Bhattacharya (surname)

For the asteroid, see 8348 Bhattacharyya. For the probability similarity measurement, see Bhattacharyya distance.

Bhattacharya, Bhattacharyya, and Bhattacharjee are three common spellings of an Indian Kanyakubja Brahmin surname.

Origin

The Bhattacharyas are Kanyakubja Brahmins and originally belonged to the Kanyakubja region of northern India. They later migrated to eastern parts of the Indian subcontinent during the medieval period.

Etymology

The word is a combination of the Sanskrit titles Bhaṭṭa (meaning Vedic scholar ) and Ācārya (meaning teacher or preceptor) and means 'Vedic teacher'.

Notable people

Notable people with the name include:

• A. Bhattacharya, Indian statistician who worked at the Indian Statistical Institute in the 1930s and early 40s
• Abhi Bhattacharya (1921−1993), Indian actor of Hindi and Bengali cinema
• Abhijeet Bhattacharya (born 1958), Indian celebrity, Bollywood playback singer and composer
• Abhinash Bhattacharya, leader in revolutionary movement for Indian independence
• Aditya Bhattacharya (born 1965), Indian film director and screenwriter, Raakh
• Amitabha Bhattacharya, Indian professor at the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur and an author of digital communication
• Amitabh Bhattacharya, Indian lyricist and playback singer who works in Bollywood
• Anirban Bhattacharya, Indian actor
• Anupam Bhattacharya, Indian actor
• Anuradha Bhattacharyya (born 1975), Indian writer
• Arindam Bhattacharya, Indian politician, Member of West Bengal Legislative Assembly and President, West Bengal Youth Congress
• Arindam Bhattacharya, Indian footballer
• Arundhati Bhattacharya, Chairman, State Bank of India
• Asoke Kumar Bhattacharyya (1919−2016), Indian archaeologist
• Atanu Bhattacharya, Indian football goalkeeper coach
• B. B. Bhattacharya, Indian economist and educationist
• Basu Bhattacharya (1934−1997), Hindi film director
• Bhabani Bhattacharya (1906-1988), Bengali writer, Indo-English literature
• Bibhu Bhattacharya (1944−2011), Indian male actor in Bengali cinema
• Bidhayak Bhattacharya (1907−1986), Indian playwright, litterateur and journalist
• Bijon Bhattacharya (1917−1978), Indian theatre and film personality from Bengal
• Bikash Bhattacharya, Indian politician
• Birendra Kumar Bhattacharya (1924−1997), Indian novelist and modern Assamese littérateur
• Biswajit Bhattacharya, head coach of George Telegraph SC in the Calcutta Football League
• Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee (born 1944), Indian politician, member of the politburo of the Communist Party of India, Chief Minister of West Bengal (2000–2011)
• Chandril Bhattacharya, popular singer
• Charu Chandra Bhattacharya (1883−1961), prominent science teacher and writer of various scientific articles mainly for children in Bangla
• Chittaprosad Bhattacharya, political artist of the mid-20th century
• Debashish Bhattacharya (born 1963), Indian classical musician who plays the lap slide guitar
• Deben Bhattacharya (1921−2001), Indian radio producer, record producer, ethnomusicologist, anthropologist, documentary filmmaker, photographer
• Devoleena Bhattacharjee, Indian television actress
• Dhananjay Bhattacharya, son of Surendranath Bhattacharya - Bengal singer
• Dipankar Bhattacharya, Indian politician
• Durga Mohan Bhattacharyya, Indian scholar and professor of Sanskrit.
• Ganga Kishore Bhattacharya (died 1831), Indian journalist, teacher and reformer
• Gautam Bhattacharya, Indian sports journalist, sports editor of the Ananda Bazar Patrika
• Gopal Chandra Bhattacharya (1895−1981), Indian entomologist and naturalist
• Haridas Bhattacharya (1891−1956), Indian philosopher and educationist
• Hiren Bhattacharyya (1932-2012), Indian Assamese language poet
• Jaya Bhattacharya, Indian television actress
• Jogendra Nath Bhattacharya, pandit, one of a group of Hindu nationalists who held a benevolent view of the traditional role of caste in Indian society
• Kamalakanta Bhattacharya (1769–1821), Indian poet of the late 18th century
• Kanailal Bhattacharya, educationist, former minister of Commerce and Indrustries and food department, West Bengal
• Kanailal Bhattacharya, Indian nationalist
• Kankan Bhattacharyya, one of the scientists of modern non-linear laser spectroscopy
• Kedarnath Bhattacharya, first elected vice-chairman of Howrah Municipal Corporation
• Kumar Sanu/Kedarnath Bhattacharya (born 1957), Indian playback singer
• Krishna Chandra Bhattacharya (1875−1949), philosopher at Calcutta University
• Kumar Bhattacharyya, Baron Bhattacharyya, CBE (1940−2019), Indian-born British engineer, educator and government advisor
• Lilabati Bhattacharjee, mineralogist and former Director (Mineral Physics), Geological Survey of India
• Lokenath Bhattacharya (1927−2001), prolific Bangla writer who chose to remain in isolation
• Madhuri Bhattacharya, Indian actress and former model who has appeared in Kannada and Bollywood films
• Mahesh Chandra Nyayratna Bhattacharyya CIE (1836−1906), Indian scholar of Sanskrit, principal of the Sanskrit College for over 18 years
• Monoranjan Bhattacharya, Indian football international player and a club level coach and manager
• Nabarun Bhattacharya (1948−2014), Indian Bengali writer
• Nagendra Kumar Bhattacharyya (1888−1967), Commissioner of the Berhampore Municipality from 1932 to 1948
• Nalinidhar Bhattacharya (1921−2016), Indian Assamese language poet and literary critic
• Narendra Nath Bhattacharyya (1887−1954), an Indian revolutionary, radical activist and political theorist, known as M. N. Roy
• Nirmalendu Bhattacharya (died 2020), Indian politician
• Nivedita Bhattacharya, Indian actress
• P. C. Bhattacharya, the seventh Governor of the Reserve Bank of India from 1 March 1962 to 30 June 1967
• Panchanan Bhattacharya (1853−1919), chief disciple of Yogiraj Sri Shama Churun Lahiri Mahasaya
• Pannalal Bhattacharya, Bengal singer
• Rinki Bhattacharya (born 1942), Indian writer, columnist and documentary filmmaker
• Ritwik Bhattacharya, junior squash player
• Sameer Bhattacharya, guitarist for Texas rock band Flyleaf
• Sanjiv Bhattacharya, British journalist, based in the US
• Santosh Bhattacharyya (1924−2011), Bengali Indian scholar, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Calcutta
• Santosh Chandra Bhattacharyya, teacher of Dhaka University and an intellectual martyr in the Bangladesh Liberation War
• Sharmila Bhattacharya, the head of the Biomodel Performance and Behavior laboratory at NASA Ames Research Center
• Shoumo Bhattacharya, Indian medical doctor and academic
• Siva Brata Bhattacherjee (1921−2003), Professor of Physics and crystallographer, University of Calcutta
• Soumya Bhattacharya (born 1969), Indian journalist and author
• Subrata Bhattacharya, Indian football Defender who played for India in the 1984 Asian Cup
• Suchitra Bhattacharya (1950−2015), Indian novelist
• Sukanta Bhattacharya (1926−1947), Indian Bengali language poet and playwright
• Suma Bhattacharya, Indian model and film actress
• Sushil Bhattacharya (1924 - 2015), Indian footballer and veteran coach, first official coach of East Bengal Club, Indian Women's Football Team and Bengal Women's Football Team
• Tanmoy Bhattacharya, Indian politician
• Tanmoy Bhattacharya, Indian linguist and disability studies scholar, professor at the University of Delhi.
• Tarun Bhattacharya, Indian classical musician who plays the santoor, a type of hammered dulcimer
• Utpal Bhattacharya, finance professor at the Indiana University Kelley School of Business
• Vidyadhar Bhattacharya, chief architect and city planner of Jaipur
• Shishir Bhattacharja, Bangladeshi linguist and writer.