Kamat or Kamath is a surname from

Goa Goa (; ; ) is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is bound by the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north, and Karnataka to the ...

Maharashtra Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...

and

coastal Karnataka Kanara or Canara, also known as Karāvali, is the historically significant stretch of land situated by the southwestern Konkan coast of India, alongside the Arabian Sea in the present-day Indian state of Karnataka. The subregion comprises thr ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. It is found among

Hindus Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...

of the

Goud Saraswat Brahmin Gaud Saraswat Brahmins (GSB) (also Goud or Gawd), also known as Shenvis are a Hindu community of contested caste status and identity. They primarily speak Konkani and its various dialects as their mother tongue. They claim to be Saraswat Brah ...

, Saraswat and Rajapur Saraswat Brahmin communities following

Madhva Sampradaya Sadh Vaishnavism (;), also referred to as Madhva Vaishnavism, the Madhva Sampradaya, or Tattvavada, part of the Brahma Sampradaya, is a denomination within the VaishnavismBhagavata tradition of Hinduism. Sadh Vaishnavism was founded by the thirte ...

of either Gokarna Matha or Kashi Matha.

Variations

Kāmat is a common surname of Konkani Saraswat Brahmins and of a few

Konkani __NOTOC__ Konkani may refer to: Language * Konkani language is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in the Konkan region of India. * Konkani alphabets, different scripts used to write the language **Konkani in the Roman script, one of the scripts used to ...

Hindus of Goa, Maharashtra,

Damaon Daman district () (formerly Distrito de Damão) is one of three districts of the Indian union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu. It is located on the west coast of India and is surrounded by the Valsad district of Gujarat to ...

& Canara. "Kāmat" is mostly used in the

Konkan The Konkan is a stretch of land by the western coast of India, bound by the river Daman Ganga at Damaon in the north, to Anjediva Island next to Karwar town in the south; with the Arabian Sea to the west and the Deccan plateau to the eas ...

area which includes Goa, Maharashtra and around the

North Canara Uttara Kannada is a fifth largest district in the Indian state of Karnataka, It is bordered by the state of Goa and Belagavi districts to the north, Dharwad District and Haveri District to the east, Shivamogga District, and Udupi District to ...

district in Karnataka. ''Kāmath'' is used by Brahmins around

Dakshina Kannada Dakshina Kannada district is located in the states and territories of India, state of Karnataka in India, with its headquarters in the coastal city of Mangaluru. The district covers an area nestled in between the Western Ghats to its east and the ...

and

Udupi district Udupi district (also Udipi () in Kannada or Odipu () in Tulu language) is an administrative subdivision in the Karnataka state of India, with the district headquarters in the city of Udupi. It is situated in the Canara old north Malabar c ...

s and of Karnataka and

Hosdurg Hosdurg is one of four taluks that constitute the Kasaragod District, Kerala. Others are Kasaragod, Manjeshwaram and Vellarikundu taluks. In the north, it borders Kasaragod taluk; in south, the Kannur District; in the east, Vellarikundu tal ...

in Kerala. "Camotim" was used in the erstwhile

Portuguese Goa The State of India, also known as the Portuguese State of India or Portuguese India, was a state of the Portuguese Empire founded seven years after the discovery of the sea route to the Indian subcontinent by Vasco da Gama, a subject of the ...

but has given way to "Kāmat" today. "Camat" word is still in use in Indonesia which was a Portuguese colony at some point of time in the history. In Indonesia "Camat" means administrative and political head of the sub-district or taluk. Taluk may be said as kecamatan (spelled as ke-chamatan). The name is also in use among some Konkani Catholics who trace their ancestry to the

Goud Saraswat Brahmins Gaud Saraswat Brahmins (GSB) (also Goud or Gawd), also known as Shenvis are a Hindu community of contested caste status and identity. They primarily speak Konkani and its various dialects as their mother tongue. They claim to be Saraswat Brah ...

. There are many GSB and RSB families, original "Kāmats" from Goa who migrated to Karnataka and Maharashtra in the 16th Century to escape Catholic persecution of Hindus under Portuguese rule and they adopted the place name from Goa where they originally belonged to.

Notable people

The following is a list of notable people with last name Kāmat. * Hari Vishnu Kamath, Freedom fighter and member of the Forward Bloc movement led by Subash Chandra Bose *

Chandrika Kamath Chandrika Kamath is a computer scientist and data scientist whose research involves information extraction from scientific data, including methods of digital image processing, video processing, dimension reduction, and feature extraction. Educat ...

, Computer scientist *

Digambar Kamat Digamber Kamat (born 8 March 1954) is an Indian politician who served as the Chief Minister of Goa from 2007 to 2012. He won the seventh term as a MLA from Margao Assembly constituency in 2022. From 2006 to 2019, he was the president of Swim ...

, Chief Minister of Goa (2007 to 2012) * Durgabai Kamat (1899–1997), first actress of

Indian cinema The cinema of India, consisting of motion pictures made by the Indian film industry, has had a large effect on world cinema since the second half of the 20th century. Indian cinema is made up of various film industries, each focused on p ...

, debuted in '' Mohini Bhasmasur'' (1913), second movie of Phalke *

Ninad Kamat Ninad Kamat is an Indian actor who works in Hindi films. Some of his films include '' Parineeta'' (2005), ''Lage Raho Munnabhai'' (2006), ''Laaga Chunari Mein Daag'' (2007) and ''Jai Gangaajal'' (2016). He is also a dubbing artist and has dub ...

, Marathi and Hindi actor *

Umesh Kamat Umesh Kamat (born 12 December 1978) is an Indian actor and model, who predominantly works in Marathi-language regional films, television series, plays and TV commercials. Kamat has been recipient of Maharashtra State Film Awards for film Samar ...

, Marathi actor *

K. V. Kamath Kundapur Vaman Kamath is the current Independent Director and Non-Executive Chairman of Jio Financial Services and the former chief of the New Development Bank of BRICS countries, previously he has also served as the Chairman of Infosys Limited ...

, Notable banker *

Nithin Kamath Nithin Kumar Reddy (born 30 March 1983), known professionally as Nithiin, is an Indian film actor, distributor and producer who primarily works in Telugu films. Nithiin is a recipient of several accolades including a Filmfare Award and three So ...

, Co-founder and CEO of Zerodha *

Nikhil Kamath Nikhil Kamath (born 5 September 1986) is an Indian entrepreneur and investor. He is the co-founder of Zerodha, a retail stockbroker, and True Beacon, an asset management company. As of March 2025, Kamath is worth $2.6 billion, according to Forb ...

, Co-founder of Zerodha * Manvita Kamath, Kannada actress * Rekha Kamat, Marathi actress

Citations

References

*. {{surname, Kamat Surnames of Indian origin Karnataka society Konkani-language surnames

Variations

Notable people

See also

Citations

References