Synopsis India is a home of almost all major religions of the world and Indian system of name giving is considered to be highly specialized. Besides bestowing a personal name to an individual, a surname is suffixed or prefixed in order to assign membership of a cohesive group. This surname may be a totemic name representing a lineage, a clan, a phratry, a descent but reflective of individual’s soci0-religious standing within the group. In the book encyclopaedia of Indian Surnames all attempts have been made to collect the genesis of the surnames from different regions and groups of people of India. The collection of such information is spread over more than twenty years of consistent efforts demanding to deal with a large body of data and material besides sifting from available literature to collect the information desired for preparing the compendium. In dealing with a large body of literature and material, errors and omissions are unavoidable. Information, suggestions, observations, criticisms and advice are welcome from our enlightened readers.