 5th Chief Minister of Sikkim
Pradip Kumar Rai known as Byakul Maila , Nepalese poet
Prafulla Kumar Mahanta , Indian politician who was the leader of the Assam Movement , a former Chief Minister of Assam .
Prem Kumar Dhumal , chief minister of Indian state
Raj Kumar Saini , Indian politician
Raj Kumar Rao , Indian actor
Raj Kumar Kapoor , Indian actor, director
Rakesh Kumar Singh Bhadauria , retired Indian Air Force officer, who served as the Chief of the Air Staff of the Indian Air Force
Ravi Kumar Dahiya , Indian freestyle wrestler
Roop Kumar Rathod , an Indian playback singer and music director
Sanjeev Kumar Yadav , DANIPS officer.
Santosh Kumar Ghosh , Bengali writer and journalist
Santosh Kumar Gupta , former Indian Navy admiral, recipient of Maha Vir Chakra
Satinder Kumar Saini , vice chief of the Indian army
Selvar Kumar Silvaras (c. 1971–1998), Singaporean convicted murderer
Shailendra Kumar Upadhyaya , Nepalese diplomat
Shiv Kumar Batalvi , a Punjabi language poet
Siddharth Kumar Tewary , Indian television producer and director
Srinivas Kumar Sinha , Indian military officer
Sunil Kumar Yadav , Nepalese politician
Suniti Kumar Chatterji , an Indian linguist, educationist and litterateur
Sushil Kumar Modi , is an Indian politician
Tapan Kumar Pradhan , Indian bank, activist and poet
Tej Kumar Shrestha , Nepalese zoologist
Vijay Kumar Malhotra , Indian politician
Vijay Kumar Pandey , Nepalese journalist
Vijay Kumar Singh , Indian politician and a retired four star general in the Indian Army
Vineet Kumar Singh , Indian film actor
Vinod Kumar Shukla , modern Hindi writer
Vinod Kumar Yadav , Former Chairperson of the Railway Board , First Chief Executive Officer, Railway Board, Indian Railways
Yashvardhan Kumar Sinha , retired Indian diplomat
Yogesh Kumar Joshi , 17th and the current Commander, XIV Corps of the Indian Army
Yogesh Kumar Sabharwal , the 36th Chief Justice of India
Last name
Ajayya Kumar , COO, author, art curator
Ajith Kumar , an Indian actor who works mainly in Tamil cinema
Akhil Kumar , an Indian boxer who has won several international and national boxing awards
Akshay Kumar , stage name of Indian-Canadian film actor, producer and martial artist, Rajiv Bhatia
Amit Kumar , Indian film playback singer, actor, and director
Amitava Kumar , Indian writer, journalist, professor
Anand Kumar , Indian mathematician
Anil Kumar , Indian businessman, consultant
Anup Kumar , Indian film actor
Ashok Kumar , AKA Dadamoni in Bengali, Indian film actor
Ashok Kumar (Jammu and Kashmir politician) , Member of the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly
Arun Kumar , Indian politician
Bhuvneshwar Kumar , Indian pace bowler
Bandi Sanjay Kumar , Indian politician
Chetan Kumar , Indian actor
Darshan Kumar , Indian actor
Deepak Kumar , several people, including:
Dev Kumar , Indian actor
Digendra Kumar , Indian military officer
Dilip Kumar , Indian film actor known as the 'Tragedy King' and a former Member of Parliament
Dinesh Kumar (basketball) , Indian professional basketball player
Divya Khosla Kumar , Indian film actress, producer and director
E. Santhosh Kumar , Indian writer
Girish Kumar , Indian film actor
G. V. Prakash Kumar , Indian film score and soundtrack composer and singer
Gulshan Kumar , T-Series music label owner
Guru Rudra Kumar
Havildar Anuj Kumar , Indian professional bodybuilder
Himanshu Kumar , Indian activist
Hiten Kumar , Gujarati film actor
Inder Kumar , Indian actor
Indra Kumar , an Indian film director and producer
Jainendra Kumar (1905–1988), Indian writer
Jeeva Kumar , Indian kabbadi player
Jitender Kumar (flyweight boxer) , an Indian flyweight boxer
Jitendra Kumar , Indian film actor
Kanhaiya Kumar , Indian politician
Kishore Kumar , Indian film playback singer, actor, lyricist, composer, producer, director, screenwriter and scriptwriter
M Kiran Kumar , Indian businessman
Manoj Kumar (boxer) , Indian boxer who won a gold medal in the light welterweight division at the 2010 Commonwealth Games
Manoj Kumar , an award-winning Indian actor and director in the Bollywood
María Teresa Kumar , a political organizer and voting rights activist for Latinos in the United States
Meira Kumar , an Indian politician and a five time Member of Parliament
Mukesh Kumar , several people, including:
Mukul Kumar , Indian civil servant and writer
Navin Kumar
Navleen Kumar , Indian human rights activist
Nirmalya Kumar , professor and businessman
Niru Kumar , Indian social activist
Nish Kumar , British comedian
Nitish Kumar , Indian politician who served as the 22nd Chief Minister of Bihar
Oil Kumar , aa Indian ganglord and organized crime boss
Pawan Kumar , several people, including:
Pradeep Kumar , Indian actor in Hindi, Bengali and English-language films
Praveen Kumar (cricketer) , Indian medium-pace swing bowler
Prem Kumar , several people, including:
R Sri Kumar (born 1949), Indian vigilance commissioner
Raaj Kumar , Indian film actor
Rajendra Kumar , Indian film actor
Ratan Kumar , Film actor
Ravi Kumar (Indian footballer)
Ravish Kumar , Indian Journalist at NDTV India
Ritu Kumar , Indian fashion designer
Rohit Kumar , several people, including:
Sai Kumar , Malayalam actor
Sanjay Kumar , several people, including:
Sanjeev Kumar , Indian film actor
Satish Kumar (pastor) , Indian pastor
Saurabh Kumar (engineer) , Indian engineer
Sejal Kumar , Indian YouTuber
Shashi Kumar , or Shashikumar, Indian actor and politician
Srini Kumar
Sushil Kumar , several people, including:
Tulsi Kumar , an Indian playback singer for Bollywood films
Udai Kumar
Udaya Kumar (director) , Kannada film director
Uttam Kumar , Indian (Bengali) cinema actor and contemporary of Dilip Kumar
Uttar Kumar , famous actor in north India
Varun Kumar (journalist) , Indian journalist
Venkatesh Kumar , Hindustani vocalist
Vikram Kumar , Indian film director and screenwriter
Vijay Kumar (sport shooter) , Indian champion shooter, Olympic 2012 silver medalist
Vimal Kumar , Indian badminton player
Vinay Kumar , Indian cricket player
Vinay Kumar (pathologist) , the Alice Hogge & Arthur Baer Professor of Pathology at the University of Chicago
Vinay Kumar (academician)
Vinoth Kumar , Indian football player
Yuva Kumar